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Paris Rabbi, Aided to Escape by Catholics, Arrives Here

April 2, 1941
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Dr. N .J. Ovadia ,Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Paris , arrived here Sunday on the Portuguese steamship Serpa Pinto with his wife, who related that their escape from France had been aided by officials of a Catholic seminary.

They left Paris the day before the German occupation ,Mrs. Ovadia said , and found sanctuary in a Catholic seminary for four months while Gestapo agents sought the rabbi. The priests and nuns aided Dr. Ovadia to obtain an identity card so that he could evade the Nazis.

Another passenger on the Serpa Pinto was Naoum Aronson , famous Russian -born sculptor , who had lived in France for 50 years. The 67-year-old , white -bearded artist told with tears in his eyes that he could bring with him only photographs of his works. He had maintained six galleries in Paris before the Nazi invasion.

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