I've been wanting to write about the Resistance fighters who I've learned about here in Lyon. The bravery of these people fills me with awe and admiration. I've been intrigued by the stories of how writing and publishing were all a big part of the network of the Resistance Movement. I did some research at the Museum of Resistance and Deportation and also used the internet to learn more about the stories behind the names I've found on my walks around Lyon.
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| Betty Albrecht was a political activist who wrote a book called The Sexual Problem about women's right to contraception and abortion. During WWII, she worked with the COMBAT movement. COMBAT was the name of the underground newspaper the group published and distributed. She also hosted clandestine meetings of Resisters. She was arrested and tortured and died in prison. She is one of six women who are named to the order of French Resistance Fighter. |
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| Gustave Andre and his wife, Suzanne Brachet, were both teachers who joined the Resistance Movement. They also worked with the COMBAT group. They helped publish the newspaper, and also hid people who were being hunted by Nazis. They produced false papers for people and hid equipment like weapons and radios. When Gustave was tortured in Montluc Prison, he was admired for his strength. He would not give up information and he helped others through their misery by sharing the old fables of La Fontaine with his fellow prisoners. He was shot and killed with 3 others when Lyon was close to being liberated. |
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| When the war was nearly over, the Germans evacuated a building on Rue Tronchet. It was a school, but the Germans used it as a military hospital. Neighbors congregated at the building, thinking that food and supplies that might have been left behind would be distributed. Most of the people that congregated were women and children. When the Germans heard about the people meeting outside the school, they returned and shot into the crowd of 300, killing 60 people and injuring others. |
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| Victoria Nicollet and her husband Henri ran a grocery store in Vieux Lyon. They joined the Resistance and held clandestine meetings at their home. They also routed mail and distributed leaflets and newspapers. Victoria was arrested and sent to the women's concentration camp, Ravensbruck, in Germany. She did not return. |
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| Lola Izraelski's family were Jews from Poland. They moved to Paris and later to Lyon. They ran a sewing shop in Lyon. Many members of her family joined the Resistance movement. The Gestapo were looking for her brother when they burst into their home. They shot and killed Lola. Her brother was shot, but escaped out a window. Another relative, possibly an aunt, was arrested. |
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The Gestapo used Montluc Prison as a place for interrogating and torturing prisoners before they were sent to concentration camps. 15,000 people were held at the camp during the war. 900 prisoners were executed there.
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| Dolly Argaud-Harrison hid Jewish kids in a house in Vic-Sur-Seze. She was arrested and put in Montluc prison. When France was liberated, she worked to help identify the bodies of Resistance fighters who had been killed. She later worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army. |
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| This is an old mimeograph machine that was used to publish Underground Newspapers and tracts. These publications were important tools of the Resistance, helping to keep people informed about the actions of the Gestapo and the Vichy government as well as working to recruit new fighters and spreading the movement. At the Resistance and Deportation museum here in Lyon, I watched a video where Resister Lucie Aubrac said that the movement had 2 weapons. The first one was "refusal" and "reporting" was the second. |
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