DOCSLIB.ORG

The Orphan Story of British Women and Internment in Occupied France

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Orphan Story of British Women and Internment in Occupied France The orphan story of British women and internment in Occupied France Ayshka Sené Presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (European Languages & Translation Studies) Cardiff University 2018 ANNEX 1: Specimen layout for Declaration/Statements page to be included in a thesis. DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed ……………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………….…………….……… STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of ………(insert MCh, MD, MPhil, PhD etc, as appropriate) Signed ………………………………………….(candidate) Date …………………………….…………… STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated, and the thesis has not been edited by a third party beyond what is permitted by Cardiff University’s Policy on the Use of Third Party Editors by Research Degree Students. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed ……………………………………….(candidate) Date …………………….………………… STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available online in the University’s Open Access repository and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………………………… STATEMENT 4: PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BAR ON ACCES I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available online in the University’s Open Access repository and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Academic Standards & Quality Committee. Signed ………………………………………….. (candidate) Date ………………………………………… The orphan story of British women in Occupied France: History, Memory, Legacy Ayshka Sené Abstract This thesis examines the ‘orphan story’ of British women in occupied France. It focuses in particular on the experiences of British women interned in Besançon and Vittel, two internment camps in Eastern France, during the Second World War. It contextualises such stories of incarceration within the broader experiences and narratives of British women in wartime France, and it questions why these experiences of internment have been overlooked until now. Existing work on British women in France has tended to focus on the exploits of young women who served as Special Operations Executive agents (Pattinson 2007), contributing to a highlighting of the heroic and glamorous aspects of resistance. This reflects a small proportion of the British women in Occupied France when compared with the 3900 internees in Besançon in December 1940, and does not account for the everyday experiences of British women from different generations and social backgrounds. Drawing on biographies published between 2007 and 2014 about British women interned in Besançon and Vittel, and a significant corpus of archival material (unpublished diaries, correspondence, oral history recordings, foreign office reports, photographs, and drawings related to their experiences), this thesis interrogates such current understandings and stereotypes about British women during the Second World War in France. Since wartime is a ‘particularly fertile time at which to see the nation at work’ (Purcell 2007, p.7), it does so by highlighting how notions of ‘Britishness’ and national identity influenced these women. Indeed, this study reveals the importance of national identity in shaping British women’s experiences between 1939 and 1944. Until December 1940, despite the increasing Nazi threat, women with the strongest sense of belonging to France were the most likely to remain, undeterred by strong recommendations from the British government to leave. Categories such as ‘enemy alien’ meant that British women who had ‘belonged’ in France for decades were ostracised by some French people, as Britain was labelled an enemy and a traitor in Vichy and Nazi propaganda. This thesis reveals the slippage between national identities experienced by these women and demonstrates that many internees discovered or reawakened their sense of Britishness during this period. Some actively chose to ‘flag’ (Billig 1995), their British nationality over other identities to survive. Finally, using biographies written by relatives of these women, it evaluates the inter-generational transmission of these wartime experiences. It argues that their life stories have remained peripheral in popular memories of the war. These are ‘orphan stories’ as such life experiences sat in-between national narratives in Britain and France, and, even today, do not align with depictions of the British national self as ‘triumphant’ or ‘tragically defeated’ (Daase 2010, p.19). Page 2 of 266 The orphan story of British women in Occupied France: History, Memory, Legacy Ayshka Sené Acknowledgments This thesis is dedicated to my grandparents’ generation. I have always loved hearing their stories and have found the process of telling tales as fascinating as the tales themselves. I love watching people come alive as they remember, and I am delighted that the individuals whom I have met during this research were willing to share their memories, and those of their relatives, with me. My thanks go to all those who have entrusted me with their stories. I am fortunate to have been inspired by several talented and trailblazing women during this research, none more so than my two excellent supervisors. Professor Hanna Diamond first planted the seed of ‘further study’ at the end of my undergraduate degree in 2012, and I am so pleased that she did. Hanna you have been a kind, encouraging, enthusiastic, and supportive lecturer and supervisor for the last 10 years. Thank you for introducing me to this field of study, sparking an interest in women’s history back in 2008 in Bath, and for your investment in me ever since. Professor Claire Gorrara, I have so appreciated your passion, patience, your confidence in me, and your immense knowledge. Thank you for encouraging me to find my own voice! I think you are brilliant. My sincere thanks to the AHRC South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership who funded this research and to all in the School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University for their support. I am indebted to the relatives of British women who have offered me advice as well as shared their family histories during this research: Dr Katherine Lack, Dr Valerie Hannagan Lewis, and Nicholas Shakespeare. To those who allowed me to consult their personal archives, photographs, diaries, and stories: Danièle and Michèle Garabedian, Kathleen Degrassat, and John Hales. Also, to Jacqueline Verrier at the Musée du Patrimoine, Vittel, to Claude Poinsot for sharing his own research on the camp with me, and to the staff at the Mairie de Vittel for their time and assistance with the archival research. Finally, I am grateful to my family and friends who have supported and encouraged me from the offset. Jenny, for being the first person who was willing to read the thesis. Dr Esther Liu, thank you for paving the way and providing the perfect balance of wisdom and light relief. The Katz’s – you have sustained me with tea, chocolate and giggles! Sj thank you for keeping me well and encouraging me to look after myself. My remarkable Mum, my first example of a strong, intelligent, and independent woman, thank you for always being there. And to my incredible husband, I love you. Ultimate thanks go to my Heavenly Father who made all of this possible. Page 3 of 266 The orphan story of British women in Occupied France: History, Memory, Legacy Ayshka Sené Table of Contents List of Illustrations ............................................................................................................ 6 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 7 1.1 The place of British women in everyday life in Occupied France ......................................... 10 1.2 The ‘heroic British woman’ in wartime France and Britain ................................................. 15 1.3 National identity and British women’s wartime experience ............................................... 19 1.4 Remembering: the transmission of British women's experiences of the Second World War 23 2. Methodology .............................................................................................................. 30 2.1 Methodological considerations: using life history narratives .............................................. 31 Life history research .................................................................................................................................... 31 Written testimony ....................................................................................................................................... 34 Oral history .................................................................................................................................................. 35 2.2 Oral history, Composure and the Transmission of memory ................................................ 39 2.3 Participant sampling and ethical considerations ................................................................ 42 2.4 Research design and source materials ............................................................................... 44 Conducting the Fieldwork ..........................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • L'internement En France 1940-1946
    PROJET ÉDUCATION DES ROMS | HISTOIRE ENFANTS ROMS COUNCIL CONSEIL OF EUROPE DE L´EUROPE EN EUROPE L’INTERNEMENT 5.3 EN FRANCE 1940-1946 l’internement en France 1940-1946 Marie-Christine Hubert Identifier les « Tsiganes » et suivre leurs mouvements | Ordres d’assignation à résidence des « nomades » vivant sur le territoire du troisième Reich | Internement dans la zone libre | Internement dans la zone occupée | Après la Libération | Vie quotidienne dans les camps | Cas de déportation depuis les camps d’internement français En France, deux approches différentes mais parallèles coexistent concernant ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler « la question tsigane ». L’approche française consistant à recourir à l’internement afin d’intégrer les « Tsiganes » à la société majoritaire prévaut sur l’approche allemande de l’internement en tant que première phase de l’assassinat collectif. De sorte que les Roms de France, à la différence de leurs homologues des autres pays occupés par les Allemands, ne seront pas exterminés dans le camp d’Auschwitz. Toutefois, ils n’échappent pas à la persécution : des familles entières sont internées dans des camps spéciaux à travers tout le pays pendant et après l’occupation. CAMPS D’INTERNEMENT POUR « TSIGANES » INTRODUCTION EN FRANCE DURANT LA SECONDE GUERRE MONDIALE Ill. 1 Alors que dans les années 1930, en Allemagne, (par Jo Saville et Marie-Christine Hubert, extrait du Bulletin la « question tsigane » est considérée comme de l’Association des Enfants cachés, n° 8, mars 1998) 4 ZONE GOUVERNÉE DEPUIS LE QUARTIER GÉNÉRAL compliquée, dans la mesure où elle englobe des NB. Les autres camps d’internement (ceux destinés ALLEMAND DE BRUXELLES aspects raciaux, sociaux et culturels, les auto- aux Juifs) ne figurent pas sur cette carte.
    [Show full text]
  • Maintenir L'ordre À Lyon 1940-1943
    Université Lyon 2 IEP de Lyon Séminaire d’Histoire contemporaine Mémoire de fin d’études Maintenir l’ordre à Lyon 1940-1943 MANZONI Delphine Sous la direction de Bruno Benoît Mémoire soutenu le 04/09/2007 Table des matières Dédicace . 5 Remerciements . 6 Introduction générale . 7 Chapitre préliminaire : De la défaite à l’instauration d’un ordre nouveau : L’état des lieux de la France et de la ville de Lyon en 1940 . 12 I De la drôle de guerre à la débâcle : La France foudroyée20 . 14 A – Une guerre qui se fait attendre… . 14 B – …Mais qui ne s’éternise pas : une défaite à plate couture . 16 II L’instauration d’un ordre nouveau . 18 A- L’Etat français ou la mise en place d’une véritable monarchie pétainiste . 18 B- La révolution nationale : l’ordre nouveau au service du III Reich . 21 Chapitre I : Les protagonistes du maintien de l’ordre . 25 Introduction : Créer une police au service de Vichy : étatisation et épuration de la police . 25 I La mise en place d’un état policier : police nationale et polices spéciales, la distribution des compétences au service de l’ordre nouveau . 26 A- Deux réformes majeures pour une police nationale au service de Vichy . 27 B- Les polices spéciales : police politique de Vichy . 35 II La construction d’un nouvel édifice policier : le préfet régional, pivot du système . 39 A- Le préfet de région : innovation majeur de Vichy dans un objectif de concentration . 39 B- Le préfet de région : sommet de la hiérarchie locale . 43 Conclusion . 48 Chapitre 2 : Le maintien de l’ordre au quotidien .
    [Show full text]
  • Magnetotelluric Study of the Remiremont-Epinal-Rambervillers
    Magnetotelluric study of the Remiremont-Epinal-Rambervillers zone of migrating seismicity, Vosges (France) Sylvain Bourlange, Mahmoud Mekkawi, Marianne Conin, Pierre-André Schnegg To cite this version: Sylvain Bourlange, Mahmoud Mekkawi, Marianne Conin, Pierre-André Schnegg. Magnetotelluric study of the Remiremont-Epinal-Rambervillers zone of migrating seismicity, Vosges (France). BSGF earth sciences bulletin, Société géologique de France, 2012. hal-02457836 HAL Id: hal-02457836 https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-02457836 Submitted on 28 Jan 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution| 4.0 International License Bull. Soc. géol. France, 2012, t. 183, no 5, pp. 461-470 Magnetotelluric study of the Remiremont-Epinal-Rambervillers zone of migrating seismicity, Vosges (France) SYLVAIN BOURLANGE1,MAHMOUD MEKKAWI2,MARIANNE CONIN3 and PIERRE-ANDRÉ SCHNEGG4 Key-words. – Magnetotelluric, Fluids, Fault network, Seismicity, Vosges Massif. Abstract. – The magnetotelluric method has been used to image the deep electrical structure of the Remiremont-Epinal-Rambervillers region in the French Vosges Massif, which has presented a significant seismic activ- ity in the past decades. Several earthquakes of moderate magnitude (up to 5.1) occurred in this area with a systematic migration along a nearly N-S direction.
    [Show full text]
  • The Paris Apartment Is a Work of Fiction
    READI NG GROUP GU I DE PhotosOfYou_TPTextFP Epilogue 2019-11-26 15:34:54 335 AUTHOR’S NOTE The Paris Apartment is a work of fiction. While a product of my imagination, the premises and characters I’ve chosen to create are inspired by real people and real events. The characters of Sophie Seymour and Estelle Allard were shaped by the experiences and courage of Virginia Hall, Pearl Witherington Cornioley, Christine Granville, Josephine Baker, Nancy Wake, and Andrée de Jongh. Their memoirs, interviews, and stories only give us an idea of how truly extraordinary each of these women was. Sophie’s work at Bletchley Park was based on the real men and women who worked tirelessly against time and almost im- possible odds to decode Nazi encryption devices. Most of us have heard of the Enigma cipher and the remarkable work by Alan Turing and his team to break that cipher. Told less often seems to be the story of Tommy Flowers and Bill Tutte, who, together with their teams, developed Colossus—the machine that was able to break the Lorenz cipher, known as Tunny at Bletchley. The Lorenz cipher was favoured by Hitler and used by High Command—and for good reason. It was a far more powerful than the Enigma and capable of exceedingly complex en- cryptions. Additionally, unlike the Enigma, it did not depend ParisApartment_TPtext1P Author’s Note 2020-10-01 21:13:57 395 396 AUTHOR’S NOTE on Morse code. Attached to a teleprinter, it automatically encrypted outgoing messages and decrypted incoming mes- sages, allowing longer messages to be transmitted with greater ease.
    [Show full text]
  • Preparing for A2
    PREPARING FOR A2 Geography On the A2 course you will again be looking at 4 topics; Plate Tectonics, Ecosystems, World Cities and Conflict, as well as completing the 4a skills paper. A link to the full specification can be found here: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/geography/a-level/geography-2030 In order to prepare yourselves for the first 2 topics you should do the following: 1. Research the theory and evidence behind the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates. Look specifically at the work of Alfred Wegener; what did he do? What were his ideas? What was his evidence? Why wasn’t he universally believed? How did developments in technology during the 20th Century support his ideas? 2. Research the link between Urbanisation and economic Development. (Mr Bee’s group) What is the link between the two in developed/less developed countries? What impact does the rate of urbanisation have on the ability of a country to develop economically? Could the rate of urbanisation hinder less developed countries and why? You could watch the Andrew Marr’s series ‘Megacities’ to assist you. 3. What is the origin and nature of the conflict in Belgium? (Mr Fleming’s groups) A2 English Your A2 course will comprise a Shakespeare play (either King Lear or The Tempest), a comparative analysis of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience and Ben Jonson’s Volpone and a 3000 word piece of coursework that explores 3 texts. Below are links to background reading on Blake and Jonson. You should start to familiarise yourself with the context of their eras – literary, socio-historical etc.
    [Show full text]
  • 8, Rue Mérentié
    8, rue Mérentié A narrative by Jean Contrucci, with the collaboration of Jacques Virbel English translation by www.alliancefrancaise.org.uk Celebrating Marseille-Provence 2013 In memory of Eliane Sophie Plewman Marseille 9 December 1917 – Dachau 13 September 1944 Nobody seemed to see you French by choice People went by all day without seeing you But at the hour of curfew wandering fingers Had written under your photos “Fallen for France” And it made the dismal mornings different. Louis Aragon, The Red Poster 1 The story of an English network in the French Resistance in Marseille 1943 – 1944 For Margaret, Patrick and Brigitte Browne A furtive silhouette shoots out of the dark stomach of a four-engined Halifax B Mark II Special bomber. It is 2am on the night of 13/14 August 1943. The aeroplane flies over the Jura département, not far from Lons-le-Saulnier, before continuing on its route towards the North East, where it will cast out another member of its human cargo above the Montbéliard region (Haute-Saône). This Royal Air Force equipment has been – as it has for every mission – put at the disposal of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), created by Churchill in 1940 to ‘set Europe ablaze’ by parachuting specially trained agents into occupied France, to help the maquis, equip them with arms and instruct their sabotage teams. The bomber, unarmed this time and prepared only to transport parachutists and their equipment, took off a few hours earlier at the discreet Tempsford aerodrome in Bedfordshire, north of London. Each month, with the full moon, secret agents depart from this RAF aerodrome, their arrival details sent by coded messages to the leaders of networks, or to resistants liaising with SOE’s F Section1.
    [Show full text]
  • Ceremony in Honor of Diana ROWDEN, a British Secret Agent Executed at the Natzweiler-Struthof Camp
    PRESS RELEASE European center on resistance and deportation Site of previous concentration camp of Natzweiler-Struthof July 6th 2018 July 6th 2018 – A ceremony in honor of Diana ROWDEN, a British secret agent executed at the Natzweiler-Struthof camp. On the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the death of Diana Rowden, her Britain family and her french family where she hide before she was arrested, wish to give her a tribute at the european center on resistance and deportation, in the place where she died. Diana ROWDEN, a heroic commitment Born in Chelsea in 1915, Diana Rowden spent her childhood living in the south of France. After a spell at a Surrey boarding school she moved to Paris and studied at the sorbonne. When war broke out, she joined the red cross but in 1941 she returned to England and joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air force. Her bilangual skills meant she was soon recruited by the SOE* and in 1943 she was sent to France, working as a courier in the Jura region. She lived on a french family in the village of Clairvaux-les-Lacs . Six months after her arrival, she was betrayed. Diana Rowden was caught and taken for interrogation by the SS in Paris. On July 5 1944 she was transferred along with three other female agents (Andree BORREL, Vera LEIGH and Sonya OLSCHANEZKY to Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in Alsace. That night the women were given lethal injections after what she was put on a furnace. *SOE, The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British World War II organisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Dropzone Issue 1
    HARRINGTON AVIATION MUSEUMS VOLUME 5 ISSUE 5 THE DROPZONE SPRING 2008 Editor: John Harding Publisher: Fred West INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Holmewood Hall Holmewood Hall 1 In the last issue of The Dropzone we humdrum place which deadens the Obituary 3 & published a brief history of OSS Area H spirits'. He remained in East Anglia 16 and the important role in the Carpet- until his death in 1942, his last re- bagger operations played by the per- corded visit to Todmorden being in Food from the sky 4 sonnel of Holme. We now follow on 1910 when, on the death of his mother, with a potted history of the Holmewood he sold his parents' home to the town. Social 8 Hall estate and future developments. Having condemned Todmorden for its Holmewood Hall was built by William lack of society, it seems strange that Editorial 9 Young for Mr William Wells between Fielden spent the rest of his life in a 1873 and 1877. It is constructed of red somewhat solitary state pursuing his brick with terra cotta and limestone much loved sport of shooting and cared GEE 10 dressings and occupies the site of an for by servants. (However, we don’t eighteenth century building that was know anything about his life when he Violette Szabo 13 destroyed by fire. It is described as be- visited London). ing in the Elizabethan or 'Tudoresque' style. In 1900 he bought Debden Hall, near SPECIAL POINTS Saffron Walden, described as a large OF INTEREST: In 1902 Holme Estate, comprising rambling house with a substantial park over 6,000 acres, was sold by Lord de and estate of 4,000 acres.
    [Show full text]
  • Florida State University Libraries
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2018 Doing a Real Job: The Evolution in Women's Roles in British Society through the Lens of Female Spies, 1914-1945 Danielle Wirsansky Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES “DOING A REAL JOB”: THE EVOLUTION IN WOMEN’S ROLES IN BRITISH SOCIETY THROUGH THE LENS OF FEMALE SPIES, 1914-1945 By DANIELLE WIRSANSKY A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts 2018 Danielle Wirsansky defended this thesis on March 6, 2018. The members of the supervisory committee were: Nathan Stoltzfus Professor Directing Thesis Charles Upchurch Committee Member Diane Roberts Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii After the dazzle of day is gone, Only the dark, dark night shows to my eyes the stars; After the clangor of organ majestic, or chorus, or perfect band, Silent, athwart my soul, moves the symphony true. ~Walt Whitman iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am thankful to my major professor, Dr. Nathan Stoltzfus, for his guidance and mentorship the last five years throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies. Without his encouragement, I may never have discovered my passion for history and found myself on the path I am on today. His support has provided me with so many opportunities and the ability to express myself both artistically and academically.
    [Show full text]
  • Teachers' Notes the White Mouse: the Story of Nancy Wake
    Teachers’ Notes The White Mouse: OMNIBUS BOOKS The Story of Nancy Wake Written and illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe Teachers’ Notes by Rae Carlyle OMNIBUS BOOKS Category Picture Book Contents The White Mouse: Title The Story of Nancy Wake Author/Illustrator Peter Gouldthorpe Publication Date August 2015 Introduction………………..………………………………. 2 Format 270 x 245 mm Extent 40 pp About the Author/Illustrator ………….……………… 2 Binding Hardback Printing Colour ISBN 978 1 74299 091 0 Activities ……………………….…………………………….. 2 OMNIBUS BOOKS Previous publications (Bob Brown and Ben Wood) Give Me a Home among the Gum Trees (Omnibus Books, 2007) Teachers’ Notes may be reproduced for use in school activities. They may not be redistributed for commercial sale or posted to other networks. Introduction When the Second World War broke out in Europe in 1939, Nancy Wake was living in France and working as a foreign correspondent for a British newspaper. This seemingly unremarkable woman, however, would turn out to be anything but ordinary. With her adopted country under German occupation, she devoted herself to doing everything she could to help impede the German military from within occupied France. Together with her husband, Henri Fiocca, Nancy became an integral part of the French Resistance movement. Nancy Wake was the most wanted woman in wartime Europe, and the most highly decorated Australian woman ever. The White Mouse tells the story of Nancy’s incredible bravery, and her determination to see the Nazi regime defeated. About the Author/Illustrator Peter Gouldthorpe has lived in Tasmania for over forty years and has a very varied artistic output. As well as creating award-winning books for children, he also paints landscapes, portraits, sets for film and television as well as his popular trompe l’oeil murals.
    [Show full text]
  • Interior Freedom in the French-Language Poetry Written in the Concentration Camps (1943-45)
    Interior Freedom in the French-language Poetry Written in the Concentration Camps (1943-45) Belle Marie Joseph A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University January 2017 © Copyright by Belle Marie Joseph 2017 All Rights Reserved This thesis presents my own original research. All sources have been duly acknowledged. Except where acknowledged in the customary manner, the material presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge, original and has not been submitted in whole or part for a degree in any university. Belle Joseph 27 January 2017 ii Acknowledgements I would like to extend my thanks, first of all, to my supervisors. I am deeply grateful to Peter Brown, who supervised this project from its beginnings and whose expertise and encouragement throughout the project were invaluable. Gillian Russell provided helpful input at the beginning of my research. Ned Curthoys gave invaluable feedback at each stage of my project; I am grateful for his insightful and constructive comments. Sincere thanks to Ash Collins, who provided thoughtful commentary on the completed thesis draft. I would also like to thank my many wonderful colleagues in the School of Literature, Language and Linguistics (SLLL) at ANU, who often provided useful suggestions in informal discussions about my research, and in particular Kate Flaherty, who kindly read drafts of the thesis introduction and the first chapter and gave me helpful comments on them. I would also like to acknowledge that this research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. My warmest thanks go to the directors and staff of the various associations for former déportés , who gave me invaluable assistance with my research.
    [Show full text]
  • How a Heroine Member of Churchill's Elite SOE Spy Network Was
    Revealed: How a heroine member of Churchill's elite SOE spy network was executed in a concentration camp aged 29 after her colleague's heinous betrayal By James Dunn For Mailonline Published: 11:34 GMT, 19 April 2017 Diana Rowden, an agent with the Special Operations Executive, worked for allied forces in occupied France Helped to destroy Peugeot factory, which was being used to make Nazi tank turrets and aircraft engine parts Group caught when Nazis captured allied radio and told them to meet 'Benoit', who was a Nazi double agent She was interrogated, moved to jail, then sent to concentration camp, where she was killed by lethal injection The heinous betrayal of a heroic Second World War woman spy who was executed in a German concentration camp has been revealed in a new book. Diana Rowden, an agent with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was dropped into occupied France in June 1943 and worked for the French Resistance. She and a fellow agent planned the destruction of the Nazi-requisitioned Peugeot factory, where tank turrets and aircraft engine parts were made. Hunted at every turn by the Gestapo, Rowden worked tirelessly for the Allied war effort, providing the British military with vital intelligence via secret radio messages. The heinous betrayal of heroic Second World War spy Diana Rowden, who was executed in a German concentration camp, has been revealed in a new book Diana Rowden at the age of 20, with her brothers Maurice, 19, (left) and Cecil, 14. She was betrayed by Henri Dericourt (right), a French air operations man who was a double agent and alerted the Gustapo to their plans After being interrogated, she was moved to the the dreaded Natzweiler concentration camp (pictured) where she and three other lady agents were executed on the same night But she was betrayed by one of her own colleagues in the F Section of the SOE and sent to a concentration camp where she was executed by her captors aged 29.
    [Show full text]