We are going underground.

― Jacqueline Marié

It’s the continuation of my new miniseries on a subject extremely near and dear to my heart: Women In War! For the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on the experiences of women in France during World War II: fighting the resistance, collaborating with the Nazis, keeping children alive against the odds, and trying to figure out the right way to live in a world that seemed upside down. The idea of this series first took shape before I even began this podcast, and I’m thrilled to bring it to you now.

While our last episode focused on Coco Chanel and other French men and women who eagerly collaborated with the Germans, a number of brave men – and, particularly women – risked their lives to fight back. This week, we’ll focus on the women of the French Resistance.

Episode 56: “Women At War 4: The Résistante (Jacqueline Marié)”

Jacqueline Marié: Heroine of the French Resistance

Jacqueline is incredible – and I don’t mean to spoil the ending of the miniseries with that verb tense, but YES, that’s RIGHT, she is STILL ALIVE and kicking butt and writing her memoirs. If you speak French, here are some incredibly precious videos of Jacqueline telling her own story.

Transcript

Bienvenue and welcome back to The Land of Desire. I’m your host, Diana, and this week I’m continuing my series about life during the German Occupation: Women At War. Each episode, I’m examining one specific woman’s life during this extraordinary time. The series is roughly chronological, so I’d recommend listening to the series in order, as it traces the way that women’s circumstances changed over the course of the war. In episode one, we began with Elisabeth Kauffman, a 16 year old Jewish refugee from Austria, as she watched Paris fall to the German army before she hit the road in the epic French Exodus. In episode two, we met with Berthe Auroy, a retired schoolteacher struggling to make her way back from the Exodus to her home in Paris, and then building a new life under the eyes of an occupying army, as food grew scarce, homes grew cold, and the population got restless. In episode three, we took a look at France’s dirty little secret, the collabos who benefited from the Occupation and wholeheartedly supported the Nazi regime. Specifically, we focused on the fashion designer Coco Chanel, whose right-wing conservativism and rabid anti-Semitism encouraged her to spy for the Gestapo. However, not every French woman took a position of “wait-and-see” or outright collaboration. There were a few women – much fewer than the French would perhaps like to admit – but there were a few women of tremendous bravery who viewed the German Occupation as a call-to-arms. These women risked their freedom, their families, and their lives in order to fight the Nazis, and after the war they were almost entirely forgotten or scrubbed out of the history books by their own leaders. One such woman was Jacqueline Marié, another 16 year old girl on the front lines, who risked everything to free her country from German occupation. Hers is an epic war story: intrigue, espionage, sabotage, imprisonment, torture, liberation, abandonment, and eventually, over time, perhaps a sort of victory. Join me for today’s episode, The Résistante.

 

“We are going Underground.”

 

It was October 24th, 1940 when 16 year old Jacqueline Marié reached her breaking point. From the moment Germany declared war against France, Jacqueline and her family were ready to fight. Gathered around the radio, Jacqueline and the Marié family listened in disbelief as the President of France, Philippe Pétain,

 

We are going underground.

― Jacqueline Marié

It’s the continuation of my new miniseries on a subject extremely near and dear to my heart: Women In War! For the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on the experiences of women in France during World War II: fighting the resistance, collaborating with the Nazis, keeping children alive against the odds, and trying to figure out the right way to live in a world that seemed upside down. The idea of this series first took shape before I even began this podcast, and I’m thrilled to bring it to you now.

While our last episode focused on Coco Chanel and other French men and women who eagerly collaborated with the Germans, a number of brave men – and, particularly women – risked their lives to fight back. This week, we’ll focus on the women of the French Resistance.

Episode 56: “Women At War 4: The Résistante (Jacqueline Marié)”

Jacqueline Marié: Heroine of the French Resistance

Jacqueline is incredible – and I don’t mean to spoil the ending of the miniseries with that verb tense, but YES, that’s RIGHT, she is STILL ALIVE and kicking butt and writing her memoirs. If you speak French, here are some incredibly precious videos of Jacqueline telling her own story.

Sources

My primary source for this week’s episode is Jacqueline’s own brand new memoir, Résistante. It’s only available in French right now, but it actually makes a pretty good read for language learners. Nearly the entire book is written in the present tense, so if you’re struggling with the plus que parfait (couldn’t possibly be me) this is actually a fairly manageable read. 

A few other terrific, highly recommended reads:

* Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba – If I could recommend a single English-language book about French women’s experiences during World War II, this is the one I’d choose!

* Fighters In The Shadows by Robert Gildea – Recommended with a caveat: I don’t think Gildea is the most evocative writer, and this is shockingly poor editing for Harvard University. However, Gildea’s scholarship is tremendous especially when it comes to foreign or Jewish resistance networks.

* A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead – I read this one years ago, and it always stuck in my mind. I reread it before this episode. She focuses on a specific group of women over the course of the war, and I think that narrowed lens has a lot to offer vs the sweeping approaches used above.

* Sudden Courage: Youth in France Confront the Germans, 1940-1945 by Ronald C. Rosbottom – Rosbottom wrote one of my favorite books about the Occupation, When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944. This one is particularly poignant, considering the incredibly young ages of so many participants in the French Resistance. The photos alone will make you weep – they look like the babies they were.

* This Anguish, Like A Kind of Intimate Song: Resistance in Women’s Literature of World War II by Lillian Leigh Westerfield – Great if you want to learn more about the women-focused literature of the age, including all those underground newsletters.

* “Témoignage de Jacqueline Fleury,

Where other women saw an Occupation, one woman saw an opportunity. Coco Chanel: fashion icon, social queen...Nazi spy.

Where other women saw an Occupation, one woman saw an opportunity. Coco Chanel: fashion icon, social queen...Nazi spy.

Part 2 of a series about French women's experiences during World War II. Berthe Auroy adjusts to a strange half-life under the German Occupation of Paris.

Part 2 of a series about French women's experiences during World War II. Berthe Auroy adjusts to a strange half-life under the German Occupation of Paris.

Part 1 of a series about French women's experiences during World War II. The Germans are coming! As France falls to the invading army in June 1940, 16 year old Elisabeth Kaufmann must decide whether to stay or go. How will she survive on the road?

Part 1 of a series about French women's experiences during World War II. The Germans are coming! As France falls to the invading army in June 1940, 16 year old Elisabeth Kaufmann must decide whether to stay or go. How will she survive on the road?

Hot fun in the summertime! Island getaways, floating bars and the birth of Renoir's "Luncheon Of the Boating Party".

Hot fun in the summertime! Island getaways, floating bars and the birth of Renoir's "Luncheon Of the Boating Party".