Danielle Casanova
Danielle Casanova | |
---|---|
Auschwitz, German-occupied Poland | |
Cause of death | Typhus |
Nationality | French |
Occupation(s) | Activist, journalist, dental surgeon |
Known for | French Resistance |
Political party | Communist |
Spouse | Laurent Casanova (m. 1933) |
Awards | Legion of Honour |
Danielle Casanova (born Vincentella Perini; 9 January 1909 – 9 May 1943) was a French
Biography
Vincentella Périni was born on 9 January 1909 in Ajaccio, Corsica, to the schoolteacher parents Olivier and Marie Hyacinthe (née Versini). Nicknamed "Lella" as a child, she had three sisters and one brother. After finishing secondary school she moved to Paris in November 1927 to study dentistry.[1]
In Paris, she became interested in politics and joined the Union Fédérale des Étudiants (Federal Union of Students), where she met her future husband,
In October 1938, Danielle served as leader of the French delegation to the United States at the World Congress of Youth for Peace at Vassar College. When the French Communist Youth was banned in September 1939, Danielle Casanova went into hiding. She founded the newspaper Trait d'union (Hyphen).
On 11 February 1942, Danielle was arrested by French Police while entering the hiding place of a Jewish couple, Georges Politzer and his wife Maï, at 170 bis, rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement. French Police of the Special Anticommunist Brigade (BS) had been following Danielle since 23 January after spotting her carrying a large suitcase to that same building (it contained coal for the Politzers).[7] They were all taken to the Special Brigade headquarters where they were interrogated until 23 March. Danielle managed to get a letter to her mother.[7]
At the end of March, she was moved to the German section of
Transported to
Je suis morte pour la France (I am dead for France).
— Danielle Casanova's last words, [8]
Legacy
According to the biography that
See also
Notes
- ^ Known as “Le Convoi des 31000” (so named for the numbers tattooed on their arms by the Nazis, representing the transport they arrived on), 230 women ranging in age from 17 to 67 were taken to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp on 24 January 1943. They were the only group of non-Jewish women sent to death camps during the Nazi occupation; women from the French Resistance who clandestinely fought Nazis and the Vichy regime.[9]
References
- ^ Gasper, p. 74.
- ^ Gasper, p. 75.
- ^ a b c Thiébaut 2012, p. 68.
- ^ Durand 1990, p. 91.
- ^ Article du 10 novembre 1980 du journal l'Humanité
- ^ Johnson, Douglas (6 December 1995). "Obituary: Albert Ouzoulias". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 21 May 2015.
- ^ a b "Mémoire Vive – Marie, Mathilde, dite Maï, POLITZER, née Larcade – 31680". Mémoire Vive (in French). 6 December 2012.
- ^ a b Lefebvre-Filleau & de Vasselot 2020, p. 250.
- ISBN 978-0-307-36667-2.
- ^ Jégouzo, Yves (14 June 2014). "Madeleine, dite »Betty » JÉGOUZO, née Passot, alias Lucienne Langlois – 31668". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-108-47890-8.
- ^ a b Gasper, p. 76.
Sources
- Gasper, J. The Women of Corsica. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0-244-40804-6.
- Thiébaut, P. (2012). Place des grands hommes. Hors collection Histoire (in French). Larousse. ISBN 978-2-03-588805-1.
- Durand, P. (1990). Danielle Casanova, l'indomptable (in French). Messidor. p. 91. ISBN 978-2-209-06426-7.
- Lefebvre-Filleau, J.P.; de Vasselot, O. (2020). Femmes de la Résistance 1940-1945 (in French). Editions du Rocher. ISBN 978-2-268-10341-9.