They were married after just five weeks and Violette gave birth to their daughter Tania on 8 June 1942. The Germans began a massive campaign to hide the evidence of their crimes. Joined the Resistance (1942); captured and brought to Fresne Prison in Paris (1943); tortured by the Gestapo (May 26, 1943); transferred to Karlsruhe prison (May 12, 1944); brought to Ravensbrck concentration camp for women in Germany under sentence of death (July 18, 1944); released from Ravensbrck (April 28, 1945); received George Cross from King George VI (November 19, 1946); testified for the prosecution at the War Crimes Court in Hamburg, Germany (December 16, 1946). After the war, Odette's marriage to Roy Sansom was dissolved, and she married Peter Churchill. "I have nothing to say," Sansom replied. Fifteen of them were captured by the Nazis. She was captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, but survived the war. Orders arrived from Berlin in July. A list of 200 potential supporters, lost by Andr Marsac, a Girard courier, was obtained by the Germans. Who Can Benefit From Diaphragmatic Breathing? She believed that only if England and France survived would freedom and civilization prevail. One Nazi interrogator caught her arms and held them behind the back of the chair, wrote Tickell. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with a bronze star. It does not store any personal data. They scraped out human fat 18 inches thick from crematoria chimneys. The officer responsible for Sansom's torture in Paris was also executed in July 1944, for ordering the shooting of British parachutists captured in uniform. She is named on panel 26. Concentration Camp. She was captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, but survived the war. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1993. what happened to odette sansom daughters. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Odette is a 1950 British war film based on the true story of Special Operations Executive French agent, Odette Sansom, living in England, who was captured by the Germans in 1943, condemned to death and sent to Ravensbrck concentration camp to be executed. He hoped that her supposed connections to the Prime Minister might allow him to negotiate his way out of execution. Britain and European Resistance, 194045: A survey of the Special Operations Executive with Documents, 1980. At one point toward the end of the war, she witnessed an instance of cannibalism of a dead inmate by starving prisoners. Odette (123 min. She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. [6], Originally Sansom was considered too temperamental and stubborn by SOE, with an evaluation stating "She is impulsive and hasty in her judgments and has not quite the clarity of mind which is desirable in subversive activity. For over a year, Odette using the codename Lise, worked as a radio operator, for group leader Peter Churchill. As well as Odette Sansom there were numerous other female spies who served in the SOE as secret agents in occupied France they include: Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. Leigh, Diana Rowden, Andre Borrel andSonya Olschanezky, to Nazi Her hair began falling out, her teeth became loose and she lapsed into a semi-coma. Resistance groupswere activethroughout German-occupied France and made important contributions to the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. She became a national heroine and in 1950,a filmwas made about her. What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? While on a secret trip to England, he left her in charge. By the fall of 1944, news filtered back to prisoners that the war had turned against the Germans. She didnt think twice about confronting German generals or commandants, and often placed principle before prudence. November 9, 1970 Yet their decorations pale in comparison to those of a courier spy named Odette Sansom (code name: LISE). A year later, they were married, and their first daughter Franoise was born in 1932. These three men were amazing spies who helped to . 13th May 1944 the Germans transported Sansom and seven other SOE Coming from a long line of patriots from the province of Picardy, she rose up against indifference and was outraged when the Nazis took over her nation. These three would then recruit, arm and work with local French Resistance fighters to sabotage German trains, barges, bridges and supply depots. People of the Second World War (1939-45) Influential leaders, generals and civilians who caused, influenced and fought during the Second World War. Its purpose is to accurately identify the goods via barcoding and to relate the physical arrival of the goods to the previously received ODETTE Despatch Advice message. 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". Odette Hallowes/Place of burial. 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. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. When she refused to divulge the whereabouts of her spy circuit's wireless operator and another British officer, she not only saved the lives of other agents but enabled them to continue their work for the Resistance. Men and women from the SOE would work within occupied nations, disabling factories, wrecking power houses, and severing lines of communication. Odette Hallowes, from Red Ball in Somerset, was awarded the George Cross, an MBE and the . In 1946 Sansom was awarded the George Cross for bravery and the Still, she refused to speak. "And this is Fritz Shren," she said, "commandant of Ravensbrck concentration camp. "[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). "Now would you care to tell me Arnaud's address?," the interrogator asked. As Sansom had told him she was related to Winston Churchill he took her with him to American forces, thinking that this would help his case. "The Last Days of Auschwitz, 50 Years Later: Untold Stories From the Death Camp," in Newsweek. They were sent to Fresnes Prison in Paris, and soon were interrogated at 84 Avenue Foch, the notorious Gestapo headquarters. [20] Bleicher occasionally appeared and suggested that they might go to concerts and visit restaurants together in Paris, in return for which he hoped she could be induced to talk. With several other agents, two of them women, Odette sailed from Gibraltar at the end of October aboard a small Polish trading boat. Albert Speer Odette Hallowes has a story unlike anyone else. When she did, he pulled back the material and pressed a red-hot poker to her spine. Think before you speak. For example, Violette Szabo fought a rearguard action with German units before being captured near Limoges. Where is Violette Szabo buried? Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. He died trying to find two of his men who had gone missing after the Battle of Verdun. Your email address will not be published. The medal was awarded after medical records and eyewitness testimony supported her case. Save five minutes a day when the overhead light was illuminated, she sat in total darkness. 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. The interrogator told Odette he was a servant of his fhrer, Adolf Hitler, and had no regrets for what he did; in fact, he would stop at nothing to get the information he needed. When German counter-intelligence became more of a threat, Churchill moved his circuit of saboteurs and information gatherers to Upper Savoy in February 1943. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Honored for his tenacity and courage at the battle of Verdun, he was later killed as he attempted to save two men missing from his platoon. But in the years that followed, her undiminished mental and moral energy, combined with a complete absence of bitterness towards her tormentors and the nation that had spawned them, became a beacon to others who had suffered disfigurement, pain or bereavement. Yet she was a trained killer. Despite a report by the camp doctor that she would not survive such conditions for more than a few weeks, after being found unconscious in her cell she was placed in solitary confinement. The company . They killed anyone they feared might testify. 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. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Meanwhile, Sansom was feeling powerless. During her interview, Sansom was puzzled by the questions and by how much the British knew about her. [21], After the Allied landings in the south of France in August 1944, on orders from Berlin, all food was withdrawn for a week, all light was removed from Sansom's cell, and the heat was turned up. [22] Sansom removed Suhren's pistol, which is now held in the Imperial War Museum.[23]. She briefly married, Peter Churchill, before marrying her third husband, Geoffrey Hallowes. Bleicher of Abwehr. Peter Morland Churchill, DSO (14 January 1909 - 1 May 1972) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) officer in France during the Second World War.His wartime operations, which resulted in his capture and imprisonment in German concentration camps, and his subsequent marriage to fellow SOE officer, Odette Sansom, received considerable attention during the war and after, including a . Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. In 1930, Odette met Roy Sansom, an Englishman who was the son of a family friend. When Louis returned to school, she continued her walks alone and, though she missed him, found an unexpected joy in solitude. Starved and tortured, Odette never broke. After four months of agonizing indecision over leaving her three children, and still feeling unqualified, she accepted. Szabo returned to Britain via Lysander in June 1944. Like her colleagues in the SOE, she signed up for the war knowing that arrest (and execution) was a very real possibilitya fate that awaited almost one in two for F Section (France) couriers. Great location near I-80 47 frontage. Odette Hallowes died at Walton-on-Thames on 13th March, [21], Sansom said she believed she was "not brave, not courageous, but just make up my mind about certain things." This label is usually attached to the container/package of the goods. Odette means: wealth. By October, when her health had just about failed, they moved her to a cell above ground. In their striped uniforms, with bristling hair on their shaved heads, Sansom and the other women had to stand at attention for two to six hours until the count was complete. We use cookies on our website to collect relevant data to enhance your visit. Erwin Rommel is know, Reinhard Heydrich This was hard enough for most prisoners and even worse for those suffering from diarrhea which was epidemic in the camps. Later he was an architect of the Fifth Republic and was president from 1958 to 1969. She endured months of solitary confinement and death threats, but revealed nothing. She described it as a "kind of bargaining. At first, Odette's instructors . Anyone who fell behind was shot dead. 1804 Division St - Morris, IL -For Sale 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. Susan Slosberg , writer, New Rochelle, New York. of the country. Sansom rejected the overtures. . After receiving basic training in England, she was taken to France by boat in October 1942. She was 82. In fact, Peter Churchill was not related to the British prime minister. Odette Sansom was born in France but later moved to England. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Sansom was the only one officially condemned to die and, ironically, the only one to live. Knowing they were going to die gave them a sense of freedom, and they told each other their real names as well as their code names. But German agents had begun to infiltrate "Spindle" by the time Churchill returned to Annecy on the night of April 1415, 1943. Yet, only one of their answers Epcot's "Frozen Ever After" overlapped. They hoped that this story would help Odette Marie Cline was born on April 28, 1912 to Gaston and Yvonne Brailly who lived in Amiens, France.Her brother Louis was born a year later in 1913. At 2:00 a.m. on April 16, Bleicher, no longer in the guise of "Colonel Henri", appeared in the hotel with Italian soldiers and arrested Sansom and Churchill. She became what one biographer described as a "celebrated heroine on both sides of the Channel." A glamorous spy, capture, imprisonment, horrific torture, dramatic escape, breathless romance. They won't have me. They summoned her to Avenue Foch 14 times, always pressing her for the whereabouts of SPINDLEs radio operator and the hideout of another circuit leader. Educated at the Convent of Therese in Amiens She was executed in Ravensbrck concentration camp and posthumously awarded theGeorge Cross, the highest honour given to civilians. I won't let them have me." [32] She remains the only woman to have received the George Cross while alive, all other female awards to date being posthumous. [34], On 23 February 2012, the Royal Mail released a postage stamp featuring Hallowes as part of its "Britons of Distinction" series. Hero of the French Resistance, known only as Odette, who worked for the British War Department during World War II and, when captured and tortured by the Nazis, refused to divulge classified information. Odettes medals can be seen today in her special display at the Imperial War Museum. German field marshal known as the "Desert Fox" Yet, despite the torture and pressure, she remained firm to her story. Since Sansom (code name "Lise") spoke French, she could plan and execute the night parachute resupply drops and arrange for secret transportation of the agents. She was met by Peter Churchill, codename 'Raoul', and joined his resistance group. Heroes and Heroines. In between each "evulsion," he would repeat his questions, telling her she could end "the ceremony" simply by answering the questions. Odette Her Remarkable True Storyby Jerrard Tickell at Amazon. 19471956 [26] After an appeal by her mother, it was returned with a note saying: "You, Madame, appear to be a dear old lady. Still thinking she was going to be executed, she was driven by the Nazi commandant of Ravensbrck, Fritz Shren, in his Mercedes to the American line. In July 1942, Sansom began her training at the SOE school, a country house hidden in New Forest, Hampshire. All Rights Reserved. At Ravensbrck, Sansom was put in solitary confinement underground, in an attempt to break her spirit. Her two companions Denise Bloch and Lilian Rolfe met the same fate although these two brave women were so weakened that they were unable to walk to their deaths. In 1946, Odette Sansom was awarded theGeorge Cross(GC) for refusing to betray her fellow secret agents under torture. 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. [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. 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