Berthe Maurel

Cheia Leib Perelman was born in Lomza, Poland in 1898. His wife Esther (née Matulski) was born in Paris. The couple had a son, Serge, born in Toulouse in 1931 (his younger twin sisters died in 1936, aged only a few months). Cheia worked as a milliner, selling his products wholesale. One of his clients was Henri Maurel, owner of a hat shop in the town of Mazamet (Tarn). Maurel lived in Mazamet with his wife Berthe (née Bournique) and their four sons – Pierre, Jacques, André and Bernard. Perelman and Maurel became close friends.

After the German invasion of the unoccupied zone of southern France in November 1942, Perelman's business was confiscated and a Vichy sympathizer placed in charge. Aware of the great danger facing Jews in his area, Perelman decided to flee to North Africa, stealing across the border with Spain. Before he left, he registered Serge at a dormitory run by Dominican priests in the town of Sorège (Tarn), paying them in advance for his tuition and living expenses. Although he kept his real name, only the staff knew that Serge, who took part in all the Christian rituals at the school, was really Jewish. Perelman asked his friend Henri Maurel to look after Esther, as well as to make sure that his factory was kept sufficiently supplied. He also gave Maurel his valuables to look after, which Maurel hid in a pit under his garage.

When Perelman's hat-making machinery was sold off at a public auction, Maurel reached a secret agreement with the auctioneer that he would win the sale. Immediately following the auction, however, the occupying authorities became suspicious, and began pursuing Maurel through the streets of Toulouse. Maurel evaded arrest, and managed to hide the machinery in a safe place on his return to Mazamet.

Esther Perelman lived with the Maurels from the day of her husband's departure until June 1943, when she went to stay at the Sainte-Agonie nunnery, aided by Berthe Maurel, a friend of the nuns. Serge often returned to the Maurels on weekends, and during the long summers of 1943 and 1944, he joined the Maurels' four sons and other family members at their summer home by a lake in Montagnès, some 7 km from Mazamet. The children were looked after by the boys' grandparents, while Henri and Berthe continued to work in Mazamet and joined them on the weekends. The Maurels presented Serge to their neighbors as their nephew, occasionally joined by his mother. Some were probably aware of their real identity, but never informed on the two "strangers."

On 17 August 1944, hundreds of German soldiers passed through Mazamet on their way to Toulouse. Three days later, the area was liberated. Maurel returned all of Perelman's possessions to him on Perelman's return from Casablanca in 1946.

On April 22, 2007 Henri and Berthe Maurel were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.