We are in the forty-eighth lesson in the chain of lineage, the life history of the Rebbe, part eight. We have reached 5697. It is recounted here that in 5697 he served as the secretary of his father-in-law, of holy blessed memory, who stayed for a certain period in Paris. We have documentation from that year, 5697, in the month of Shevat, when the Rebbe Rayatz traveled to Paris for medical treatment. Later that same year, in the month of Adar, the Rebbe Rayatz traveled to a town near Vienna, a resort town. From both of these periods we have, in the volume Igrot Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz, several letters signed with mem shin, which is the name of the Rebbe. We see from this that the Rebbe was, over a period of several weeks, the secretary of the previous Rebbe. All the letters that the previous Rebbe needed to write, the Rebbe served as his secretary for them. This is what is noted here in one line.
Now there is a skip here over the entire period of 5698-5699 (1938-1939). There is no description here, even though there are all sorts of stories about those years. Here it moves straight to 5700 (1940), already during the war. It is described thus: before the festival of Shavuot 5700, they leave Paris ahead of the Nazi occupation and relocate to Vichy. In the month of Sivan in the year 5700, the Nazis, may their name be blotted out, conquered Paris.
There is an interesting story that as soon as the Nazis conquered Paris, they issued an order that there should be a registration of all the residents, and each one would have to record the precise description—which religion, which race. They went and inspected house to house and registered everyone. They came to the Rebbe's house. At that time the Rebbe technically was not at home, and so they asked who lives in the house. When they got to the Rebbe's name, they asked what to write about him. They did not want to write 'Jew,' because they understood that this was already a dangerous period, and on the other hand they did not want to write something else, so they wrote 'Orthodox,' a general word that does not specify exactly. Afterward, when the Rebbe came home, he learned of what they had said. And the Rebbe hurried to the Nazi registration office and requested that they correct the entry, that it should be written 'Jew,' even though there was danger in this, so that, God forbid, nothing that is unconnected to Judaism should appear.
And here it is written that a few days before the holiday of Shavuot, the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin left Paris. Before leaving Paris, the Rebbetzin related that the Rebbe gathered the Jews who were there, encouraged them, and strengthened their trust in Hashem. There was a senior general in the French army who greatly esteemed the Rebbe, and he offered the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin a chateau that he had outside the city, and said: 'You can hide there, I am willing to give you the place.' The Rebbe was not willing, and said that it would be better to travel to Vichy, as is written here.
On one of the last trains that left Paris, the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin managed to board, and the Rebbetzin recounted that during the escape there was once a very heavy bombardment in that area. The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin entered some shelter, some shop. The Rebbetzin was truly frightened, and the Rebbe calmed her and gave her confidence that she should not fear anything. They arrived in Vichy, as noted here, before the eve of the festival of Shavuos, right toward evening, close to the sunset of the onset of the festival. The Rebbe had a suitcase, and in it was the frock coat with his top hat, and a few other things. The Rebbe gave the suitcase to a gentile wagon driver, and told him to travel to some hotel in Vichy to place it there. And the Rebbe walked with the Rebbetzin for several hours on foot until they arrived at night at that hotel.
In the following passage it is written that they stayed there several months, and from there they continued on to Nice. They arrived in Vichy on the eve of the festival of Shavuos of 5700, and were there several months until the end of the summer—Tammuz, Av, Elul. From there they continued to the south of France, to a place called Nice. This place was under Italian rule then, so it was much safer, and many Jews found refuge there in Nice. There the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin remained for about eight or nine months, until the summer of 5701, as I will relate further on, when they set out on their way to reach the United States.
Regarding Nice too, it is told that it was quite dangerous to be there, and people were in a great hurry to get out so as not to be seen. The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin did many things to help people in these places as well. There are stories that the Rebbetzin recounted over the years to those who visited her at home.
An interesting story: she told that in those years the refugees were searching for a place to lay their heads, so renting a room in a hotel was entirely out of the question—everything was taken. The talk was about renting a corridor in a hotel, some place to lay one's head, but even for that they weren't willing to give people a spot if the applicant didn't show that he had the financial ability to pay. In order to know if he had the financial ability to pay, one had to show that he possessed at least a hundred dollars, a bill that held very great value. The Rebbe had one such hundred-dollar bill, and the Rebbe would go around every day searching for Jews who had ended up stranded in the city under pressure and had no place, and he would give them the hundred-dollar bill: 'Go into the hotel, they'll give you a corner,' and then the bill passed to the Jews. After that this bill traveled around every day, and thanks to it many Jews succeeded in being accepted into some corner, because they saw that they had the means—that same bill that rolled from one to another.
Another interesting story from that same period, in Tishrei 5701. The Rebbe approached one of the rabbis who was there in Nice, and inquired of him about a halachic discussion as to whether it is permitted or obligatory to give up one's life for a mitzvah or for a hiddur mitzvah. They brought sources supporting both sides. At the end of the conversation it appeared that the matter remained undecided as to whether there is a need to give up one's life over this or not. After this discussion, the Rebbe disappeared from the area for a few days. Toward the end, the Rebbe returned with two beautiful esrogim, and brought that rabbi an esrog as a gift. It turns out that the Rebbe had traveled to one of the orchards that were close to the war lines near the Italian border, and obtained esrogim there so that he would have the possibility to fulfill the mitzvah on the festival of Sukkos. There are many stories about this, but here we will suffice with a sufficient summary on this point.