Monaco home and held in the Drancy deportation camp outside the French capital before being transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was later killed. Blum's colleague Raoul Gunsbourg, the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, helped by the French Resistance, escaped arrest and fled to Switzerland. In August 1944, the Germans executed René Borghini, Joseph-Henri Lajoux and Esther Poggio, who were Resistance leaders. Rainier III, who ruled until 2005, succeeded to the throne following the death of his grandfather, Prince Louis II, in 1949. On 19 April 1956, Prince Rainier married the American actress Grace Kelly; the event was
National Day of Monaco National Day of Monaco The National Day of Monaco (, literally Prince's holiday) also known as The Sovereign Prince's Day is currently annually celebrated on 19 November. The date of the National day is traditionally determined by the reigning Prince. The previous Princes often chose the day of the saint they were named after. For instance the late Prince Rainier III chose 19 November, the day that celebrates St. Rainier. When Prince Albert II ascended the throne he ended this tradition by choosing the same day as his father, instead of the day of St. Albert, 15 November. The 19