Her first mission was to set up a wireless operation at Auxerre. Some mistakenly say finger-nails: but her torturers stopped short when they realised that even the grotesque pain of the toe-nails could not persuade her to speak (and having been ticked off firmly by Odette myself, for springing a photographer on her, I understand the Gestapo's reluctance to displease her further). After the war, Odette's marriage to Roy Sansom was dissolved, and she married Peter Churchill. People would cross paths, sometimes in crucial ways, then slip away and never see one another again. When German counter-intelligence became more of a threat, Churchill moved his circuit of saboteurs and information gatherers to Upper Savoy in February 1943. They then moved to England where a second daughter Lily was born in 1934. https://youtu.be/P60YDAkrbuw. 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. By the end of March 1941, the first members of the French Section were in intensive training in Britain. January 16, 1995, pp. Think before you speak. World War Two's most highly decorated female spy has had a train named after her by Great Western Railway. [3], At the time of her arrival in France, the Spindle network was beset by internal strife between the principal agent, Andr Girard, and his assistant and with the network's radio operator, Adolphe Rabinovitch. [21], Sansom said she believed she was "not brave, not courageous, but just make up my mind about certain things." Distressed by the occupation of France by the German Army in She believed that only if England and France survived would freedom and civilization prevail. She endured months of solitary confinement and death threats, but revealed nothing. 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. Sansom became 'Agent S.23'. Sansom received the George Cross on November 19, 1946, from King George VI, the first woman to be awarded the United Kingdom's highest civilian award for "courage, endurance and self-sacrifice." 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. She left her children in a convent and began training with the SOE. Despite having all her toenails pulled out and a red hot poker placed on her back, she told them nothing. Yet their decorations pale in comparison to those of a courier spy named Odette Sansom (code name: LISE). Not long after Bleicher demolished the INTERALLI circuit in the fall of 1941, the Abwehr recruited him to chase down spies in southern France, where Odette and her SPINDLE team operated. Concentration Camp. What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Stafford, David. It is Odette, Queen of the Swans. 1936). 42,000 s/f building with Rt. For three months and eight days she languished in a small cell, again on starvation rations. Occasionally, during their imprisonment, Sansom and Churchill managed to meet and talk secretly before he was moved to Germany in February 1944. What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. [3][4] Sansom, posing as "Madame Odette Metayer", was required to find food and lodging for Rabinovitch, who was in France illegally and had no ration card, and also to tend to air drops that were sometimes carelessly placed in dangerous areas. 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. After the war and his separation from Odette he married Carla Schmidt (19212004). importer. Geoffrey Hallowesm. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. What happened to Odette Hallowes? A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. Jorioz by Hugo Bleicher of the Abwehr. Mrs Odette Marie Celine Hallowes (see Sansom) (28 Apr 1912- 13 Mar 1995). Churchill and Sansom claimed they were a married couple and related to Winston Churchill to make themselves seem more valuable as prisoners and less likely to be executed as spies. Her code name was "Lise". Her conditions only improved in December 1944, when she was moved to a ground floor cell. Violette Szabo joined the Special Operations Executive in 1943. According to the Geneva Convention, women were not allowed to engage in physical combat, but she wanted desperately to fight the Nazis and decided to volunteer for the war effort in any way she could. Tickell, Jerrard. Two of those escaped, and Sansom returned, the lone survivor. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from On 31 October 1942, under her codename, 'Lise', she arrived in Cannes. They killed anyone they feared might testify. At first, Odette's instructors . She feared neither danger nor dagger, interrogation nor torture. 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." "Now would you care to tell me Arnaud's address?," the interrogator asked. Biography of Odette Sansom, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net, 16th Mar 2008. [3][21] The cell was located near the crematorium and would be covered with burned hair from the cremations. The torture continued. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Features female Prime Ministers, scientists, cultural figures, authors and royalty. [34] The fame that the movie brought to Odette Sansom and Peter Churchill also brought criticism from their former associates in SOE and the French Resistance. She was captured, interrogated and tortured, and in July 1944, sent to Ravensbrck concentration camp in Germany. For her service, she was awarded the George Cross. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. 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. She left her husband and three children to return to occupied France as a spy for the SOE (Special Operation Executive Program, a British spy agency) The book is well written and researched. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". 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. what happened to odette's daughters. However, her story was not without controversy. Held by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France, for two years she refused to betray he . They hoped that this story would help Odette Hallowes, a British agent tortured by the Gestapo in World War II and the first woman awarded the George Cross, died at her home in Walton-on-Thames on March 13. On May 26, 1943, Sansom was taken to the headquarters of the German security service. 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. drive her to the Allied lines in the west. Of all the women who took part in special operations in France, Odette as she was universally known in spite of having borne three married surnames in her lifetime perhaps best symbolized the indomitable spirit of resistance to Nazism. Fifteen of them were captured by the Nazis. 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. Rarely would an assignment be easily completed, nor did agents have the luxury of time. She was 82. Please make him your prisoner." A week later, they landed on the Riviera in an unoccupied region of France. As a result she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive Acting largely alone, the relentless German arrested over one hundred Allied agents, including Czerniawski and Sansom. When Sansom would not answer, the man kneeling at her feet fastened pincers around the tip of one of her toenails and pulled. In all, 50 SOE women agents were landed in France during World War II. Sansom was the only one officially condemned to die and, ironically, the only one to live. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. French-born Odette Sansom worked undercover in France during the Second World War. But, eventually, the camp was overrun, and she won her freedom as the Camp commandant tried to use her as a hostage. 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. They Feared No Evil: The Women Agents of Britain's Secret Armies, 193945. 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. Born November 15, 1891 Roy and Odette's marriage was dissolved in 1946 and she married Peter Churchill in 1947.[25]. The son of Lillie ne Parkington and Abbey Sansom of Colchester. They hoped that this story would help. Instead, after the war, she worked for various charities seeking to lessen the pain of war. Sansom was sent to Fresnes Prison in Paris and while being She is buried with Odette at Burvale cemetery where her name is given as Yvonne Marie Rose Brailly. Her humility meant she was not keen on accepting the award, but she did accept it on behalf of all agents who suffered during the war. For over a year, Odette using the codename Lise, worked as a radio operator, for group leader Peter Churchill. Four female SOE agents had been put to death in a concentration camp by lethal injection that month. The couple moved They would later have Lily in 1934 and Marianne in 1936. [10] SOE agent Francis Cammaerts visited Annecy briefly in March or early April 1943 and assessed the security of Churchill and Sansom's network as deficient and likely to be penetrated by the Germans. Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain, proclaimed his faith that France would be free once more, and Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French in London, encouraged his nation to fight back. They claimed they were husband and wife and related to Winston Churchill. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. For example, Violette Szabo fought a rearguard action with German units before being captured near Limoges. You are welcome to search for what you are looking for with the form below. Odette Sansom died in 1995. Carve Her Name With Pride Film based on the life of Violette Szabo. She wore her FANY uniform and the blue ribbon and silver miniature of the George Cross. She briefly married, Peter Churchill, before marrying her third husband, Geoffrey Hallowes. 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). ended in divorce in 1956 and she married Geoffrey Hallowes, a wine Odette Name Origin: German. As Sansom did not anticipate Henri's return until April 18, she and Churchill proceeded to the hotel in Saint-Jorioz. The nuns considered her volatile, petulant, and stubborn. Women who changed the world Famous women who changed the world. Sansom instructed Rabinovich to send a wireless message to SOE headquarters in London reporting the contact. She didnt think twice about confronting German generals or commandants, and often placed principle before prudence. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. On 3 May 1945, knowing that Allied forces had entered Germany, the camp commandant, Fritz Suhren, decided he wanted to escape. November 9, 1970 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). 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. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies. Hewson, David in Walters, Anne-Marie (2009), Foot, M. R. D. (1966), "SOE in France," London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, p. 252, Undercover: The Men and Women of the SOE, Patrick Howarth, 1980. These three would then recruit, arm and work with local French Resistance fighters to sabotage German trains, barges, bridges and supply depots. [24] (February 22, 2023). They were married after just five weeks and Violette gave birth to their daughter Tania on 8 June 1942. 19561995 She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. Agents learned how to place explosive matchboxes or fountain pens where they would do the most damage. On 16th April, 1943, Sansom and Churchill were arrested by Hugo Bleicher of Abwehr. She died in 1995, aged 82. Two years later, Marianne was born. He was held as a Prisoner of War in 165 POW Camp near Abbeville and succeeded in escaping four times, although he was never able to return to the German lines. Ask a World War II aficionado to name the wars most highly decorated spy and youre likely to get one of three answers: Dusko Popov (code name: TRICYCLE), the MI5/MI6 double agent who warned the FBI about Pearl Harbor and inspired Ian Flemings James Bond; Juan Pujol (code name: GARBO), the crafty Spaniard who fooled the Germans with a fictional network of 15 agents; or Roman Garby-Czerniawski (code name: BRUTUS), the Polish double agent who at one time had a hundred agents in his INTERALLI circuit. Violette Szabo (1921-1945) worked for 'F' Section inSpecial Operations Executive (SOE)during theSecond World War. On 16th April, 1943, Sansom and Churchill were arrested by Hugo She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. Heidenheim, Germany . Odette, who by that time had married her third husband and become Odette Hallowes, died in 1995 at the age of 82. the life story of Odette Sansom reads like the film script it later became. Both Churchill and Sansom were therefore retained in Fresne and frequently interrogated for another eight months. Inmates drank ersatz coffee in the morning, watery soup for lunch, and ate bread for dinner while doing heavy labor. She was subsisting on just one slice of bread and a bowl of. In October 1942, leaving her three daughters at a convent school in Essex, 30-year-old Odette Sansom became a member of the Women's Transport Service, a part of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). Buckmaster allowed her training to continue regardless. she worked under Peter Churchill, the SOE's organizer in that part //. Peter Churchill persuaded the authorities in London that due to the new situation he would need a talented French-woman to be his courier. Save five minutes a day when the overhead light was illuminated, she sat in total darkness. Includes; Cleopatra, Princess Diana, Marie Curie, Queen Victoria, and Joan of Arc. 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