I thank you for having faith in me. Concentration Camp. [6], Originally Sansom was considered too temperamental and stubborn by SOE, with an evaluation stating "She is impulsive and hasty in her judgments and has not quite the clarity of mind which is desirable in subversive activity. She is excitable and temperamental, although she has a certain determination." While on a secret trip to England, he left her in charge. But it was Odettes commitment to honor and duty that allowed her to persevere under such perilous conditions. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sansom-odette-1912-1995, "Sansom, Odette (19121995) Messages were printed on ties, scarves, handkerchiefs, and underwear. When German counter-intelligence became more of a threat, Churchill moved his circuit of saboteurs and information gatherers to Upper Savoy in February 1943. [5] She adopted an attitude of defiance, and found that this resulted in a degree of respect by her captors and helped her survive the imprisonment mentally. Violette Szabo (1921-1945) worked for 'F' Section inSpecial Operations Executive (SOE)during theSecond World War. She lived quietly, carrying on an extensive correspondence. When they told her she was to be executed, listing her many crimes against the Nazi Third Reich, she told them to take their pick of offenses, because they could only kill her once. Colonel Henri was a German officer who claimed he wished to work for the allies. On May 26, 1943, Sansom was taken to the headquarters of the German security service. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The other began to unbutton her blouse. It does not store any personal data. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Agents wore boots and shoes with secret compartments. After the war, the organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946. October 14, 1990. [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. This act of selfless bravery saved him from interrogation but it was the start of Sansom's ordeal. Yolande Beekman ("Yvonne"), Madeleine Damerment ("Martine"), and Eliane Plewman ("Gaby"), along with Noor Inayat Khan , were executed without trial in Dachau on September 13, 1944. [11], Meanwhile, in Paris in mid-March, spy-catcher Hugo Bleicher, an Abwehr counterintelligence officer, arrested Marsac, persuading him and another Carte associate, Roger Bardet, that he was an anti-Nazi German colonel and that they should work together. All of her toenails had been ripped from her feet. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. what happened to odette's daughters. They were cremated, but evidence emerged later that some of them were still alive when they went into the ovens. Shren was hoping to save himself from execution as a war criminal after Germany's defeat. Wehrmacht soldiers, Vichy police, Abwehr (German military intelligence) and Gestapo were everywhere: control checkpoints, hotels, cafes, trains even brothels. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Her George Cross, she always maintained, was not to be regarded as an award to her personally, but as an acknowledgment of all those known and unknown, alive or dead, who had served the cause of the liberation of France. Born 26 Feb 1881 in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, died 14 Oct 1918 from wounds received on 26 September at the battle of Mesnil. ." Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Fifteen of them were captured by the Nazis. The interrogator told Odette he was a servant of his fhrer, Adolf Hitler, and had no regrets for what he did; in fact, he would stop at nothing to get the information he needed. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. 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. Features female Prime Ministers, scientists, cultural figures, authors and royalty. Though not a British national, in February 1941 Atkins joined the French section of the SOE as a secretary. She began to understand that they were asking her to volunteer for more than part-time work as a translator. SOE circuits were comprised of three agents: circuit leader, courier and radio operator. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. Heidenheim, Germany [2] She had one brother. [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. In desperation, some women would scrape soot with their nails from the prison walls to try to blacken the roots of their gray hair hoping to look younger and be spared death during selection. She was captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, but survived the war. Still thinking she was going to be executed, she was driven by the Nazi commandant of Ravensbrck, Fritz Shren, in his Mercedes to the American line. She was the first woman to be awarded the George Cross by the United Kingdom and was awarded the Lgion d'honneur by France. following year she married Peter Churchill. Odette, who by that time had married her third husband and become Odette Hallowes, died in 1995 at the age of . Each country, including France, had its own section in London. Odette Sansom at the FANY memorial at St. Paul's Church in Knightsbridge, London, in 1948. Instead, after the war, she worked for various charities seeking to lessen the pain of war. They learned how to pick locks and pockets, forge signatures, and derail trains. That she survived the war was almost miraculous. Four female SOE agents had been put to death in a concentration camp by lethal injection that month. Women in Espionage. During a mission in France she was captured and imprisoned by the Nazi's. Odette accompanied him. to London where she gave birth to three children. Britain's most prestigious organizations turned out forged papers for them to carry. November 9, 1970 Read before you think. Check out this video! "British Heroine Honored, Aided French Resistance Despite Gestapo Tortures," in The New York Times. It was at Fresne Prison that they tortured Sansom. Though the camp was designed to contain a maximum of 6,000 prisoners, after 1943, there were never fewer than 12,000. Agents memorized codes in verse. She was a Frenchwoman, married to an Englishman, and was living in Somerset with their three young daughters. from the east, she persuaded Fritz Suhren, the camp commandant, to Captain Peter Morland Churchill (code name "Raoul") was the commanding officer of the Marseilles-Cannes SOE circuit (code name "Spindle"), one of nearly 50 secret organizations run by British agents in occupied France. People Who Made a Difference in Health Care, Facts about the extraordinary life of Joan of Arc. However, her execution was never carried out. In 1930, Odette met Roy Sansom, an Englishman who was the son of a family friend. She was awarded not only an Order of the British Empire (Member), but also a Chevalier de la Lgion dHonneur, Frances highest decoration; a George Cross, Britains second highest honor; and five other medals. [21], Sansom said she believed she was "not brave, not courageous, but just make up my mind about certain things." SOE was also monitoring those who brought them in, hoping to find some who were qualified to become agents in France. She was then transported to Halle, where she was again treated brutally. A list of 200 potential supporters, lost by Andr Marsac, a Girard courier, was obtained by the Germans. . You are here: foo fighters opening bands; plane crash recordings website; what happened to odette sansom daughters . Jorioz by Hugo Bleicher of the Abwehr. Through an ingenious plot, Bleicher arrested Odette and her commanding officer, Peter Churchill (no relation to the prime minister), on April 16, 1942. [19], Sansom succeeded in diverting attention from Churchill, who was subject to only two interrogations, and protected the identities of the two officers whose locations were known only to her. 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). Your little dog really loves me. However, against all odds she survived the war and testified against the prison guards at the Hamburg Ravensbrck trials. [4], George Starr, one of SOE's most successful agents and a self-described martinet, called Sansom "a dreadful lady" and deplored what he portrayed as her seductive behaviour. 1934); Marianne (b. Odette Sansom, also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Hallowes, was born on 28 April 1912 in Amiens, France. 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." London: R. Hale, 1976. These three men were amazing spies who helped to . Peter Churchill survived the war but Rabinovitch was executed by the Gestapo in 1944. Sincerely yours, A Bad Egg. 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. What happened to Odette's daughters? Erwin Rommel is know, Reinhard Heydrich What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? "If you tell me what you want me to do and release one hand I will do it." On 16th April, 1943, Sansom and Churchill were arrested by Hugo Bleicher of Abwehr. January 16, 1995, pp. Men and women from the SOE would work within occupied nations, disabling factories, wrecking power houses, and severing lines of communication. Indeed the theme of her postwar working life, with its service to various charities and help for the underprivileged, was the healing of those wounds, both physical and mental, which had been inflicted upon individuals by the war. Pronunciation: o-dette, od(et)-te. This jacket was worn by Odette Sansom during the course of her confinement in Fresnes Prison and Ravensbrck. How much did Violette Szabo medals sell for? This would mean securing an apartment in a specified part of town in France to which the SOE might send other members, either as part of an escape team or to encourage sabotage and action by the French Resistance. She had already made three unsuccessful attempts to get to France. Held by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France, for two years she refused to betray he Moved north, she was locked for nearly a week in a cage at police headquarters in Frankfurt. The couple had three daughters: Franoise Edith, born 1932 in Boulogne; Lily Marie, born 1934 in Fulham; and Marianne Odette, born 1936 in Fulham. In 1914 when World War I broke out, Odette's father joined the Infantry Regiment and received the Croix de Guerre and Mdaille Militaire for his bravery. [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. The following month she was sent to Ravensbruck 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. Odette knew the locations of both, but refused to answer, saving their lives. 47 frontage. He told the Americans, "This is Frau Churchill," believing that she was related to the prime minister of England. Despite a report by the camp doctor that she would not survive such conditions for more than a few weeks, after being found unconscious in her cell she was placed in solitary confinement. 42,000 s/f building with Rt. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Spies were chosen carefully. On . Odette Sansom was born in France but later moved to England. They claimed they were husband and wife and related to Winston Churchill. In fact, Peter Churchill was not related to the British prime minister. As the Russians drew closer, the entire Nazi death operation went into reverse. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980. She died on 13 March 1995 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, aged 82. Before spies left England, Scotland Yard detectives scrutinized their clothing. Her torture was carried out by a "very good-looking young Frenchman" who she believed was mentally ill.[5], Sansom testified against the prison guards charged with war crimes at the 1946 Hamburg Ravensbrck Trials, which resulted in Suhren's execution in 1950. Women who changed the world Famous women who changed the world. These three would then recruit, arm and work with local French Resistance fighters to sabotage German trains, barges, bridges and supply depots. They hid microdots bearing secret codes on their bodies, or in toothpaste tubes, shoelaces or buttons. Some had only rags to cover their feet as they were forced onto the frozen mud. "Sansom, Odette (19121995) "I have nothing to say," Sansom replied. Roll call (appel) in the camps was held outdoors twice a day, no matter the weatherin summer at 5:30 am, in winter at 4:30 am. It is Odette, Queen of the Swans. She seems to have little experience of the outside world. Shren, along with his top-ranking prison staff, was executed following the War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg. She was betrayed by a double agent, Colonel Henri in April 1943. [22] Sansom removed Suhren's pistol, which is now held in the Imperial War Museum.[23]. Odette Brailly was born in Amiens, France, on 28th April 1912. Burvale Cemetery, Hersham, United Kingdom Orders arrived from Berlin in July. 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. Encyclopedia.com. Szabo, George Cross. She soon was made assistant to section head Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, and became a de facto intelligence officer. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". They scraped out human fat 18 inches thick from crematoria chimneys. Rarely would an assignment be easily completed, nor did agents have the luxury of time. "How do you feel?," the interrogator asked. She didnt think twice about confronting German generals or commandants, and often placed principle before prudence. Suhren was later hanged for war crimes. 82. Grove, Valerie. On 16th April, 1943, Sansom and Churchill were arrested by Hugo Odette Sansom (1912 - 1995) - a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. Odette means: wealth. Including; Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Truman, Emperor Hirohito, Eisenhower, Rommel and De Gaulle. One Nazi interrogator caught her arms and held them behind the back of the chair, wrote Tickell. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. They hoped that this story would help. A manifesto signed by about 20 former associates accused Churchill of being in France only to collect material for a book about his experiences and asked what acts of sabotage he and Odette had carried out. 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