She was 82. 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. Resistance groupswere activethroughout German-occupied France and made important contributions to the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. In all, 50 SOE women agents were landed in France during World War II. [4], George Starr, one of SOE's most successful agents and a self-described martinet, called Sansom "a dreadful lady" and deplored what he portrayed as her seductive behaviour. She was the first woman to be awarded the George Cross by the United Kingdom and was awarded the Lgion d'honneur by France. Spies were chosen carefully. 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. After the British evacuation of Dunkirk, the War Office had made a radio appeal to the public for pictures of the French coast. 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. 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. Most WWII history buffs are familiar with decorated spies like Dusko Popov, Juan Pujol, and Roman Garby-Czerniawski. Women who changed the world Famous women who changed the world. Are you going to answer my questions?" Women in Espionage. She had already made three unsuccessful attempts to get to France. I knew kindness as well as cruelty, understanding as well as brutality. (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. To honor her is to honor them, she felt. 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. We use cookies on our website to collect relevant data to enhance your visit. Her hair began falling out, her teeth became loose and she lapsed into a semi-coma. Then she demanded his revolver, put it into her bag, turned and walked into the nearby village. She was brutally tortured by the Gestapo for information on her fellow agents. On December 16, 1946, Major Stephen Stewart called Odette Sansom as a witness for the prosecution at the War Crimes Court at Hamburg. Although they had all parachuted into France and been on similar missions, none of the agents had met. A glamorous spy, capture, imprisonment, horrific torture, dramatic escape, breathless romance. 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). The interrogator calmly told her that his colleague was going to pull out her toenails one by one. What happened to Odette Hallowes? Sansom organized and brought about the largest resupply drops ever made to the Maquis who were hiding in the mountains above the Cote d'Azur in France. ." 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. Sansom wassent to Ravensbrck concentration camp, Germany, in July 1944. In January I got a project to create a short film based on the life of WWII spy, Odette Sansom. What happened to Odette's daughters? The couple moved She would keep the pistol as a memento of the war. Acting largely alone, the relentless German arrested over one hundred Allied agents, including Czerniawski and Sansom. Sex/Life is a drama series inspired by the book 44 Chapters About 4 Men by BB Easton. She was to land on the Mediterranean coast and work her way north, where SOE hoped to establish a new circuit. Please attempt to sign up again. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Each was awarded the Order of the British Empire, Popov and Czerniawski as Officers and Pujol as a Member. Her body was soon covered in scabs, and she suffered from dysentery and scurvy. The torture involved, beatings, having her toenails torn out and her spine branded by a hot iron. 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. German administrator, military commander Odette Sansom, also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Hallowes, was born on 28 April 1912 in Amiens, France. 13th May 1944 the Germans transported Sansom and seven other SOE document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 2023 FAQS Clear - All Rights Reserved When Odette again refused, the Nazi systematically tore out each of her toenails, one by one. German field marshal known as the "Desert Fox" What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? Odette (123 min. Great location near I-80 She arrived on July 18, 1944, two days before a now-famous failed plot by members of Hitler's inner circle to assassinate him. You can unsubscribe at any time. Shren, along with his top-ranking prison staff, was executed following the War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg. Held by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France, for two years she refused to betray he She left her three daughters in a convent school, and was trained to be sent into Nazi-occupied France to work with the French Resistance. When You Breathe In Your Diaphragm Does What. She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. Odette's medals can be seen today in her special display at the Imperial War Museum. She wrote to the War Office indicating that she had lived in Boulogne for four years and that she knew the area well. In January 1943, to evade arrest, Churchill and Sansom moved their operations to near Annecy in the French Alps. 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. Through an ingenious plot, Bleicher arrested Odette and her commanding officer, Peter Churchill (no relation to the prime minister), on April 16, 1942. With her three daughters in a convent school, Odette trained as an SOE agent. The forgotten female WWII-era spy who stayed silent under gruesome Nazi torture Odette Sansom was the first woman to receive the UK's second-highest honor for courage under fire. German military commander Heinrich Himmler became, Prisoners of War. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Sansom, an elegant, vivacious young Frenchwoman who had been living in England, detested the Nazi system, the police state, and Hitler. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Sansom was sent to Fresnes Prison in Paris and while being In fact, Peter Churchill was not related to the British prime minister. They were joined there by several other members of the Carte network and SOE, a gathering which attracted the attention of the Italian fascist police and the Gestapo. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1993. Indeed the theme of her postwar working life, with its service to various charities and help for the underprivileged, was the healing of those wounds, both physical and mental, which had been inflicted upon individuals by the war. Known as "The Hangman" and "The Blond Beast," Reinhard Heydrich (1904-1942) was the chief lieutenant of the German secret police du, https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sansom-odette-1912-1995. She had a convent education and was considered difficult, perhaps because of her illnesses. She told her story and accepted her GC on behalf of all her comrades who did not survive. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). [26] After an appeal by her mother, it was returned with a note saying: "You, Madame, appear to be a dear old lady. They then moved to England where a second daughter Lily was born in 1934. She feared neither danger nor dagger, interrogation nor torture. 42,000 s/f building with Rt. Your email address will not be published. Violette Szabos code-name was Corrinne. Yolande Beekman ("Yvonne"), Madeleine Damerment ("Martine"), and Eliane Plewman ("Gaby"), along with Noor Inayat Khan , were executed without trial in Dachau on September 13, 1944. When she was eight, an unidentified disorder caused her to go blind for. She spent the rest of the war imprisoned in Ravensbrck Concentration Camp. On 3 May 1945, knowing that Allied forces had entered Germany, the camp commandant, Fritz Suhren, decided he wanted to escape. Agents wore boots and shoes with secret compartments. 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. Odette Sansom died in 1995. Peter Churchillm. I won't let them have me." At any time, there could be a surprise selection for the gas chamber. Returning to Fresne, Sansom expected to be shot. Roy and Odette's marriage was dissolved in 1946 and she married Peter Churchill in 1947.[25]. tortured by the Gestapo she had all her toenails pulled out. 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. To be caught with a wireless radiosomething every SOE agent would transport from time to timewas a capital offense. Distressed by the occupation of France by the German Army in When Sansom would not answer, the man kneeling at her feet fastened pincers around the tip of one of her toenails and pulled. But it was Odettes commitment to honor and duty that allowed her to persevere under such perilous conditions. Sansom also gave evidence against several ofRavensbrck's staff, which influenced their sentencing. BORN: October 7, 1900 Munich, Germany Men and women from the SOE would work within occupied nations, disabling factories, wrecking power houses, and severing lines of communication. By the end of March 1941, the first members of the French Section were in intensive training in Britain. November 20, 1946. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. It was this belief that saw her through her harrowing ordeal. them receive better treatment while in prison. The Germans began a massive campaign to hide the evidence of their crimes. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. . The fact she survived undetected for over a year is a testimony to her care and professionalism. She was brutally interrogated in prison before being deported to Germany and eventually executed at Ravensbrck concentration camp in 1945. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, especially Germany. Sansom was trained to serve as a courier and a circuit organizer. Features female Prime Ministers, scientists, cultural figures, authors and royalty. 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. 5 Non-Christmas Movies to Watch This Holiday, Best Online Games to Play with your Friends, 12 tips for creating visual content on social media. 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. On May 12, 1944, 25 days before the Allies landed in Normandy, Sansom, along with six other women agents of the SOE, was taken in handcuffs by night train from Fresne to Karlsruhe Prison in Germany. of the country. Albert Speer (1905-1081) may have known of the atrocities committed in Germany during the Nazi era, but claimed he did not., Rommel, Erwin Odette was a quiet child. Odettes medals can be seen today in her special display at the Imperial War Museum. In 1946, Odette Sansom was awarded theGeorge Cross(GC) for refusing to betray her fellow secret agents under torture. Her first mission was to set up a wireless operation at Auxerre. Yet their decorations pale in comparison to those of a courier spy named Odette Sansom (code name: LISE). If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Despite all this, Sansom didn't want fame. During her internment, she suffered brutal treatment, including long periods of solitary confinement in the dark. The marriage ended in divorce. What is a good mission statement for a salon? By the fall of 1944, news filtered back to prisoners that the war had turned against the Germans. Women were employed by SOE for field work, generally as couriers, and frequently as wireless operators. It could have been deleted, moved, or it never existed at all. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies. Odette Sansom was a 30-year-old housewife and mother-of-three when she . Save five minutes a day when the overhead light was illuminated, she sat in total darkness. 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). She was captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, but survived the war. The following month she was sent to Ravensbruck Continue Learning about General Arts & Entertainment. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. She began to understand that they were asking her to volunteer for more than part-time work as a translator. To accomplish these tasks, couriers carried messages and money to their associates almost on a daily basis. She described it as a "kind of bargaining. The average SOE wireless operator in Occupied France lasted for just six weeks before being arrested. In June 1940, a new volunteer force the Special Operations Executive (SOE) was set up to wage a secret war. Still, she refused to speak. Actress Anna Neagle, who played her in the 1950 British war film Odette , spent one year with the WWII spy and she helped the actress research for the role even going as far as returning to the cells where she . This label is usually attached to the container/package of the goods. He then departed Saint-Jorioz with a plan to return and for them to leave France together clandestinely by aircraft on April 18. 47 frontage. "I resent your hands on me or on my clothes," she said. Szabo returned to Britain via Lysander in June 1944. What happened to Odette's daughters? "If I had courage, it was my grandfather's," Sansom told a London Sunday Times interviewer in 1990. Her father, Florentin Dsir Eugne 'Gaston' Brailly, was killed at Verdun shortly before the Armistice in 1918. . 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. After the war he became a businessman. In the series Billie (Sarah Shahi) is a housewife living in Connecticut, who has just given birth to her . Sansom's initial objective was to contact the French Resistance on the French Riviera, and then move to Auxerre in Burgundy to establish a safe house for other agents. That she survived the war was almost miraculous. Jorioz by Hugo Bleicher of the Abwehr. Odette Sansom (1912 1995) a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. They claimed they were husband and wife and related to Winston Churchill. She died on 13 March 1995 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, aged 82. The couple had three daughters: Franoise Edith, born 1932 in Boulogne; Lily Marie, born 1934 in Fulham; and Marianne Odette, born 1936 in Fulham. They scraped out human fat 18 inches thick from crematoria chimneys. She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. [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. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"_AuhmkdrMi1mq61lM9R.VNRK.kGsRUbh0j6SX_5ImLM-86400-0"}; There were beatings, tortures, mutilations and rapes. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Includes; Cleopatra, Princess Diana, Marie Curie, Queen Victoria, and Joan of Arc. SOE circuits were comprised of three agents: circuit leader, courier and radio operator. And as every spy knew, the Gestapo needed to turn only one operative to infiltrate a circuit and spoil the lot. The interrogator told her to unbutton it. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. However, the evaluation noted "her patriotism and keenness to do something for France." 4659. Born Odette Marie Cline Brailly on April 28, 1912, in France; died in 1995 in England; daughter of Yvonne Brailly and Gaston Brailly (a bank official and soldier); married Roy Sansom, in 1930; married Captain Peter Morland Churchill, in 1947; married Geoffrey Hallowes; children: (first marriage) Franoise (b. Odette was a French woman married to an Englishman. Sansom instructed Rabinovich to send a wireless message to SOE headquarters in London reporting the contact. It is Odette, Queen of the Swans. Odette Sansom (1912 - 1995) - a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. Educated at the Convent of Therese in Amiens After the war, the organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946. London: Arco, 1957. On . Odette Brailly was born in Amiens, France, on 28th April 1912. On 16 April 1943, 'Lise' and 'Raoul' were betrayed by a member of their network and arrested. As Sansom did not anticipate Henri's return until April 18, she and Churchill proceeded to the hotel in Saint-Jorioz. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. She became a national heroine and in 1950,a filmwas made about her. Her pat answer was always the same: I have nothing to say. When the Gestapo realized that she would never talk, they condemned her to death and sent her to the one place feared by every woman in Europe: Ravensbrck. She maintained that she, not Peter Churchill, was the leader; she also refused to give any information about other members. Violette Szabo and Noor Inayat Khan were awarded the George Cross posthumously for their bravery. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. [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. A British spy who was tortured by Nazis lied to her captors to protect the man she loved, a book about her ordeal reveals. And if I can think that way instead of thinking what is going to happen in a half-hour's time," Because of her past illnesses she knew "I was able to accept this, and survive it." Odette Sansom was born in France but later moved to England. A week later, they landed on the Riviera in an unoccupied region of France. The SS wanted to keep her as a bargaining tool. Sansom replied, "I have nothing to say.". August 21, 1946. Sansom became 'Agent S.23'. Britain and European Resistance, 194045: A survey of the Special Operations Executive with Documents, 1980. I thank you for having faith in me. At Ravensbrck, Sansom was put in solitary confinement underground, in an attempt to break her spirit. [11], Meanwhile, in Paris in mid-March, spy-catcher Hugo Bleicher, an Abwehr counterintelligence officer, arrested Marsac, persuading him and another Carte associate, Roger Bardet, that he was an anti-Nazi German colonel and that they should work together. World War II buffseven military historianslose sight of the fact that female couriers operating in occupied France had the second highest Allied fatality rate (42%, behind only Bomber Commands 45%) of the war. Charles de Gaulle/Date of death. After he landed by parachute in a remote mountainous area, Churchill and Sansom hid in an inn in St. Jorioz. Despite her appalling treatment, she was not over consumed with bitterness. Sansom arrived in France on 2 November 1942 and worked as a courier with the Spindle network (or circuit) of SOE headed by Peter Churchill (whom she later married). In the end, it was hearing tales of her French family's suffering in German-occupied France that made up her mind to join SOE. Szabo was shot at Ravensbrck; Khan was brutally interrogated and kept in chains before she was executed at Dachau. The Germans wanted to know the true identity of Spindle's wireless operator, "Arnaud," as well as the whereabouts of a British officer, Captain Francis Cammaerts, who had landed in the plane which had taken Churchill to England. "Tortured French Woman Decorated by George VI," in The New York Times. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. I grew up with this sense of duty." 1995. where are the children of Odette Sansom now. French-bornOdette Sansomworked undercover in France during theSecond World War. Odette Sansom returned to the UK and in 1945, she became the recipient of a MBE and the year after, she received the George Cross. [2] She had one brother. They'll have a dead body, useless to them. Each Remembrance Day, Sansom placed a cross of flowers there. [CDATA[ He hoped that her supposed connections to the Prime Minister might allow him to negotiate his way out of execution. Odette Name Origin: German. The couple moved They would later have Lily in 1934 and Marianne in 1936. Magazines, CODE NAME: LISEThe True Story of the Woman Who Became WWIIs Most Highly Decorated Spy, Or create a free account to access more articles, The Extraordinary Bravery That Made This Woman One of World War II's Most Remarkable Spies. She became what one biographer described as a "celebrated heroine on both sides of the Channel." Was Odette a true story? Once more, she refused. When Louis returned to school, she continued her walks alone and, though she missed him, found an unexpected joy in solitude. When German counter-intelligence became more of a threat, Churchill moved his circuit of saboteurs and information gatherers to Upper Savoy in February 1943. This jacket was worn by Odette Sansom during the course of her confinement in Fresnes Prison and Ravensbrck. However, since she had claimed to be the wife of Peter Churchill, and the Germans were not sure of his relationship with Winston Churchill (there was none), they were reluctant to kill her. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. But, eventually, the camp was overrun, and she won her freedom as the Camp commandant tried to use her as a hostage. [3][7] A bad fall during training ruled out parachute entry into France. "How do you feel?," the interrogator asked. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sansom-odette-1912-1995, "Sansom, Odette (19121995) Walther PPK pistol taken by Odette Sansom from Fritz Suhren, commandant of Ravensbrck concentration camp, after he had driven her to the American lines in May 1945. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Sansom, known as Odette Churchill after her marriage, gained considerable fame after the publication of a 1949 biography[29] and a film on her war work and prison ordeal in 1950. Leigh, Diana Rowden, Andre Borrel andSonya Olschanezky, to Nazi For over a year, Odette using the codename Lise, worked as a radio operator, for group leader Peter Churchill. 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. Its agents were mainly tasked with sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Photo courtesy of FANY. Mr. Sansom joined the army at the beginning of the Second World War, and Odette Sansom and the children moved to Somerset for their safety. [7], Her wartime record was the subject of a 1950 film, Odette, in which the title role was played by Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard played Churchill. Two of those escaped, and Sansom returned, the lone survivor. 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. Jorioz by Hugo Bleicher of the Abwehr. They hid microdots bearing secret codes on their bodies, or in toothpaste tubes, shoelaces or buttons. Odette Churchill had opposed making the film in Hollywood, for fear that the film would be fictionalised. Britain's most prestigious organizations turned out forged papers for them to carry. IWM collections. Her conditions only improved in December 1944, when she was moved to a ground floor cell. //
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