French Mime Artist Who Saved Children In World War II-Marcel Marceau
By: Karthick Nambi
Tags: Life Lessons, Culture, History, World, Art

French Mime Artist Who Saved Children In World War II-Marcel Marceau

Marcel Marceau used his acting skills to keep the war-torn kids calm. He also helped them escape to Switzerland.

Marcel Marceau.Source-Wikipedia

It was a train traveling to Switzerland from France. The train carried a troop of Boy Scouts who happily feasted on their mayonnaise sandwiches.

An SS guard asked for their IDs, and the scout leader produced them. Hidden inside the sandwich were the original id’s, which will help the children escape from war’s horrors. The Scoutmaster who entertained the children during their journey will become one of the world’s best mime artists. He was Marcel Marceau.

Before the War:

A German solider looking over Strasbourg.Source-World War II Database

Marceau was born in Strasbourg to a Jewish family. His father was a Kocher. Marceau, from a young age, had the flare for acting and theater performance.

He used to imitate Adolph Hitler and Charlie Chaplin. Marceau and his family were able to sense the imminent danger in the neighboring country of Germany.

As Hitler came to power, the persecution of Jews was in full swing. The Kristallnacht, a night when Jews were attacked and robbed, created a global outcry. Nazi sympathizers took over many Jewish businesses, and the Jews ended up in concentration camps.

As the war clouds gathered over Strasbourg, Marceau and his family moved deep inside France. France eventually capitulated to Germany and surrendered.

Even though the French government surrendered, the French public took up armed resistance against the occupiers. Marceau’s cousin Georges Loinger was part of the French army, and he headed the French resistance movement in Lyon.

Jewish children were taken from orphanages by the French Resistance and kept in a secure place before being transferred to a haven. They needed someone to handle so many kids. Georges Loinger called on the help of Marceau, who was 16 at that time.

Marceau’s Greatest Mime Act:

The king of Mimes Marcel Marceau with the King of Pop Michael Jackson. Source-Orange Country Register

Marceau took the job and used his mime and acting skills to make the kids feel safe.

During this time, Lyon was under the control of Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon. Barbie mercilessly killed children and others in the name of interrogation.

The Resistance found an organization in Switzerland that was ready to accept the children. Though Switzerland refused to accept refugees, if a child slipped into Switzerland, he or she could get asylum. Marceau used various innovative ideas to smuggle kids through the border.

The ID’s to be used by the kids in Switzerland were inside mayonnaise sandwiches. Since SS men needed to keep a tidy uniform, they refused to check messy sandwiches.

The Resistance utilized the SS men’s spit and polish and fear of superiors to save children. Marceau taught the kids German rhymes to make SS men believe they are harmless German kids on a hiking trip to the Alps.

In this manner, hundreds of kids reached safety. Marceau and his cousin forged documents to make kids look younger to keep them from forced labor in German factories.

After the War:

Resistance movie poster.Source-Wikipedia

When Allied forces landed in Normandy, the liberation of France began. Marceau and his French Resistance friends faced a heavily armored German unit. Marceau used his dramatic voice and made the Germans surrender.

After the war, he performed in front of the US forces, and his show was an instant hit. He traveled to Hollywood and became a celebrated artist. His world tour made him a household name. But he never mentioned his actions to save children during World War II in public.

In 2020 a Hollywood movie on the life of Marcel Marceau named aptly as “Resistance” has hit theaters. The Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg plays the role of Marcel Marceau. Marceau showed us that art could bring peace to people’s minds, even when the world falls into chaos.

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