THE CHILDREN’S CARERS

Dr. René Quenouille

René Quenouille was born in Sarlat-la-Caneda in France on 6 December 1884. After completing his medical studies, he opened a practice as a radiologist in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges near Paris in 1925. He was a member of the Communist Party. In 1935 he was elected deputy mayor of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. He was particularly active in reforming the health service in his town.

René Quenouille and his wife Yvonne joined the French resistance group “Patrium Recuperare” during the German occupation. Members went to the aid of Allied forces’ parachutists, helping them escape to the unoccupied South of France. René and Yvonne Quenouille and two of their daughters were arrested by the Gestapo on 3 March 1943. The women were freed, but René Quenouille was taken to Fresnes prison near Paris and initially condemned to death. However, on 16 October 1943, the SS deported him to Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Upper Austria, where he was used as an inmates’ doctor. Former prisoners remembered later that he gave particular support to French and Soviet prisoners. On 17 July 1944, he was brought to Neuengamme Concentration Camp. He was in charge of the x-ray department of the sickbay. When the 20 children arrived, he was charged with their medical care.

A kindergarten in the town of his birth, Sarlat-la-Caneda, was named after René Quenouille in 1980.