An Austrian Jewish man who fled the Nazis with his family in 1943 died this past Christmas, but never forgot the people who helped save them, leaving them two million euros in his will, CBS News reports.
Eric Schwam was 12-years old when he and his family left their home in Austria to seek shelter in Chambon-sur-Lignon, a village in the Haute-Loire department of France. A village of 2,500 people, Chambon-sur-Lignon gave refuge to more than 2,500 Jews fleeing Nazis. Schwam and his family were housed in a school for the duration of the war, and they settled in the town after it for five years.
For their help and bravery, the villagers were named “Righteous Among the Nations” by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center. Schwam asked that the money be used for educational and youth initiatives, in particular scholarships.