His family had fled their home in Vienna to escape Nazis persecution, the BBC said.
For an unknown period of time, they were held in France s Camp de Rivesaltes internment camp. The family somehow escaped and fled to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Upon arrival in the French village, the Schwam family was hidden in a school for the duration of the war. This was to avoid being sent to a death camp by the Vichy regime the French fascist government that collaborated with the Nazis.
The family stayed in the school building until 1950, the BBC reported.
Schwam s sizeable donation will go towards funding scholarships and youth initiatives in the village, the mayor told The Telegraph.
Jewish man leaves his fortune to French village that saved him and his family from Nazi death camps Jan 31, 2021, 06:22 PM
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A French village has inherited a large amount of money from a Jewish man they sheltered during WWII.
Eric Schwam, who died last year, was hidden in a school in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon during the war.
The village s former mayor says that Schwam left them about two million euros (R36m),
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An Austrian Jew has left his fortune to a French village that hid his family from Nazi persecution, reported the BBC.
When he died in December last year, Eric Schwam, who was 90-years-old, bequeathed a substantial sum to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon - a small town of about 2,500 people in the south of France.
Austrian Jew Leaves Fortune to French Town that Saved His Life
Eric Schwam was one of over 3,000 Jews saved by the residents in one small French town.
When Vienna-born Jew Eric Schwam recently passed away at the age of 90, he left an unusual bequest. He left the small fortune he’d managed to save up in a lifetime working in the pharmaceutical field to Le Chambon sur Lignon, a town of fewer than 2,500 people in southeastern France. Eighty years ago, the residents of Le Chambon sur Lignon saved the life of Mr. Schwam as well as thousands of other Jewish refugees during the darkest days of the Holocaust.
Eric Schwam, his parents and grandmother arrived in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small French village known for providing refuge since the 17th century— when it helped Huguenots escaping religious persecution—in. World News Summaries. | .more
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By Sara Marcus
Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 12:35 pm | י ח שבט תשפ א
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. (Havang|nl)
When Erich Schwam passed away in December, his will had an unusual specification: hundreds of thousands of Euros were to be sent to the small southern French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.
Schwam and his parents were Jewish refugees from Austria who were given shelter in Le Chambon, which took in Jews, mostly children, from the Rivesaltes internment camp, which was set up by the Vichy government in France to house Jews until they were sent to death camps.
Led by a heroic Christian minster, the town hid Jewish refugees in farms and homes, and forged identity cards and food ration cards for them. The citizens of the town would refuse to point out which of the hundreds of orphaned children in its schools were Jewish to Vichy officials who wanted lists of names.