“Jean-François’ bakery” will be closed from Monday in Monswiller, in Bas-Rhin. For a fortnight. The baker will be on “annual leave”. Not anywhere and not really for tourism… He decided to go… to the Ukrainian-Polish border. Precisely in Medyka, where thousands of refugees have arrived since the start of the war with Russia.
There, Jean-François Novak intends to put his apron back on. “Me, my job is to make bread and they need it. So if we can help… ”, details the fifty-year-old (54), who did not make this decision on a whim. It stems, in a way, from his family history.
“All these images on TV marked me and reminded me of what my grandparents went through. On the paternal side, they had arrived in Moselle in 1920 to flee the famine in Russia and had not been well received at all, he explains. My father told me that they had been extorted by members of the French administration. For the smallest document, it was necessary for example to give a hen. And my maternal grandparents were expelled from the Moselle to the Lot during the Second World War because my grandfather was Italian. When they returned home, they had nothing left. I saw all that a bit when I saw the Ukrainian refugees. »
“I could have written a check to an association but…”
So the baker decided to get moving. In his way. “I could have made a check to an association to give me a good conscience but I need concrete”, supports Jean-François Novak. He therefore first approached customers “who have family in Poland” and the final destination became clearer. Then it was also necessary to refine its project.
“I first thought of bringing flour and equipment, but it’s very complicated and long. Finally, I leave by plane, Monday for Krakow, then will rent a vehicle on the spot to make the three hours of road until Medyka ” On the spot, the Lorrain of birth, arrived in Alsace in 1989, already planned to buy the raw materials needed. “I’m leaving with a certain budget but I don’t prefer to say so”.
“I do not control but I will adapt”
But where will he work? The craftsman admits it, the question is not yet settled. “I called traditional bakeries but it’s complicated. I do know, however, that there are quite a few mobile ones, in trucks or semi-trailers, where I should be able to help. “With a material not necessarily known but it does not matter. “I don’t have control but I will adapt with my thirty-five years of experience! »
Jean-François Novak has planned to stay until April 22. Before returning to Monswiller where… other refugees are waiting for him. Since the arrival of some at the youth hostel in Saverne, the neighboring town, he has delivered bread and pastries to them. His own way of seeing solidarity, thanks also to “suppliers who offered me the raw material”. “If we can help…”