56. Women At War 4: The Résistante (Jacqueline Marié)

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,