Tribute to graphic designer and illustratorJean Tochewho, adolescent, lived the events of theSecond World Warbetween Nice and the high valley of Var.
The Intimacy to the Service of History
After a career as a teacher and graphic designer, he delivered, during the last years of his life, an unpublished testimony of his youth years mixing texts and drawings and paying tribute to the role played by his brother, Emile, and his parents in the rescue ofTwo Jewish families in 1942-1944.
The Vichy regime and the rise of anti-Semitism in France
Between 1940 and 1944, France lived under the Vichy regime, inspired by a nationalist and anti-Semitic ideology. Jean, like the children of his age, participates in the patriotic ceremonies organized in Nice. The political climate is marked by propaganda and indoctrination, while the persecution of the Jews is intensifying, culminating in the great raids of the end of 1943 and the deportation of thousands of families, after the departure of the Italians and the arrival of the Germans.
In the Nice region, resistance is gradually organized. Jean Toche describes how the maquis of the Upper Var Valley mobilize to fight against German forces. The village of Entraunes, where Mathilde Toche and his daughters settled with the Bauchman family, became a refuge for the resistors and the hotel, a fortune hospital for the wounded.
With the contest of theToche family,This exhibition of the Nice Côte d’Azur Archives department proposes to address the great History through the path of a niçois teenager whose illustrated story is punctuated with original archival documents.
Linking the little story to the great story...
The exhibition is not limited to a simple historical reconstruction but offersan immersion in a teenager’s lifeJohn, and his family, who took considerable risks to save Jewish families. The exhibition is thus a tribute to collective memory through an individual narrative addressing the context of the Vichy regime, the rise of anti-Semitism and the living conditions under the Occupation.
Silent resistance: the Toche family and the rescue of Jewish families
The Toche family, despite the climate of terror and repression, helps two Jewish families escape the Nazi raids. Jean Toche tells how his eldest brother, Émile, became friends with Elie Benaroya, his classmate at Massena High School. Thanks to the solidarity and courage of the Toche family, the Benaroya family and the Bauchman family survive the war.
Beyond a simple testimony, Jean Toche offers us a story where texts and drawings intertwine to give life to the memories of his adolescence. A professional graphic designer, he puts in the service of memory his artistic talents, offering fragments of his history in the form of illustrated scenes. This artistic story makes this exhibition a unique encounter between memory and creative expression.
To discover the story of his memories:Fragments of memory