Louis Gruillot

The Meyers, a Jewish family of seven, lived in the town of Obernai in the département of Bas-Rhin, which the Germans had annexed when they occupied France. The Meyers left their home in June 1940 and, as refugees, wandered through France. Their son Gaston, married and the father of two young children, enlisted in the French army and was captured by the Germans. He was sent to a prisoner of war camp in the Vosges Mountains, but he escaped and rejoined his family, which, in their wanderings, had come to the vicinity of the town where he had been interned.
Louis Gruillot lived in Navilly, a town in the département of Saône-et-Loire, on the demarcation line between the Occupied and unoccupied zones. Because of his friendship with Gaston Meyer, Gruillot invited the entire Meyer family to stay with him. Gaston and his wife Andrée provided food and lodging. Though fully aware of the risks, some time later Gruillot smuggled the Meyers to the south and helped them rent a small farm in Simard, a village about thirty kilometers from Navilly. The Meyer family spent the entire occupation in Simard protected by the mayor and the village’s inhabitants. In the summer of 1944, as the German army began to retreat, news spread of the atrocities it was committing. Gaston Meyer and his wife feared for their two-year-old daughter and entrusted her to the Gruillots, who looked after her as if she were their grandchild, without any payment. Although the Jews were still threatened with deportation, and anyone caught helping them could be severely punished, the Gruillots disregarded the danger and welcomed the Meyer’s baby.
On July 26, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Louis and Andrée Gruillot as Righteous Among the Nations.