Behind Their Walls

The untold story of the Catholic communities that sheltered Jews in occupied France.

During the Holocaust, thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied France survived by going into hiding. Among those who opened their doors to them were members of Roman Catholic religious communities who sheltered Jewish adults and children in convents, monasteries, schools, orphanages, and other institutions. Although these rescue efforts saved countless lives, they have remained a surprisingly underexplored chapter in the history of the Holocaust.

Drawing on extensive research in the archives of Roman Catholic religious congregations in France, together with a wide range of Jewish and other contemporary sources, Behind Their Walls offers a comprehensive examination of this phenomenon. Integrating both Jewish and Catholic perspectives, it explores why some religious communities chose to shelter Jews while others did not, and demonstrates how their internal organization, communal life, and religious culture shaped their responses to persecution. The book also examines the motivations that inspired rescue, the practical strategies developed to protect those in hiding, and the experiences of both the rescuers and the Jews they sought to save.

Combining meticulous archival research with a fresh analytical framework, Behind Their Walls makes a significant contribution to Holocaust studies, the history of rescue, and the history of the Catholic Church during World War II. By revealing the complex realities that lay behind convent and monastery walls, it offers new insights into the moral choices, institutional dynamics, and human relationships that made rescue possible under Nazi occupation.

Dr. Eliot Nidam Orvieto is an emeritus historian and researcher at Yad Vashem and former head of the Academic Affairs Section of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem. He received his doctorate in Jewish Studies at Tel Aviv University. He was also a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Phyllis Greenberg and Richard D. Heideman Invitational Fellow.