The Canet-Plage Convalescent Home 1

The previous post (see here), which reproduced Henry’s account of his activities in France as an MCC relief worker, was interesting from beginning to end, but one short section stood out for its historical and humanitarian significance. The passage in question recounted Henry’s first months in France.

When I arrived on the field of work late February, 1941, Dr. Henry Wiens was then the director of the Mennonite activities in France. Both Brother Wiens and I were at Lyon for the most part until July of that year when Brother Wiens returned to America. For three weeks in April, however, I had stayed at the Convalescent Home at Canet-Plage, helping Brother Jesse Hoover, who came to France one month after me, and Sister Charlotte Gerber, from Switzerland, arrange and organize the opening of that Home. 

The sentence that catches my eye and piques my interest is the last one: “For three weeks in April … I had stayed at the Convalescent Home at Canet-Plage, helping Brother Jesse Hoover … and Sister Charlotte Gerber … arrange and organize the opening of that Home.”

The Canet-Plage Convalescent Home was the children’s home that we encountered earlier in the post about Henry and Bea’s colleague, Lois Gunden (here). That home served as a refuge for children whose families were housed, and often held, in refugee camps in the neighboring vicinity. That home was also the portal to freedom for a number of Jewish children who otherwise would have been sent to die in Nazi concentration camps. That Henry was involved, even in a small way, with the establishment of the Canet-Plage Convalescent Home gives us good reason to discover all that we can about this remarkable place. 

There is much yet unknown about the historical context in which the home was founded, not to mention the details of its operation and identities of the people who worked and ministered within it. For the most part, however, I expect that our journey will take the following course.

We will begin by setting the context in which the refugee camps arose and expanded, specifically the mass migration of people as a result of the Spanish Civil War and then World War II. To put faces on these displaced people, we will also reproduce the account of a witness who toured one of these refugee camps. 

With all that as background, we will then turn our attention to the Canet-Plage home itself (photo courtesy of the Mennonite Church USA Archives). When was it established? What was its purpose? How did that purpose evolve over the course of its existence? Who were the key players who served within the home? Who served alongside the home’s primary staff? When and why did the home discontinue its work?

As we seek answers to these and other questions that arise, we will meet individuals such as Lois Gunden, Mary Elmes, Jesse Hoover, Helen Penner, Charlotte Gerber, and many more. We will also see and learn the names and stories of some of the children who called this place home, if only for a short while.

Finally, we will wrap up this series of posts by learning about the legacy of the Canet-Plage home, how it was largely forgotten for years, then remembered and honored when its story was recovered and retold in recent decades.

The series will take some time to complete. Indeed, a purchased copy of the only known history of the home, La villa Saint-Christophe maison de convalescence pour enfants des camps d’internement, will not arrive for at least a month. (It seems to be taking the slow boat from Europe.) I hope everyone reading this is looking forward as much as I am to learning about this great work and about our family’s small part in it. I believe that both the journey and the final destination will be well worth the wait.