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= Leon Roitman = Leon Roitman (1925-1993) was a French Jewish resistance fighter during World War II. He was a member of the Armée Juive (Jewish Army), a Zionist underground organization that helped rescue Jews from Nazi persecution and deportation.

During WWII
Roitman was born in Paris in 1925 to a Jewish family of Polish origin. He attended a Jewish school and joined the Zionist youth movement *Mouvement de la Jeunesse Sioniste (MJS) in 1939. After the German occupation of France in 1940, he became active in the resistance, using the alias Jean Sirot.

He was one of the founders of the Armée Juive, along with Abraham Polonski and Robert Gamzon. The Armée Juive operated mainly in southern France, where it established escape routes, safe houses, forged documents, and armed units. Roitman was involved in several daring operations, such as rescuing children from internment camps and rescuing Jews from the gestapo prison.

In Poitiers, Léon Roitman, then sixteen years old, joined groups individually. He engaged in anti-fascist activities, such as pasting anti-Nazi posters. After class, he participated with Rabbi Elie Bloch in the rescue of children interned in the camps. He crossed the demarcation line to Jews threatened with deportation.

During the winter of 1942, the peasant with whom he worked as part of the STO (Service du travail obligatoire) denounced him because he wanted to leave him because of the raids. Léon was arrested by French gendarmes. He manages to distort their company, but finds himself in Toulouse station in front of a poster with his portrait where it is stressed that he is "wanted for attempted murder". He joined the Jewish Army (AJ) in November 1942.

At the end of November 1942, learning that his older brother, Paul, had been arrested by the Germans in the Pyrenean region, he decided to do everything possible to save him. He happens to know that Paul is incarcerated at Fort du Hâ, in the Bordeaux region. Léon contacts acquaintances who put him in touch with the German commander, in charge of the internees at the fort. There, he manages to combine a very clever, daring and dangerous action that will lead to the liberation of his brother Paul in April 1943. On the same date, he joined the MJS (Zionist Youth Movement) in Grenoble. As soon as he arrived, he was mobilized by Simon Levite and Otto Giniewski who took him as one of his assistants.

In May 1943, he threw himself fully into his new mission whose goal was to set up the famous service of false papers (the "synths") of Grenoble, which succeeded beyond all expectations. Finally, he takes care of new recruits, introduces them to synths and takes care of their well-being.

By the time Italy signed the armistice with the Allies, the atmosphere in German-occupied Grenoble became unbreathable. The Grenoble group disperses; a large part, including Léon Roitman, settled in Toulouse and the surrounding area. Léon, still in the "synth" department, established very good contacts with the local clergy who helped him to widen the radius of his activity.

In May 1944, his brother Jacques, responsible for the crossings in Spain, was arrested. Léon took over the direction of these passages until the Liberation.

The ALIYAH
He also helped organize the Aliyah Bet, the illegal immigration of Jewish survivors to Palestine. He himself made Aliyah in 1946 and joined the Haganah, the Jewish defense force that fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Personal life
after the war Leon married Sabine Einhorn

Legacy
Roitman was recognized as one of the heroes of the French Jewish resistance by several organizations and institutions. He received the Jewish Rescuers Citation from B'nai B'rith World Center-Jerusalem and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers during the Holocaust in 2021². He also received the *Médaille de la Résistance* (Resistance Medal) and the *Croix de Guerre* (War Cross) from the French government.

His story is featured in several documentaries and exhibitions, such as *Came out of the fog* by Raziel Mamet