Garden of the Righteous / Jardin des Justes

The Garden of the Righteous commemorates people in this region who helped Jews during the Holocaust. Among those honored are Paul and Régine Girard, who hid three Jewish children from 1943 to 1945 and were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. In response to the rise in anti-Semitic acts in France, a Garden of the Righteous was inaugurated in Chinon on 26 January 2024. It is located in the Vieux Marché, opposite the family home of Jacques Caen, part of whose family was deported and murdered in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. The 97-year-old survivor recalled the courage of the Righteous during the Holocaust and the need to imbibe that courage today. Since November 11, 2025, a street in Chinon has been named after Renée Caen, who was arrested there, deported and murdered in 1942 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. The inauguration took place during a ceremony attended by city officials and her youngest son, Jacques Caen, aged 98, who was taken by his mother to Joué-lès-Tours shortly before her arrest.

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