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Saint-Martin-Vésubie

Please expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French Wikipedia. (December 2008)
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Coordinates: 44°04′09″N 7°15′24″E / 44.0691666667°N 7.25666666667°E / 44.0691666667; 7.25666666667

Administration
Commune of Saint-Martin-Vésubie

Location
Saint-Martin-Vésubie
Country	France
Region	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Department	Alpes-Maritimes
Arrondissement	Arrondissement of Nice
Canton	Saint-Martin-Vésubie
Intercommunality	Vésubie–Mercantour
Mayor	Gaston Franco (2001–2008)
Statistics
Elevation	715–3,120 m (2,350–10,240 ft) (avg. 960 m/3,100 ft)
Land area¹	97.13 km² (37.50 sq mi)
Population²	1,300 (2004)
- Density	13 /km² (34 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	06127/ 06450
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Saint-Martin-Vésubie is a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes department in south-eastern France.

Established on the edge of a glacial plate, San Martin first appears in recorded history in the XIII century, although there are archaeological remnants of a Romanized indigenous population dating back to the first century.

The medieval castrum, or fortification, extends along a cliff overlooking Valley of the Madonna through which ran the old Salt Road that extended from the Piedmont to the port city of Nice.

It was part of the historic County of Nice until 1860 as San Martino Vesubia.

In World War II, the Alpes-Maritimes were occupied by the Italian Fourth Army November 11, 1942. The sympathy of the Italian authorities caused the area to become a safe haven for thousands of Jewish refugees. Jews were able to achieve a modicum of safety and legal residency under the Italian authorities, who relocated them to Saint-Martin-Vesubie.

The simpathy of the Italian authorities was mainly due to the work of the Italian Jewish banker Angelo Donati, who was living in Nice and convinced them to protect the Jews from French and German persecution.

After the Italian Armistice in September 1943, and under direct threat from the German authorities, a thousand of Saint-Martin's Jews made the climb up the Old Salt Road mountain passes in the Gesso Valley and what they thought was the safety of Italy . All the remaining Jews in Saint-Martin were arrested and transported to Auschwitz. For more information, see the Fondazione Memoria della Deportazione at http://www.deportati.it/en_borgo_sd.html.

Saint-Martin features in the first scenes of "Wandering Star", the 2008 Nobel Prize winning novel by J.M.G. Le Clezio.