Elie Bloch

A biography of Bloch (1909-1943), who was the rabbi of Poitiers during the Shoah. In 1939 he left his native Alsace and his rabbinic position in Metz to join his evacuated congregation in Poitiers. Traces the exclusion and persecution of the Jews in the eastern parts of occupied France, highlighting Bloch's efforts to alleviate their lot. In addition to providing social and moral aid to thousands of refugees, he helped tens of children, whose parents had been arrested or deported, escape from the Poitiers internment camp where he was the chaplain. He also helped place children of foreign Jews in UGIF centers in Paris. In charge of the delivery of parcels to all the internment camps in occupied France, Bloch set up an extensive solidarity network and worked closely with the Jewish resistance. Aided by the local population, Bloch was able to save up to 25% of his protégées; the rest were deported. He himself was deported and murdered in Auschwitz in 1943, together with his wife and daughter.