Loinger began fighting against
Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, but was captured in 1940. He escaped from his prisoner-of-war camp later that year and joined the
French Resistance. He rescued about 350 Jewish children, and helped them to escape from France to Switzerland, Until September 1943, this frontier was guarded by the Italian army; Loinger remembered an Italian senior officer privately telling him he approved of Loinger's actions. After September, there was German occupation and Loinger's task became harder. A physical education teacher, he used tactics such as organizing soccer games in
Annemasse on the border of Geneva, and having players continue running across the border guarded only by barbed wire. ==Awards and honours==