Concepción Faya Blásquez

Concepcion was born on November 30 , 1905 in Andalusia , Spain . In 1926 , she moved to Pamirs (N), on the French-Spanish border, together with her husband, because there was a need for foreign labor in France following the First World War . Concepcion found work in a clothing factory and the couple had four children. During the Spanish Civil War , the family returned to Spain. Her husband joined the Spanish Republican Army and was killed in the war. The widow Concepcion decided to return with her children to the Pamiers.

Activity during the Holocaust to save Jews

When the Second World War began in France, Concepcion and her children were imprisoned in the Rivezalet concentration camp in France, like other Spanish citizens. They stayed there until November 1942 , when they were transferred to the Giers detention camp in southern France. In the detention camp, Concepcion met Alice Mizrahi and her two children, Jacques and Giselle. The family members came from Paris after Alice's husband was arrested in their home in 1942 by Vichy government officials and sent east, never to return. Following his arrest, Alice decided to run away with her two children, and change their last name to Moreno, her maiden name, in order to try to prevent their deportation to Auschwitz . They were caught trying to escape and sent to the Gires detention camp. A friendship soon developed between Alice and Concepcion.

Confession and her children were released on May 26 , 1943 from the detention camp and returned to Pamiers. Alice and her children, thanks to her aunt, were also released from the camp shortly after. Alice knew that she and her children had no safe place to go, so she decided to write to Concepcion and ask for its help. Concepcion immediately agreed to host Alice and her children in her modest two-bedroom apartment in the Pamirs.

Later, Concepcion responded to Alice's request to bring her two nephews Maurice and Regine Moreno to the Premiers as well. Concepcion arrived in Paris herself and brought the children safely to Pamiers under false identities. In March 1944 Alice had her third child, Michel. Thus, 11 people lived densely in Concepcion's small apartment, six of whom lived under false identities. Concepcion introduced the Mizrahi family children to her neighbors as her nieces from Paris. They all reported to church every Sunday to avoid suspicion from the neighbors. The Mizrahi family stayed with Concepcion until the end of the war. Concepcion worked several jobs in order to get money to feed all the family members.

During the entire period of the Mizrahi family's stay in Concepcion's home, she never hesitated to help, despite the great danger posed by this act to Concepcion and her four children.

Morris and Regine testified that "Concepcion was a quiet, amazing and brave woman, to whom we owe our lives."

Recognition and commemoration

On May 25, 2011, Concepcion Paya Lassek was recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations, and her name was inscribed on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem . Her eldest daughter, Angela Dabiona Paya, received a medal and a certificate in her name attesting to this, in a ceremony held in Paris.