Pierrette-Marcelle (Cathie) Poirier-Prous (1909-?) rescued 236 Jewish children and numerous Jewish adults between 1941 and 1944. In 1941, recently widowed, she moved to Poitiers, where she was alarmed to see Jewish children marked with the yellow star. The concentration camp nearby, Route de Limoges, released the children each day, to be fed by local Jewish families, then locked them up at nightfall. Cathie brought dozens of these children into her home for French lessons, which improved their chances of escaping deportation to death camps. Working with several service organizations, the French Resistance, and with the support of the Archbishop of Bourges, she found shelter for the children with families, convents, and schools. As part of a network, she distributed smuggled funds to help sustain them. She also rescued many Jewish adults from Poland and Czechoslovakia. The authorities frequently detained and sometimes arrested her. Each time, she managed to save herself. By the end, she suffered malnutrition and mental collapse, from which she felt she never fully recovered.
Source: http://www.humboldt.edu/~rescuers/book/album/poir/prous.html
