Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Unknown Syrian - Part 3: The lives he saved













First, here is another photograph of the man and his wife, Odette. The picture was taken in Nice, France, in 1947.

Now, what about the children whose lives were saved by them?

It is estimated that 527 Jewish children survived the Third Reich's occupation of Nice thanks to "Monsieur Marcel" and "Sylvie", the nicknames used by the "unknown Syrian" and the woman who became his wife later. "Marcel" and "Sylvie" found French families who hosted the children between 1942 and 1944 away from the eyes of the Gestapo.

More soon...

12 comments:

Yazan said...

oh my god i read about him,....
bas ta3a ba2a remember where or when or who...
uffffffff

plz tell me that the 4th part will include the answer?!!

JiimSiin جيم سين said...

OK Yazan :-) No problem. In that case, the fourth part will take another three weeks or a month to be published.
3alaa raasii.

Yazan said...

how convinient!!!! :(

JiimSiin جيم سين said...

Yazan, sorry again :-)

OK, I'll do my best to solve the riddle.

In the meantime, just wanted to say that I find your blog interesting. Keep up the good job.

Omar said...

HA.. found him!!!! I guess it pays if you know how to google in French :)

how the hell did you find out about him?? I never heard this story until now... you did a great job unveiling it my friend.. and you gave me reading materials for the next while

anyway, to keep Yazan on his toes :-), and to enforce the suspence you're creating here, I will keep my trap shut for another few weeks.. lol..

Yazan said...

oh come on people...
life is already too unfair for u guys making it worseeeee........

OMAR!!! ARGHHHH

comon gottfried we have a winner now.. Omar.. u can tell the name now.. right???

JiimSiin جيم سين said...

Omar!

Great, man. And thank you very much for keeping the secret (Come on, Yazan, a little patience, my fellow.)

I discovered the "unknown Syrian" from someone who had worked on a documentary about him. I'll reveal the "reading material" later when the identity of the man is known.

One more thing which is completely unrelated: Omar, I've never met in cyberspace someone who is author or co-author of so many blogs. You astonish me. Bravo! Additionally, I'm a fan of Radiohead myself, and I consider Coffee and Cigarettes one of the greatest collections of short films ever :-)

Omar said...

c'mon Yazan.. I thought patience is encoded in the genes of all Syrian people.. (honestly, I am making a grave effort to keep this secret.. I am not good at hiding things, hence why I write my blog in my real name, with all the risky outcomes of that ;-)

Gottfried' thank you for the complements.. most of these blogs are related to my work and studies (save the ones about "bridging the gap" which started with a nobel cause and then became a preaching ground, so I withdrew!!).. being present in cyberspace is more important than physical presence for people involved in the field I work in.. but you just end up getting hooked on it.. like drugs.. and you end up wasting your working hours on blogs, risking being fired every day ;-)

Coffee and cigarettes was amazing.. I love Jarmush since Smoke and Blue in the face and Dead man.. you will love them too..

waiting for you original materials (who's making the documentary by the way?)

Yazan said...

patience it is...

btw, thanx for stepping by my blog ;) glad u liked it..

and Radiohead rock! :)

JiimSiin جيم سين said...

Thanks for the patience, Yazan. If you end up discovering the identity of the man, please write to my e-mail address first.

Omar, I can't tell you who made the documentary for fear of making Yazan's search too easy :-)

Omar again, I like almost every Jarmush film there is. He appears in Smoke and Blue in the Face, but he didn't direct them. By the way, his older films are definitely worth checking out, "Down by Law" in particular.

Guys, we all agree that Radiohead rock!

Yazan said...

I gave up on actually googling this..

but, u sure did win urself a loyal visitor every couple of hours :)

let's hope u update soon!!!

Catherine said...

That has really been interesting to read..Keep it coming =)