A Tale of Two Schools: a Brooklyn-France Connection in the Aftermath of World War II

On December 12, 1947, Madame Carrillon, La Directrice of Collège Jules-Ferry in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France wrote to Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn: 

"Nous nous disons un grand merci du fond du coeur... Nous n'oublierons jamais les gestes généreux de solidarité que vous avez faites en notre faveur...

Pour moi, fille d'un officier de réserve, mort au Champ d'Honneur en 1914, et volontaire, car il n'était plus d'âge à aller [illegible] le front -- femme d'un combattant de cette même guerre sauvé par miracle, avec une terrible blessure dont il suffrira toute sa vie et qui connaissait bien et aimait nos amis Americains, je n'ai pas à vous dire les sentiments d'amitié qui me [illegible] à votre peuple." ([Letter from Madame Carrillon to Packer], The Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019, Box 533, Folder 11; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History)

A typewritten translation accompanies this letter in The Packer Collegiate Institute records (2014.019):

"We send you our thanks from the bottom of our hearts... We shall never forget the generous gestures of solidarity which you had in our favor...

As for me, daughter of a reserve officer killed on the field of honour in 1914, after having enlisted, for he no longer was of an age to go to the front, wife of a soldier who, in that same war was saved by a miracle but with a terrible wound of which he will suffer all his life, and who knew and loved our American friends, I can hardly tell you the friendship which I feel for your people." ([Translation of letter from Madame Carrillon to Packer], 1947, Box 533, Folder 11)

Carrillon wrote this letter to Packer to acknowledge the clothing, food, and money sent over in 1947 through the Save the Children Federation's Overseas School Sponsorship Program. The program connected schools in the United States with schools in other countries to donate funds and supplies: "The objective is to restore the health of the children, to give them shoes and clothing so they can go to school and supplies to work with when they are there" ([Sponsorship certificate], Box 533, Folder 11). After sending $150 to the Save the Children Federation in March 1947, Packer was paired with College Jules-Ferry in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, a school that had also sent a letter to Packer just the year before asking for assistance.

Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, a town in the Vosges mountains in the Lorraine region of France, was hit hard during World War II. The German army occupied Saint-Dié throughout the war and destroyed most of the town when withdrawing in November 1944. To make the arrival for American soldiers as difficult as possible, the German army forcefully removed French men into Germany, evacuated most of the inhabitants, and set the town on fire, including structures that had been standing since medieval times. (To hear from survivors of the German occupation of Saint-Dié and learn more about the events of November 1944, visit Témoignages, le prix de la Libération [Testimonies, the price of liberation].)

One of the buildings left in ruins housed Collège Jules-Ferry, a private girls' school. After the destruction of 1944, the headmistress found a house where they could continue to hold classes for girls who lived close enough to travel to and from school every day. In October 1945, three wooden huts were built along the river to accommodate classes for all 270 students and boarding students stayed overnight in the house. Having room for boarding students at this time was important because "Many overcrowded families lived in one single room without either electric light, running water or even lavatories. Several of the girls who were lucky enough to have a bicycle left would cycle 15 and even 20 miles every day by any kind of weather to come to school" ([Letter from Thérèse Montredon to Packer], March 10, 1947, Box 533, Folder 11). 

In the mid-1940s, Packer Collegiate Institute, located in Brooklyn Heights, was also a private girl's school, but their recovery from the effects of World War II was going much better. In his President's Report to the Trustees for the 1945-1946 school year, President Paul D. Shafer states that the financial situation was "quite satisfactory." In fact, salaries increased for "most faculty members and for all maintenance and cafeteria staff members," pensions increased, and contributions to the pension fund were increased. The trustees decided to increase tuition for the 1946-1947 school year and expected enrollment numbers to go up, so did not expect their good financial footing to change. The report acknowledges some building maintenance had to be put off "because of the poor quality of war-time paint and the high cost as well as the scarcity of labor." Still, "new wood-working machines... a duplicator for the department of Secretarial Studies, a new silent record player with earphones..., and additional chairs and desks for the lower elementary grades were equipment purchases during the year" and there were plans for money to be spent on further "building repair and improvement" ([President's Report to the Trustees], 1946, Box 16, Folder 6). 

In his reports, Shafer stresses the importance of extracurricular activities at Packer in addition to regular classes. Extra-curricular activities are "more definitely directed by the students and perhaps can be said to represent the recognized interests of today..." The Student Council, with the assistance of teacher advisors, was in charge of "all financial and other drives for all social service work" ([President's Report to the Trustees], 1947, Box 16, Folder 6).

In his 1946-1947 academic year report, Shafer lists the gifts to Saint-Dié that the Student Council collected among their other social service activities:

"...at Thanksgiving, 32 baskets of food were distributed; at Christmas $437.40 was contributed to eight organizations... ; to College Jules Ferry, a private school in France, were sent ten cartons of clothes and $150; to CARE, $39.23 for food for Europeans; to the Red Cross, $502.21; and to the School Settlement for milk, $170.20" ([President's Report to the Trustees], 1947, Box 16, Folder 6).

Any items that Packer's Student Council collected were sent to the Save the Children Federation workroom in Manhattan to be packed up and forwarded to Saint-Dié. A delivery confirmation from the Save the Children Federation reports that 128 pounds of clothing, 10 pairs of shoes, 20 pairs of rubbers, and school supplies were delivered to College Jules-Ferry in on December 17, 1947 (possibly from a Thanksgiving 1947 collection drive) ([Save the Children Federation delivery confirmation], 1948, Box 533, Folder 11). 

In March 1948, Packer partially renewed their sponsorship with the Save the Children Federation, giving $100 that had been raised by the students. Packer Secretary Elinor Clark explained that this was not a full sponsorship amount because Packer had not received enough communication from Collège Jules-Ferry to know "how great their need at present may be." She also reported Packer would likely not be renewing their sponsorship in 1949 ([Letter from Elinor Clark to Save the Children Federation], Box 533, Folder 11). The Director of Overseas Sponsorships at Save the Children Federation, Florence L. Batson, thanked Packer for the contribution and added that they would need to find an additional sponsor for Collège Jules-Ferry since the school was "very large - 325 pupils" at that time ([Letter from Batson to Clark], March 24, 1948, Box 533, Folder 11).

The Student Council and supporting faculty must have still seen a need to support the Saint-Dié school because a Save the Children Federation delivery confirmation reports that 120 pounds of clothing, 10 pairs of shoes, and 3 cases of "special gifts" weighing at 440 pounds arrived for Collège Jules-Ferry on May 1, 1948. 

It seems some other miscommunications affected Packer's sponsorship of Collège Jules-Ferry. In October 1948, Elinor Clark wrote again to Batson, reporting that a teacher visited Saint-Dié over the summer and was told that Collège Jules-Ferry received only one delivery of clothing Packer had collected and there was no evidence of the money Packer had sent to the Save the Children Federation ([Letter from Clark to Batson], October 1, 1948, Box 533, Folder 11). A letter in response from Batson assured Clark that Collège Jules-Ferry had in fact received three deliveries up to that point. Their $100 sponsorship renewal earlier in 1948 also paid for the Save the Children Federation to send over 180 pounds of clothing, 30 pairs of shoes, and 1 unit of school supplies ([Letter from Batson to Clark], October 4, 1948, Box 533, Folder 11). 

Batson's assurances must have been satisfactory because Packer students then collected food for Collège Jules-Ferry as a part of their Thanksgiving program in November 1948. According to a December 12, 1948 Brooklyn Daily Eagle article (page 13), Packer planned to ship over 1,000 pounds of food from this collection to Saint-Dié. A handwritten note in The Packer Collegiate Institute records dated November 24, 1948 sums up the food that was collected: "Fat, cocoa, pudding mixes, hard candy, rice, spaghetti, canned soups +vegetables and meat +fruit" ([Handwritten note regarding sponsorship], November 24, 1948, Box 533, Folder 11).

In June and December 1948, Collège Jules-Ferry students sent thank you letters and drawings to Packer to acknowledge the donations. Drawings show the barracks students attended classes in and what the town looked like after the war. The letters are addressed to "Chères amies lointaines" ("Dear distant friends") and include drawings in the margins.

Paul D. Shafer's President's Report to the Trustees in 1949-1950 does not mention the Save the Children Federation sponsorship, so it may have ended after the 1948-1949 academic year. However, The Packer Collegiate Institute records also includes letters and photographs from individual children writing to Packer asking for help for their families. On May 25, 1948, Heinz Lunge wrote to Packer thanking them for the Christmas gifts sent to him and his family in Bad Homburg, Germany. On August 8, 1948, Fritz Florack in Waldbreitbach, Germany wrote to Packer for money and food after his family was displaced during the war. 

In December 1948, Madame Abel Ferry, Chairman of the Committee for Aid to St. Dié, visited the United States to advocate for more aid for the town. She also visited Packer to personally thank them and present them with two documents in recognition for the clothing and food they had sent to Collège Jules-Ferry over the past few years. 

One gifted document titled "Godmother of America" ("la ville marraine de l'Amérique") is a facsimile and English translation of a page of the "Cosmographiae introductio," a book printed in 1507 in Saint-Dié. Saint-Dié is known as the "Godmother of America" because this book is credited with being the text where "America" was first proposed to be named after Amerigo Vespucci. The book was rescued before Germans burned down the town in 1944.

The second document is a facsimile and English translation of the deed of donation of the Statue of Liberty to the United States on July 4, 1884. Jules Ferry, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges native and the man after which Collège Jules-Ferry is named, signed the deed when he was France's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Both documents are inscribed with words of gratitude to the staff and students of Packer. It appears these documents had been framed and displayed at one point, but the plastic coverings have become sticky, yellowed, and shrunken, separating from the matting. They are now in the Packer Collegiate Institute records at the Center for Brooklyn History and evidence of this post-war friendship.