As the Russians drew closer, the entire Nazi death operation went into reverse. Nancy Wake was the most decorated woman of the Second World War and by 1943 she was the Gestapos most wanted person with a 5 million-franc price tag and lived most of her life on the edge and in constant danger and her story is one of sheer bravery, strength and defiance. In June 1943, she was brought before an improvised military court and condemned to death as a British spy. I am not all that bad it's just circumstances. At age 14, Sansom moved with her mother to Boulogne, where Odette and her brother ran barefoot over the rocks and cliffs during the holidays. In fact, Peter Churchill was not related to the British prime minister. Her hair began falling out, her teeth became loose and she lapsed into a semi-coma. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. Continue Learning about General Arts & Entertainment. "[27] In 1955, she co-founded the annual Women of the Year Lunch with Tony Lothian and Lady Georgina Coleridge (journalist and daughter of the Marquess of Tweeddale). We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Odette was a quiet child. Who Can Benefit From Diaphragmatic Breathing? It was at Fresne Prison that they tortured Sansom. near Herrlingen, Germany ." U.S. Perles, Alfred, ed. She had kept silent, but she knew about the other things the Gestapo did to women and, alone in the darkness of the prison, she feared her strength might not last. She was awarded not only an Order of the British Empire (Member), but also a Chevalier de la Lgion dHonneur, Frances highest decoration; a George Cross, Britains second highest honor; and five other medals. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"_AuhmkdrMi1mq61lM9R.VNRK.kGsRUbh0j6SX_5ImLM-86400-0"}; Born November 15, 1891 Erwin Rommel is know, Reinhard Heydrich Yet, despite the torture and pressure, she remained firm to her story. Her torture was carried out by a "very good-looking young Frenchman" who she believed was mentally ill.[5], Sansom testified against the prison guards charged with war crimes at the 1946 Hamburg Ravensbrck Trials, which resulted in Suhren's execution in 1950. Odette knew the locations of both, but refused to answer, saving their lives. She was captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, but survived the war. [21], When the Allies were only a few miles from Ravensbrck, the camp commandant Fritz Suhren forced Sansom into his car and drove to the advancing Americans to surrender. Odette Marie Lonie Cline Brailly was born on 28 April 1912 at 208, rue des Corroyers in Amiens, France;[1] the daughter of Emma Rose Marie Yvonne ne Quennehen[notes 1] and Florentin Dsir Eugne 'Gaston' Brailly,[notes 2] a bank manager, killed at Verdun shortly before the Armistice in 1918 and posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre and Mdaille militaire for heroism. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Shren was hoping to save himself from execution as a war criminal after Germany's defeat. No underling in occupied Paris was prepared to order the execution of an agent who might, later in the war, be of considerable value to Berlin. Held by the Gestapo. Something about the future seemed to haunt her. Four years later, Sansom was following the fall of France in British newspapers, listening to BBC radio reports as refugees choked every road from Paris to Marseilles while German troops marched down the Champs-lyses. By the end of March 1941, the first members of the French Section were in intensive training in Britain. Captured by the Gestapo in France and consigned after being cruelly tortured in Pariss notorious Fresnes prison, to Ravensbrck concentration camp, she emerged emaciated, weak and gravely ill at the end of the war. That brought her to the attention of Colonel Maurice Buckmaster's Special Operations Executive. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. A British spy who was tortured by Nazis lied to her captors to protect the man she loved, a book about her ordeal reveals. Sansom was the only one officially condemned to die and, ironically, the only one to live. Sansom continued to claim that she was related to Winston This would mean securing an apartment in a specified part of town in France to which the SOE might send other members, either as part of an escape team or to encourage sabotage and action by the French Resistance. She became what one biographer described as a "celebrated heroine on both sides of the Channel." When she was eight, an unidentified disorder caused her to go blind for. [30], She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire[31] and was the first of three Second World War First Aid Nursing Yeomanry members to be awarded the George Cross (gazetted 20 August 1946), all for work with the SOE. Her code name was "Lise". She was the first woman to be awarded the George Cross by the United Kingdom and was awarded the Lgion d'honneur by France. Those who managed to live for more than a few weeks or months on this diet had figured out a way to get extra food. It was there, the next night, that they were arrested by Italian troops and a German security agent. Klaus Barbie, known as the "Butcher of Lyon," was a leader in the Nazi group called the SS, and was head of anti-Resistance operations in France duri, Himmler, Heinrich Violette Szabo joined the Special Operations Executive in 1943. Odette Hallowes/Spouse. 1932); Lily (b. 4659. In 1914, her father joined an infantry regiment. While her brother, Louis, went to school at the Lyce, Odette was sent to the Convent of Sainte Thrse because her mother thought the Normandy air would be beneficial. In between each "evulsion," he would repeat his questions, telling her she could end "the ceremony" simply by answering the questions. Charles de Gaulle led the Free French forces in resisting capitulation to Germany during World War II and became provisional president of France in the immediate aftermath of the war. She believed that only if England and France survived would freedom and civilization prevail. Odette (123 min. Held by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France, for two years she refused to betray he Odette Sansom GC, MBE (28 April 1912 - 13 March 1995), also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Hallowes, code named Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom 's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during the Second World War. Gleeson, James Joseph. Pronunciation: o-dette, od(et)-te. She was met by Peter Churchill, codename 'Raoul', and joined his resistance group. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. Grove, Valerie. On Feb. 23, 2012, almost 70 years after she joined the SOE, the Royal Mail released a stamp in her honor as part of its Britons of Distinction series. At first, Odette's instructors . Infuriated, Bleicher sent her to Ravensbrck concentration camp. Other The marriage Another courier, Pearl Witherington , led an underground force of 2,000 young French guerillas, called the Maquis, who specialized in cutting the main Paris-Bordeaux railway. The biography of Odette Sansom Churchill (1912-1995) is absolutely amazing. One Nazi interrogator caught her arms and held them behind the back of the chair, wrote Tickell. In July 1942, Sansom began her training at the SOE school, a country house hidden in New Forest, Hampshire. Stafford, David. 19561995 However, her story was not without controversy. Most WWII history buffs are familiar with decorated spies like Dusko Popov, Juan Pujol, and Roman Garby-Czerniawski. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. [35], She served as a technical advisor on a film on her fellow SOE agent Violette Szabo, Carve Her Name with Pride. [33], Documents disclosed long after the war indicate that her superiors had to fight for Sansom's George Cross, because she was unable to prove that she had been tortured by the Nazis and that she had not betrayed her fellow agents. On 16th April, 1943, Sansom and Churchill were arrested by Hugo She was to land on the Mediterranean coast and work her way north, where SOE hoped to establish a new circuit. They were married after just five weeks and Violette gave birth to their daughter Tania on 8 June 1942. She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. Her wartime experiences and endurance of a brutal interrogation and imprisonment, which were chronicled in books and a motion picture, made her one of the most celebrated members of the SOE and one of the few to survive Nazi imprisonment. Leigh, Diana Rowden, Andre Borrel andSonya Olschanezky, to Nazi Eventually, she was sentenced to death and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp for her execution. Szabo was shot at Ravensbrck; Khan was brutally interrogated and kept in chains before she was executed at Dachau. For over a year, Odette using the codename Lise, worked as a radio operator, for group leader Peter Churchill. A year later, they were married, and their first daughter Franoise was born in 1932. [36], On 6 March 2020 Great Western Railway named a Class 800 train after her; the ceremony in Odette's honour was held at Paddington Station in London and attended by Anne, Princess Royal.[37]. Includes; Cleopatra, Princess Diana, Marie Curie, Queen Victoria, and Joan of Arc. Larry Loftis is the author of CODE NAME: LISEThe True Story of the Woman Who Became WWIIs Most Highly Decorated Spy, available now from Gallery Books. She was 82. People Who Made a Difference in Health Care, Facts about the extraordinary life of Joan of Arc. What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? In 1946 Sansom was awarded the George Cross for bravery and the Szabo, George Cross. Anyone who fell behind was shot dead. God bless you and your children. In 1941 she responded to requests by the War Office for people to send photographs of France. [2] She had one brother. Sincerely yours, A Bad Egg. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. [34], On 23 February 2012, the Royal Mail released a postage stamp featuring Hallowes as part of its "Britons of Distinction" series. A collection of war medals, including the George Cross, awarded to an Anglo-French World War Two Resistance heroine has sold at auction for 260,000. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. People of the Second World War (1939-45) Influential leaders, generals and civilians who caused, influenced and fought during the Second World War. Sansom was aided in her endurance in prison by her early blindness and paralysis, and by the example of her grandfather, who "did not accept weakness very easily." 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. 3 Commercial Lots- Minooka, IL -For Sale Sansom became 'Agent S.23'. Peter Churchill survived the war but Rabinovitch was executed by the Gestapo in 1944. [6][5], As cover for her secret work, Sansom was enrolled in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, which supplied SOE with support personnel. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Photo courtesy of FANY. Violette Szabo and Noor Inayat Khan were awarded the George Cross posthumously for their bravery. Orders arrived from Berlin in July. [3][21] The cell was located near the crematorium and would be covered with burned hair from the cremations. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. She lived quietly, carrying on an extensive correspondence. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies. Her brave endurance saved the lives of many agents. Germany. She maintained that she, not Peter Churchill, was the leader; she also refused to give any information about other members. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. He learned from Marsac the location of Churchill and Sansom, got a letter of introduction to them from him, and proceeded to Saint-Jorioz where he introduced himself to Sansom as "Colonel Henri". Her father was a soldier in the French Army and was killed during Think before you speak. In October, 1941, she was sent by boat to France with orders to following year she married Peter Churchill. When he assures her that he means no harm, Odette reveals to him that she and her companions have been placed under a spell by the wicked Von Rothbart. "Sansom, Odette (19121995) Wehrmacht soldiers, Vichy police, Abwehr (German military intelligence) and Gestapo were everywhere: control checkpoints, hotels, cafes, trains even brothels. It was this belief that saw her through her harrowing ordeal. Odette Sansom (1912 - 1995) - a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. Colonel Henri was a German officer who claimed he wished to work for the allies. Mrs Odette Marie Celine Hallowes (see Sansom) (28 Apr 1912- 13 Mar 1995). He died trying to find two of his men who had gone missing after the Battle of Verdun. What is a good mission statement for a salon? She would keep the pistol as a memento of the war. Sansom also gave evidence against several ofRavensbrck's staff, which influenced their sentencing. With several other agents, two of them women, Odette sailed from Gibraltar at the end of October aboard a small Polish trading boat. Buckmaster played himself in the film, and Sansom, then known as Odette Churchill, wrote a personal message that appeared at the end of the film, which was well received. Sansom, an elegant, vivacious young Frenchwoman who had been living in England, detested the Nazi system, the police state, and Hitler. As a result she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive [8][9], Sansom made a landing on a beach near Cassis on the night of 2 November 1942, and made contact with Captain Peter Churchill, who headed Spindle, an SOE network based in Cannes. Some had only rags to cover their feet as they were forced onto the frozen mud. Odette, who by that time had married her third husband and become Odette Hallowes, died in 1995 at the age of 82. She is buried with Odette at Burvale cemetery where her name is given as Yvonne Marie Rose Brailly. Albert Speer 22 Feb. 2023
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