Cläre Barwitzky
Cläre Barwitzky, also known as Claire Barwitzky (19 June 1913 – 10 March 1989), was a German Catholic nun who cared for 30 Jewish children refugees during World War II in a remote camp in the Alps near Chamonix and Mont Blanc. She received the posthumous title Righteous Among the Nations from Yad Vashem in 1991. Early life and education Cläre Barwitzky was born in Neisse, Upper Silesia, the daughter of a railroad worker who worked at Deutsche Reichsbahn. The Barwitzky family lived a hand-to-mouth existence. After she graduated from high school in 1932, she went to work at Companions of the Holy Francis (Compagnons de Saint-François) in Lyon, France where she was the secretary for Father Remillieux. She returned to Germany by 1933 when she studied in Freiburg im Breisgau to be a spiritual assistant (Seelsorgehelferin) and or pastoral assistant. Her curriculum aligned with Saint Francis of Assisi's ideology. She graduated in 1935, and became a nun. France In 1937, Barwitzky moved to the mountain commune of Vaujany in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where there was no priest at the local Catholic Church. Reporting to the Diocese of Grenoble, she provided pastoral care, including delivering mass and preparing children for Confirmation.