A Train in Winter (49 page)

Marie Alizon.
Rennes. Lodged resisters. Aged 22 when she died of dysentery and acute inflammation of the ear in June 1943. (Sister, Poupette, survived.)

Josée Alonso.
Spanish, came to France as a four-year-old. Nursed and looked after wounded resisters. Divorced with two sons. Aged 32 when she was beaten by SS and died of pneumonia in February 1943.

Hélène Antoine.
Vosges. Textile worker, one son. Hid weapons. Husband shot. Died spring 1943 at the age of 44. Cause unknown.

Yvonne B.
Indre-et-Loire. Farmer’s wife. Denounced—wrongly—for concealing weapons. Husband prisoner of war. Because pregnant, could have avoided deportation but child not her husband’s and too embarrassed to say. Taken in ‘the race’, 10 February 1943, at the age of 26.

Gabrielle Bergin.
Bourges. Kept cafe near the Cher, helped escaped prisoners and Jews cross demarcation line. Denounced by husband’s mistress. She was 50 when she died in March 1943. Cause unknown.

Eugenia Beskine.
Russian. Aged 54, she was caught in ‘the race’ on 10 February 1943.

Antoinette Bibault.
Sarthe. Suspected of betraying thirty members of the Resistance. 39 when died in bunk ten days after reaching Birkenau. Husband died in Mauthausen, brother in Buchenwald.

Rosette Blanc.
Pyrénées-Orientales. Communist and liaison officer for the intellectual Resistance in Paris. She was 23 when she died of typhus in April 1943.

Yvonne Blech.
Brest. Editor, married to writer René Blech. Both communists and part of the intellectual Resistance. Died of dysentery on 11 March 1943, aged 36.

Emma Bolleau.
Royan. With husband Roger and daughter Hélène created first FTP group in Charente-Maritime. Arrested taking food to Hélène in prison. Held on for fifty-two days. Died of dysentery and dehydration on 20 March 1943 aged 42. (Roger executed; Hélène returned.)

Josée Bonenfant.
Paris. Seamstress. Died end of February 1943, cause unknown. Left one 10-year-old daughter.

Yvonne Bonnard.
Very little known about her. One evening after roll call fell in mud and died. She was 45.

Léona Bouillard.
Ardennes. With contractor husband denounced for distributing tracts. Husband died in Oranienburg. Died three days after reaching Birkenau during roll call, at the age of 57.

Alice Boulet.
Saône-et-Loire. Communist and liaison officer in Paris for National Front. Died of dysentery in March 1943 at the age of 28. Husband died in Wilhemshafen.

Sophie Brabander
and her daughter
Hélène.
Polish émigrées living in Paris. Belonged with husband to Monika network. Together with son Romuald, all on train from Compiègne. Sophie was caught in ‘the race’ of 10 February 1943 aged 55. Hélène died of typhus on 12 May 1943, aged 20.

Georgette Bret.
Gironde. Hid and distributed clandestine material with husband, militant communist with armed Resistance. Continued work after he was executed by Germans. Died of typhus on 20 May 1943, at the age of 27. Left one 10-year-old daughter.

Simone Brugal.
Saint-Denis. Hairdresser on transatlantic liner. Four sons by Jewish cavalry officer, then married fishmonger. No apparent Resistance activities. Died beginning of February 1943 at the age of 45. No known cause. Father of sons gassed at Auschwitz.

Marcelle Bureau.
Charente-Maritime. Involved with
BOLLEAU
family network. Died, aged 20, of typhus on 16 April 1943.

Alice Cailbault.
Paris. Had farm with husband in Charente and involved with Guillon/Valina network. Betrayed by Vincent. Daughter Andrée took over farm and Resistance activities. Died on 8 March 1943 aged 36, with legs so swollen she could not walk.

Germaine Cantelaube.
Paris. Stored tracts and took part in Resistance activities in Bordeaux. After husband shot, continued to shelter resisters. When interrogated by Poinsot, spat in his face. Died of dysentery on 31 March 1943, aged 35.

Yvonne Carré.
Montceau-les-Mines. Active with husband in FTP in Losserand network. Husband executed. Died of gangrene from SS dog bite March 1943 at the age of 45.

Danielle Casanova.
Ajaccio. Dentist. Founder of JFdeF and active in National Front, Young Communists and intellectual Resistance in Paris. Died of typhus on 9 May 1943 at the age of 34. Posthumously awarded the
Légion d’honneur
.

Hélène Castera.
Gironde. With husband and three sons, active in the Resistance in and around Bègles. Died of dysentery at the beginning of March 1943, at the age of 45, without knowing that two of her sons had been executed by the Gestapo. Her husband died in Mauthausen.

Yvonne Cavé.
Montrouge. Neither she nor her husband, a cardboard-maker, concealed their antipathy to the Germans, and they listened to Radio London. Died end of February 1943, from acute nephritis. Someone had stolen her shoes and she had to go barefoot during four hours of roll call in the snow. She was 46. Her husband died in Oranienburg.

Camille Champion.
Finistère. Ran boarding house, but no known Resistance activities. Picked up with husband in Pican/Politzer round-up. Died of typhus in April 1943 aged 44. Husband executed by Germans. Left one son.

Marie Chaux.
Tain-l’Hermitage. Widowed and ran boarding house. Arrested for keeping husband’s service revolver, but suspected of lodging resisters. Taken to Block 25 on 3 February 1943 after saying she could not tolerate roll calls; probably gassed. She was 67.

Marguerite Chavaroc.
Quimper. With her husband in the Johnny network (see
ALIZON
). Died of dysentery in the middle of March 1943, aged 48. Husband survived Oranienburg.

Renée Cossin.
Amiens. Working for the communist Underground, became liaison officer between the two zones, then active with women protestors in Picardy. Died in
Revier
of dysentery and oedema in April 1943, aged 29. Left two children, aged 11 and six.

Suzanne Costentin.
Deux-Sèvres. Schoolteacher and skilled leather worker. Caught carrying tract relating fate of those shot at Chateaubriand. Beaten so badly she could not move; gangrene set in. Died March 1943 at the age of 49.

Yvonne Courtillat.
Morbihan. Nurse’s aide working near the river Cher, across which she conducted Jews and resisters from the occupied to the free zone. Denounced. Among the first to die, but no one witnessed death. She was 32. Left a 12-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter.

Jeanne Couteau.
Paris. Working as a cook in Tours when arrested for distributing tracts. Died of typhus at the beginning of April 1943 aged 42.

Madeleine Damous.
Indre. She and her husband were communists working with the FTP. Died in March 1943 after being so violently beaten by a
kapo
that she could not see. She was just 30. Her husband was shot by the Germans. They had no children.

Viva Daubeuf.
Ancona. Daughter of the Italian Socialist leader Pietro Nenni. Helped printer husband prepare clandestine publications. When husband arrested, could have escaped, but stayed to take him food and cigarettes. Died of typhus on 26 April 1943 aged 29. Husband executed by the Germans.

Simone David.
Evreux. Collected funds and distributed propaganda material for the National Front while waiting to emigrate. Turned herself in to prevent father being taken hostage. Died of typhus at the end of May, aged 21. Husband and brother-in-law shot by Germans, and his wife committed suicide. Other brother-in-law released because father of eight children, but died soon after in an accident.

Charlotte Decock.
Haute-Vienne. Taken as hostage for her husband, who was in the Resistance. Died in the bombardment of Amstetten in March 1945. She was 44.

Rachel Deniau.
Indre-et-Loire. Post office worker who helped people across the demarcation line (see
JAUNAY, LAURILLOU, GABB
). Died, aged 53, in
Revier
. Left two children.

Charlotte Douillot
and her sister
Henriette L’Huillier.
(See also
ROLANDE VANDAELE
, Charlotte’s daughter.) Paris. Rounded up when followed by police tracking Charlotte’s communist resister husband. Charlotte died of dysentery on 11 March 1943, aged 43. Henriette died of typhus on 23 March 1943, aged 39. Both their husbands were shot by the Germans. Henriette left one son.

Marie Dubois.
Beaune. Ran cafe that was meeting place for resisters and letter drop. Died on 10 February 1943, in Block 25, after raising her hand to say she could no longer tolerate roll calls. She was 52.

Marie-Louise Ducros.
Gironde. Together with husband stored gunpowder and grenades and sheltered resisters. Died 28 February 1943, aged 40. Left four children.

Elisabeth Dupeyron.
Bordeaux. Active in GUILLONS/VALINA network. Gassed on 15 November 1943 at the age of 29. Left two children, aged 10 and five. Husband shot by the Germans.

Charlotte Dupuis.
Yonne. Ran farm with brother while keeping cache of weapons for the Resistance and sheltering fighters. Died of dysentery on 8 March 1943, aged 49. Brother survived Mauthausen.

Noémie Durand
and her sister,
Rachel Fernandez.
Haute-Vienne. After trade unionist husband shot by the Germans, Noémie became the representative of the National Front for Charente, arranging liaisons for FTP and distributing tracts. Widowed sister Rachel arrested with her. Noémie died on 22 February 1943 after being caught in ‘the race’ and taken to the gas chamber. She was 53. Rachel died of dysentery on 1 March 1943, aged 48. Their mother arrested with them but freed; died, insane, in 1943.

Simone Eiffes.
Paris. Assistant to a Paris tailor, by whom she had a baby. No Resistance activities but caught when visiting members of the Bataillons de la Jeunesse (see
SAMPAIX
). Died of typhus in May 1943. She was 22. Daughter brought up by grandmother.

Yvonne Emorine.
Montceau-les-Mines. Dressmaker. With husband organised groups in Charente and Gironde. Caught in the PICAN round-up. Died on 26 February 1942 at the age of 30; cause not known. Husband tortured to death, though Germans claimed that he had committed suicide. Left six-year-old daughter.

Annette Epaud.
La Rochelle. Kept cafe, lodged resisters and distributed clandestine tracts. Denounced by Vincent. Gassed on 22 February 1943, at the age of 42, after giving water to woman begging for a drink. Left 13-year-old son.

Gabrielle Ethis
, and her niece
Henriette Pizzoli.
Romainville. Gabrielle and her husband sheltered German communists who had fled Germany when Hitler came to power. Henriette, a cardboard-maker, was suspected of supplying them with black market supplies. Gabrielle died immediately on reaching Birkenau; she was 47. Henriette, who was 23, died of typhus in June 1943. She left one daughter.

Lucienne Ferre.
Seine-et-Oise. Hairdresser and member of Danielle
CASANOVA’S
JFdeF. Young and unstable, suspected of denouncing a large number of comrades. Died at the age of 20 from frostbite on 5 March 1943

Yvette Feuillet.
Paris. Glassblower and member of JFdeF. Liaison officer with the intellectual Resistance. Died on 8 July 1943 from typhus at the age of 23.

Marie-Thérèse Fleury.
Paris. Helped set up a Resistance organisation within the postal service, the PTT, where she was adjunct federal treasurer. The notice of her death, on 16 April 1943, from ‘myocardial deficiency’, alerted France to the fate of the 230 deportees. She was 35 and left an eight-year-old daughter.

Rosa Floch.
Eure. Schoolgirl and the youngest woman on the train. Caught painting Vs on the walls of her school. Died at the beginning of March 1943 at the age of 17. Cause not known.

Marcelle Fuglesang.
Norwegian by birth. Studied nursing in Paris and converted to Catholicism. Doing social work with families of prisoners of war in Charleville, helped escaped prisoners cross border into Switzlerland. Died at the age of 40 of dysentery in March 1943. Croix de Guerre, Medal of the Resistance.
Légion d’honneur
.

Marie Gabb.
Amboise. Belonged to network passing letters to the unoccupied zone. (See
JAUNAY, DENIAU
.) First to die, the day of arrival in Birkenau, on 27 January 1943. She was 51.