Rösli Näf

Roslï Näf (9 May 1911 – 15 September 1996) was a Swiss Red Cross nurse, notable for taking great risks to save the lives of 90 Jewish children during some of the worst years of the Holocaust in Europe. She was named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government in 1992. Shortly after beginning work with the Red Cross, she was assigned to direct the care and protection of 100 Jewish children and adults at the Chateau de la Hille in Ariège, in Nazi-occupied France. Similar to Kindertransport, where Jewish children were sent by their German parents to live in safety in the United Kingdom, parents in Belgium sent their children to live in France after Belgium was occupied, expecting them to live safely until the war ended. However, France was also occupied shortly after Belgium. Most of the children would never see their parents again, as most of their parents were taken to concentration camps, where they eventually died.

In August 1942, French police arrested 42 of the Jewish teenagers under Näf's care, taking them to LeVernet internment camp, from where they were to be deported to Auschwitz. Horrified, she spent the next two days making her way by bicycle, bus and taxi to locate them. She found them in "le Vernet," a heavily guarded French transit camp nearly 60 miles from where they were living. Along with Näf's teenagers, the camp housed 3,000 other prisoners, including Jews, and was a stop on the way to the Auschwitz death camp. Inge Bleier, one of those children, recalls that Näf, with her blonde hair, always had a stern look on her face, had steely blue eyes, and "conveyed a sense of purposefulness and authority."

When Red Cross officials learned of Näf's helping the children escape, they fired her, calling her actions "politically foolish." According to Red Cross documents, for intervening to help the children escape France, the Red Cross unanimously decided to "totally distance itself from director Roslï Näf." Näf, who was never honored by the Red Cross or Switzerland, died at the age of 85, alone in a Swiss nursing home. Her biggest regret, she said shortly before she died, was that "I should have tried harder. There were more children to save."

Recognition After the war, Näf settled in Denmark. In 1989, she was named "Righteous Among the Nations" by Israel, the highest honor Israel bestows on non-Jews who assisted Jews during the Holocaust. Although she was never honored by Switzerland or the Red Cross.