Departures of note

Justine Decourselle was a young French nurse and marathon runner from Pérols in the Hérault region. Working in an EHPAD nursing home, she was deeply moved by the wartime memories shared by elderly residents and made it her mission to keep those memories alive. In spring 2026 she set out on an extraordinary memorial feat, running 1,621 kilometers in 33 days from the Drancy internment camp to the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, following the old railway lines used by the deportation convoys. She departed on 13 April, the symbolic anniversary of the 1944 convoy 71 that carried 1,500 deportees including Simone Veil and the children of Izieu, and arrived on 15 May 2026. Along the way she placed painted pebbles at each significant stage, created by schoolchildren and citizens she met during her awareness-raising actions, to materialize the memory of those deported across Europe. Supported by the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, she became the emblem of the 'Course contre l'oubli' (Race against Forgetting). Justine lived with endometriosis and a functional neurological disorder while continuing her sporting life. She died suddenly on 15 October 2026 from cardiac arrest at the age of 26, prompting tributes from the mayor of Pérols and the Mémorial de la Shoah.