Saint-Martin-Vésubie (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Sant Martin de Lantosca''; ) is a commune of the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...

department,

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in Southeastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Established on the edge of a glacial plate, it had a population of 1,327 in 2008. It was named after the

Vésubie The Vésubie is a river in the southeast of France. It is a left tributary of the Var in the Maritime Alps. It is long. Its drainage basin is .

, a local river.

History

Early years

San Martin first appears in recorded history in the 12th century, although there are archaeological remnants of a Romanized indigenous population dating back to the 1st century. The medieval

castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

extends along a cliff overlooking Valley of the Madonna through which ran the old Salt Road that extended from the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

to the port city of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million County of Nice The County of Nice (; ; Niçard ) was a historical region of France and Italy located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent to the modern arrondissement of Nice. It was part of the Savoyard state within the Holy Roman Emp ...

until 1860 as ''San Martino Vesubia''. In their 1997 book "The Templar Revelation," Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince write that Saint-Martin-de-Vésubie was the "site of a legendary massacre of Templars in 1308."

Recent times

In World War II, the Alpes-Maritimes were occupied by the Italian Fourth Army from 11 November 1942 onwards. The sympathy of the Italian authorities caused the area to become a safe haven for thousands of Jewish refugees. Jews were able to achieve a modicum of safety and legal residency under the Italian authorities, who relocated them to Saint-Martin-Vésubie. The sympathy of the Italian authorities was mainly due to the work of the Italian Jewish banker Angelo Donati, who was living in Nice and convinced them to protect the Jews from French and German persecution. After the Italian Armistice in September 1943, and under direct threat from the German authorities, a thousand of Saint-Martin's Jews made the climb up the Old Salt Road mountain passes in the Gesso Valley and what they thought was the safety of Italy. Almost all the remaining Jews in Saint-Martin were arrested and transported to Auschwitz. Monuments in Saint-Martin's war-memorial plaza commemorate the village's role in sheltering Jewish refugees and list the names of the 31 Jews who were arrested in the village and the 230 Jews who were then later arrested in Italy and deported to Auschwitz. The annual ''Marche de la Mémoire'' is held in September to commemorate the flight of the Jews from Saint-Martin to Italy. The local gendarmerie commander, Maréchal des logis-chef Landry Mangon and his wife Adrienne took under protection a one year old Jewish child named Jean-Claude Dreymann and another officer Joseph Fougere and his wife Yvonne took the child's five-year-old sister Cecile and presented them as their children during the Gestapo's round-up of Jews and thereby saved their lives. For this noble act and the risks they took on their lives and their families to save Jews, the families of the officers were recognised as

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

at a ceremony that was conducted at the town hall on 5 September 2010. The village was severely damaged by Storm Alex in October 2020. File:The ceremony.jpg, Jean-Claude Dreymann sitting first on the left with his sister Cecile next to him File:Saint-Martin-Vésubie.jpg, A view of Saint-Martin-Vésubie from the nearby hillside File:Hotel de ville de Saint-Martin-Vésubie-2.jpg, Town hall File:Saint-Martin-Vésubie - Eglise Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption -6.JPG, Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption File:Saint-Martin-Vésubie et la vallée de la Vésubie vus de la route de la Colmiane.JPG, General view

Media

Saint-Martin features in the first scenes of '' Wandering Star'', the novel by J. M. G. Le Clézio.

References

External links

* & (

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...