58. Women At War 5: The Survivor II (Marie-José Wilborts)

When we came back, nobody wanted to know. ― Loulou Le Porz, Ravensbruck survivor

It’s the two-part conclusion of the miniseries: Women In War. This episode was a long time coming. I struggled to read the stories of Ravensbruck concentration camp. How can I pay tribute to these brave women? But I knew the story of French women during World War II would be incomplete without confronting the truth of the camp. 

Note: This episode is much darker than any previous episodes of this podcast. Please consider this a content warning for, well, just about everything. If you just discovered the show via the newest issue of France-Amérique Magazine, welcome! You might want to start with a lighter episode, like this one or this one.

Episode 58: “Women At War 5: The Survivor II (Marie-José Wilborts)”

Marie-Jo, the children’s guardian

Marie-José Chombart de Lauwe, a.k.a. Marie-José Wilborts, grew up determined to “do something with my life.” She certainly did: fighting in the Résistance, protecting the children of Ravensbruck concentration camp, and devoting her entire life to the study of childhood, and the advocation of children’s rights. She is an incredible woman, and at the age of 96 she is still going strong! 

Above: Marie-Jo tells the story of her years in Ravensbruck and Mauthausen concentration camps.

I adore this recent interview with Marie-Jo – look at her cozy home! Here, continuing her lifelong advocacy of children’s well-being, she discusses the state of children’s education today:

Transcript

In March 1944, 4,052 new prisoners arrived at Ravensbruck. The camp was at four times its intended capacity, and chaos reigned. There weren’t enough guards, and it was easier than ever to evade them by disappearing into the crowds. The German guards cared less and less about camp discipline, distracted by concern for the safety of their own homes and families. That summer, new German prisoners arrived, punished for expressing doubts about Germany victory, or performing sex work to feed their families when German shops ran out of food. By the summer of 1944, Ravensbruck was a microcosm of the Third Reich’s terrible path of destruction, containing prisoners from no fewer than 22 countries. In August 1944, the Western and Eastern front collided in the camp, and all hell broke loose.

It was the story of two rebellions. Following the Allied landing at Normandy, Hitler had to cut out the middleman. No more farming out Resistance fighters to French prisons, run by the French administration. With the Allies only days away, French civilians joined the Resistance by the thousands, and Occupation leaders began looking for the exits. Hitler ordered all political prisoners sent straight to German factories for forced labor. While American tanks rolled towards Paris, German cattle cars rolled towards camps like Ravensbruck. As Paris steeled herself for the final fight and Germans weighed whether or not to raze the city, electricity flickered off and bombs blasted the train stations. But even this wasn’t enough to stop the trains from making their deadly route. In one of the last convoys from Paris, 500 women arrived at Ravensbruck on August 21st. Only a few days later, the Allies liberated Paris.

Other rebels weren’t so lucky. Just as the French resistance counted on the Allied army for support, the Polish resistance knew the Red Army was on its way and seized their chance. Like the French, Polish men and women emerged into the open to face their occupiers head on. Unlike the French, they were crushed.