Historian Reveals Andorran Police's Betrayal of Dutch Jews to Auschwitz

Historian Claude Benet has uncovered the tragic fate of three Dutch Jews—Simon Person, his mother Eva, and Cornelia Schilanski—arrested by Andorran police in 1942 while attempting to flee Nazi persecution. Unlike some successful escapes through Andorra during World War II, they were handed back to French authorities and ultimately deported to Auschwitz.

The case, detailed in Benet's ongoing research on guides, fugitives, and spies in Andorra during the war, draws from a November 16, 1942, report by the French gendarmerie in Merens-les-Vals. Simon Person, born April 6, 1907, in Amsterdam, lived at 179 Avenue du Prado in Marseille. Described as Dutch, Jewish, married but childless, and without a known profession, he told gendarmes he fled Marseille on November 11 via rugged paths to Tarascon, then through the Vicdessos valley into Andorra. There, Andorran police detained him and expelled the group back to France, delivering them to German forces at Pas de la Casa.

The Germans confiscated their money and identity documents before French gendarmes arrested them for illegal border crossing. The trio was sent first to the Gurs internment camp, then to Drancy near Paris—a staging point for deportations. All three arrived at Auschwitz in March 1943, after which records cease.

This incident contrasts sharply with a rescue just days earlier on November 12, 1943, when Andorran police at Pas de la Casa intervened to save Carla Berson (later Kimhi), aged 12, her parents Sigmund and Classa Zivosa, and brother Heins from a German border patrol. The family reached Madrid by March 23, 1944, and sailed on the Nyassa to Haifa, arriving January 22, 1945. In 2015, Kimhi publicly thanked Andorran authorities in the Govern chamber for the officers' actions.

Benet's findings highlight Andorra's dual role during the war. While some police showed bravery, others followed orders from veguer Lesmartres or secretary Larrieu, leading to expulsions. Earlier, in September 1942, Larrieu ordered the deportation of Jewish couple Rosenthal from Andorra la Vella's Hotel Pyrénées after seizing their money and jewelry; a police officer escorted them to Acs. French smuggler Pierre Saint Laurens also recalled encountering a truck of Jews near Port d'Envalira, awaiting repatriation under Larrieu's command.

These cases illustrate how Andorran forces enabled both lifesaving acts and deadly betrayals amid the wartime chaos of fugitives crossing its borders.