For eighty years thousands of women who were members of the resistance during the Second World War were rarely mentioned in history books. According to history professor Laurent Douzou only 6 women were recognised for their work with the resistance by being awarded the Companion of Liberation compared with 1,038 men.
Though civilian resistance was mainly the work of women they were not counted and according to Vladmir Troupin, the curator at Paris Musee de la Resistance, “Misogyny also explains why there was little attention to the role played by women and in those days women were not supposed to steal the limelight”.
From 1940 to the liberation of France in 1944, 6,700 women were transported to concentration camps, most failed to return and the vast majority were members of the resistance. According to France 24 News, eighty years later French historians are attempting to record the war service of women who served with the resistance.
Odette Nilés (top) died on 27 May 2023 at the age of 100. She was arrested in September 1941 , spent three years in an internment camp and her fiancé who was also a member of the resistance was shot.
Michéle Moet-Agniel (bottom) was arrested for assisting allied aircrews shot down over Belgium and France to escape to neutral Spain and Agniel along with her mother were transported to Ravensbrück concentration camp . Her father was sent to another camp and was not seen again.
Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was the leader of a resistance network called ALLIANCE. After becoming know to the German authorities she spent several months on the run and during this time gave birth to her third child, a son, who was looked after at a safehouse and in 1943 she was smuggled to Spain in a mailbag and was reunited with her children after the liberation.
Madeline Riffund was a sniper who was almost killed during the liberation of Paris and is thought to have been on the last transport train to a concentration camp in Germany.
Eighty years later most who served in the resistance are dead and it may not be possible to provide a full account of the women who played an essential role in the liberation of France.
Alan Malcher.
Alan Malcher 