Georges Loinger
{{Short description|French soldier and participant in the French Resistance}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Georges Loinger
| image = Georges Loinger par Claude Truong-Ngoc octobre 2014.jpg
| caption = Georges Loinger in 2014
| birth_date = {{birth date|1910|8|29|df=y}}
| birth_place = Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire
| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|12|28|1910|8|29|df=y}}
| known_for = Resistance fighter
| relatives = Yardena Arazi (niece)
Marcel Marceau (cousin)
}}
Georges Loinger {{post-nominals|list=BVO}} (29 August 1910 – 28 December 2018){{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiFnAAAAMAAJ&q=Georges+Loinger+1910 |title=L'armée juive clandestine en France: 1940–1945 |first=Raphaël |last=Delpard |date=2002 |location=Paris |publisher=Page après page |isbn=978-2-84764-001-4 |language=fr |accessdate=31 December 2018 |via=Google Books}} was a French soldier during World War II. During his time in the French Resistance, he helped hundreds of Jewish children escape from occupied France to Switzerland.
Early life
He was born on 29 August 1910 in Strasbourg, France (then part of Imperial Germany) to Jewish parents Solomon Loinger (1883–1971) and Mina Werzberg (1886–1981).{{cite web |url=http://www.ose-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Loinger-Georges.pdf |title=Georges Loinger |last=Hazan |first=Katy |date=2016 |website=Œuvre de secours aux enfants |language=fr |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105170533/http://www.ose-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Loinger-Georges.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite journal|date=December 2018|title=French Resistance hero who saved hundreds of Jewish children dies aged 108|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/30/french-resistance-hero-saved-jewish-children-dies-georges-loinger|journal=The Guardian|access-date=2 January 2019}} In 1925, he entered the Hatikvah Zionist youth movement.{{cite journal |url=http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/revue/georges-loinger |title=Georges Loinger |date=March 2015 |journal=Chemins de mémoire |number=248 |publisher=Ministry of the Armed Forces |access-date=2 January 2019}}
World War II
Loinger began fighting against Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, but was captured in 1940. He escaped from his prisoner-of-war camp later that year and joined the French Resistance. He rescued about 350 Jewish children, and helped them to escape from France to Switzerland, for which he was awarded the Resistance Medal, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46714673 |title=Georges Loinger: French hero who saved Jews in WW2 dies |work=BBC News |date=30 December 2018 |accessdate=30 December 2018}} Until September 1943, this frontier was guarded by the Italian army; Loinger remembered an Italian senior officer privately telling him he approved of Loinger's actions. After September, there was German occupation and Loinger's task became harder.{{cite news |url=http://www.informazionecorretta.com/main.php?mediaId=2&sez=120&id=73208 |title=L'eroe dell'Exodus e dei bambini salvati |last=Montefiori |first=Stefano |date=30 December 2018 |newspaper=Corriere della Sera |language=it |access-date=2 January 2019 |via=Informazione Corretta}} A physical education teacher, he used tactics such as organizing soccer games in Annemasse on the border of Geneva, and having players continue running across the border guarded only by barbed wire.{{Cite news|title=French Jew Who Saved Hundreds of Children in Holocaust Dies at 108|language=en|work=Haaretz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-french-jew-who-saved-hundreds-of-children-in-holocaust-dies-at-108-1.6790696|access-date=2022-02-08}}
Awards and honours
He was appointed chairman of the Association of the Jewish Resistance of France (ARJF).{{cite web |url=https://www.europe1.fr/societe/mort-du-grand-resistant-juif-georges-loinger-3829487 |title=Mort du grand résistant juif Georges Loinger |date=29 December 2018 |website=Europe 1 |language=fr |access-date=2 January 2019}} In March 2013, he was received by Shimon Peres, the former president of Israel.{{cite web |url=http://www.crif.org/fr/actualites/le-voyage-de-georges-loinger-en-isra%C3%ABl/35793 |title=Le voyage de Georges Loinger en Israël |date=14 March 2013 |website=CRIF – Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France |language=fr |access-date=2 January 2019}} In 2014, he was awarded the medal of honorary citizen of the city of Strasbourg.{{cite web |url=http://www.crif.org/fr/actualites/la-m%C3%A9daille-de-citoyen-dhonneur-de-la-ville-de-strasbourg-remise-%C3%A0-georges-loinger/52882 |title=La médaille de citoyen d'honneur de la ville de Strasbourg remise à Georges Loinger |date=29 October 2014 |website=CRIF – Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France |language=fr |access-date=2 January 2019}} In July 2016, he was made an officer in the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.{{cite web |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/zweiter-weltkrieg-todesmutig-die-geschichte-des-monsieur-loinger-1.3069711 |title=Todesmutig – die Geschichte des Monsieur Loinger |first=Christian |last=Wernicke |date=11 July 2016 |newspaper=Süddeutsche Zeitung |language=de |access-date=2 January 2019}} He was awarded the Resistance Medal, the Croix de Guerre, and in 2005 the Legion of Honour.{{cite news | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/french-hero-who-saved-hundreds-of-jewish-children-dies-aged-108/ |title=French hero who saved hundreds of Jewish children dies aged 108 |agency=Agence France-Presse |newspaper=The Times of Israel |date=29 December 2018 |accessdate=30 December 2018}}{{cite news|last1=Topping|first1=Alexandra|date=30 December 2018|title=French Resistance hero who saved hundreds of Jewish children dies aged 108|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/30/french-resistance-hero-saved-jewish-children-dies-georges-loinger|access-date=2 January 2019}}
Personal life
His cousin was the famed mime Marcel Marceau, and his niece is Israeli singer Yardena Arazi.
Loinger died in Paris on 28 December 2018 at the age of 108.{{cite news |url=https://www.dna.fr/edition-de-strasbourg/2018/12/28/le-grand-resistant-georges-loinger-s-est-eteint-a-l-age-de-108-ans |title=Le grand résistant Georges Loinger, né à Strasbourg, s'est éteint à l'âge de 108 ans |date=28 December 2018 |newspaper=Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace |language=fr |access-date=2 January 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{cite web |last1=Sandomir |first1=Richard |title=Georges Loinger, Wartime Rescuer of Jewish Children, Dies at 108 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/obituaries/georges-loinger-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=31 August 2022 |date=4 January 2019}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loinger, Georges}}
Category:French men centenarians
Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Category:Military personnel from Strasbourg
Category:Military personnel from Alsace-Lorraine