Duhr himself modestly claims he was only doing his duty as a Frenchman. In 1982 the community of Thionville, in gratitude for his services during the war, helped him to visit Israel to receive the honor of Righteous Gentile from Yad Vashem.
Working as an administrator in charge of the town's food supply in the City Hall of Saint Georges les Baillargeaux, Nicholas arranged a robbery of official stamps, seals, city records, and other materials and documents intended for the town's population of two thousand. These materials enabled the underground to manufacture "authentic" identity papers and food ration coupons that saved many lives.
Typical of the many Jewish families he helped was Marcel Marx who says that Nicholas Duhr furnished him and his Jewish parents, while they were in hiding from Nazi arrest, with false identity cards, food, and a regular supply of food ration coupons, from January 1944 until liberation, thereby certainly saving their lives.
Throughout this period, Duhr never spoke of these activities, for which the penalty was death, with his wife. Later when she discovered all that he did, she was immensely proud.
Duhr himself modestly claims he was only doing his duty as a Frenchman. In 1982 the community of Thionville, in gratitude for his services during the war, helped him to visit Israel to receive the honor of Righteous Gentile from Yad Vashem.
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