Lot Blog 9

The endless fight over the 15 discontinued stops on the Paris-Toulouse train line continues but there is some good news in that a few stops, four in all, have been reinstated and among them appears to be the one that allows travellers from Britain to leave St Pancras at a reasonable time in the morning and arrive at Gourdon, direct from Paris, at around 6.40pm. This is real progress - thanks to those who have been battling with SNCF and best of luck with the continued fight.

Staying with trains, the future of Quercy Rail is still in doubt. The Tourist Office says there are no plans to reopen the line at the moment, though an article in La Dépêche seems to suggest that it is, at the very least, under consideration.

The tourist season is here again and, given the exchange rate, France will have to work hard to attract British visitors. Good to know that the State gives 550,000 euros a year, to which the Conseil Géneral adds a further 300,000 euros and there is a regional allowance of 1.4 million euros a year destined for the upkeep of the patrimoine. It doesn't sound like a whole lot, given the wealth of buildings there are to protect - 2250 in all and 450 religious edifices.

Meanwhile, the much admired Bistrots de Pays 'chain' is extending. Bistrots de Pays was the brainwave of Bernard Reynal in 1993 to try to rejuvenate small communities and counteract "la désertification". There are a few rules for those wishing to join. They can only be established in villages of less than 2000 inhabitants and must promote local produce and local tourism; organise events - theatre, art exhibitions, sport etc; substitute for the disappearance of other commerce in the village; and stay open the year round. The Lot has 12 such establishments and you can find them at Salviac*, Anglars-Nozac*, Faycelles*, Latronquières*, Montet-et-Bouxal*, Capdenac-le-Haut*, Livernon, Marcilhac-sur-Célé, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, Labastide-Murat, Espère and Montcuq according to Dire Lot. The BdP website (*) adds, Cazals, Gigouzac and Lamothe-Fénelon and excludes some of the above. They should display a Bistrot de Pays sign. If you like café's that are the real hub of a village keep a look out for them.

A fascinating article in the March edition of Dire Lot (not available on the web) charts the lives of some of the many Jews, particularly children, hidden in the Lot during WW2. Many were hidden by nuns and some by brave families. Of the Jews tormented and humiliated by the Nazis in Gramat on May 11 1944, who were subsequently deported to Auschwitz and other camps (and to whom there is a plaque in the town), only two returned. Their names were no doubt given to the Nazis by the infamous Bonaventure family (see the Resistance chapter in my book).

Margot Cerf went first to the Ecole Jeanne-d'Arc at Figeac, where Sister Margaret hid them, and then was moved to Notre Dame de Massip at Capdenac-Gare in the Aveyron (just below Capdenac-le-Haut in the Lot), where she was under the care of Denise Bergon, a nun who saved over 80 Jews.

Denise Bystryn and her brother Jean-Claude went first to St-Céré, a town well known for sheltering Jews, and then to the Institution Jeanne-d'Arc at Cahors. Her young brother meanwhile was sheltered by Marie-Louise and Alfred Aymard at Escamps. The courage of these people cannot be over-estimated. It would have meant death for all had they been discovered.

Yvonne Féraud, who was instrumental in asking the Aymard's to take Jean-Claude, was warned by a representative of Bishop Saliège of Toulouse (a bishop who did much to help the Jews, unlike many in the Church) that Denise's life was in danger and that she had been denounced to the Gestapo. She was secreted away and hidden at Feraud's parents' farm in the Haute-Garonne.

Charles Gol(d)stein and his cousin Pierre were hiding in Gramat when Das Reich passed through on May 11 1944. Charles and his mother fled and were hidden by Alain and Rosa Castagné. Pierre and his mother escaped also, but the rest of the Goldsteins, along with members of the Fiszbin and Zysman families, were not so lucky and were arrested, humiliated and finally sent on to the death camps. The boys were subsequently hidden in Luzech.

In later life Margot Cerf became a distinguished midwife. Denise and Jean-Claude moved to America, Denise becoming a sociologist at Columbia University in New York and marrying Eric Kandel, a nobel-prize-winning doctor. Jean-Claude is a well-known dermatologist. Charles Goldstein had a business career but is also a painter of some distinction, Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur and works with various Jewish bodies. Pierre Golstein is also a renowned doctor, but in France, researching, curiously, in the same field as Eric Kandel.

It has emerged from newly discovered archives that the Pont Louis-Philippe in Cahors, inaugurated in 1838 and always overshadowed by the mediaeval Pont Valentré, is hiding a treasure. Gold and silver coins were hidden there as a homage to Louis-Philippe, who made available the 900,000 francs for the building of the bridge. The coins, all with an effigy of the king, were worth 20 and 40 francs apiece at the time. How long before they are removed?

A collection of Marcel Marceau's belongings were auctioned recently in Paris, where the renowned mime artist was interred in Père-Lachaise in 2007. But Marceau actually lived and died in Cahors, whither he had moved on his retirement in 2005. His daughter Aurélia is active in Lot theatre.

Marceau, whose real name was Mangel, discovered the south-west when he and his family were given two hours to pack their belongings and move from his birthplace, Strasbourg, to Limoges during the war. He was fifteen. The name change was not a theatrical nicety but rather a means of avoiding detection as the family were Jewish and his father, a kosher butcher, was deported to Auschwitz, where he died.

Marceau and his brother Alain joined the resistance, hiding Jewish (and gentile) children from the Gestapo and French police and changing the date of birth on their identity cards so they could not be deported to German labour or death camps. He also led many children to safety in Switzerland, posing as a scout master.

He was awarded the Wallenberg Medal for his work. Later on, his good English was put to use when he acted as an interpreter with the US Army when they were in France. He was a talented man who, apart from being the world's greatest mime artist, also painted and wrote books.