Samuel-Herrmann, Vivette

Surname, Name The spelling of names follows “Spis imion żydowskich” [The list of Jewish first names] (Warszawa 1928), as it was the only means to avoid the doubling of people on the list. Exception was made for famous individuals whose names are widely known in another form than that proposed in “Spis”.	Samuel-Herrmann, Vivette
Date of birth	1919
Location The country with which the applicant was associated. This is most often the country of which he or she was a citizen. Many cases involve a presumption of the applicant’s citizenship. People named on the list have been assigned a citizenship according to the day of the outbreak of the Second World War in their countries of origin or residence (in the case of Austria and Czechoslovakia these dates are respectively March 11 and September 28, 1938; in the case of Germany the date is prior to the NSDAP coming to power). Cases of citizenship deprivation by European countries in the years 1918–1939 have not been included. The last known citizenship has been used for stateless individuals.	Paris
State The country with which the applicant was associated. This is most often the country of which he or she was a citizen. Many cases involve a presumption of the applicant’s citizenship. People named on the list have been assigned a citizenship according to the day of the outbreak of the Second World War in their countries of origin or residence (in the case of Austria and Czechoslovakia these dates are respectively March 11 and September 28, 1938; in the case of Germany the date is prior to the NSDAP coming to power). Cases of citizenship deprivation by European countries in the years 1918–1939 have not been included. The last known citizenship has been used for stateless individuals.	FR
Document	Haitian citizenship certificate
Fate	survived

Samuel Vivette (1919–2006) – a French social worker and a Director of the Society for Assistance to Children (French Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants, OSE)

Born on 23 May 1919 in Paris to the Herrmann family, she had one younger sister, Jose (born in 1924). Her parents, Nahum and Rachel née Spirt, were Ukrainian Jews who had met while studying in Odessa. Later, they each individually moved to Paris, where in 1916 they renewed their acquaintance and soon married. Vivette studied at the Sorbonne, graduating with a diploma in philosophy. She became politically involved during the Spanish Civil War. In October 1939, she took up work as a teacher in a secondary school in Paris, and remained employed there until the Germans entered the city in June 1940.

The family fled Paris to Vichy. A few months later, her parents and sister moved to Cannes, while she took up residence in Toulouse. There, she met Herta Field, an American representative of the Unitarian Service Committee, who informed her that the OSE was looking for people to take care of children. Those employed were to reside in the newly-established refugee camps. At the seat of the Society for Assistance to Children, Vivette met her future husband, Julien Samuel, a native of Alsace who was also working for the OSE. On 3 November 1940, she was sent to the internee camp of Rivesaltes, where she was tasked with helping to free children and organizing their transfer to OSE houses in other parts of France. She remained there until the summer of 1942. Next, Vivette moved to Lyon, where she continued to work for the OSE. She kept up a correspondence with Julien Samuel, who administered the medical and social Center of the OSE in Marseille. They became engaged in August 1942 and married at the Le Couret children’s home in October. For the next five months, Vivette and Julien lived and worked together in Marseille, until the deteriorating political situation forced the closure of the local OSE Center. They then moved to Limoges, where they played a key role in transforming the OSE into an underground organization. Vivette coordinated both official and secret teams of OSE employees in the area, while Julien administered the Center and supervised its underground activities, being involved, among others, in the procurement of falsified documents, and also making efforts to ensure that all of the OSE’s existing houses and orphanages were duly closed. In July 1943, the couple had their first child, Françoise Sara (later Elbaz).

After the War, Vivette and Julien continued to work for the OSE. Julien organized medical and social aid, while Vivette provided care for Jewish refugees in Chambery. They next moved to Paris, where they had two more children: Jean-Pierre (1945) and Nicole (later Guinard) (1948).

She died in Paris on 16 July 2006.