Biography of Odette Sansom, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net, 16th Mar 2008. During her interview, Sansom was puzzled by the questions and by how much the British knew about her. The SS wanted to keep her as a bargaining tool. near Herrlingen, Germany That brought her to the attention of Colonel Maurice Buckmaster's Special Operations Executive. Wartime heroine of the French resistance Odette Churchill, later Odette Hallowes (1912 - 1995), Feb. 14, 1947. "You will realize I am not what you want.". Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Odette Sansom (1912 - 1995) - a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. The prince is captivated by her soulful countenance and starts to approach her, but she becomes frightened and turns from him. Concentration Camp. Sansom instructed Rabinovich to send a wireless message to SOE headquarters in London reporting the contact. It was at Fresne Prison that they tortured Sansom. Starved and tortured, Odette never broke. Other The marriage Inmates drank ersatz coffee in the morning, watery soup for lunch, and ate bread for dinner while doing heavy labor. [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. What happened to Odette's daughters? window.__mirage2 = {petok:"_AuhmkdrMi1mq61lM9R.VNRK.kGsRUbh0j6SX_5ImLM-86400-0"}; En route to the Gestapo prison in Paris, they decided that Sansom would pretend to be Churchill's wife, in order to divert attention from his London mission and the sabotage they had orchestrated in France. She left her three daughters in a convent school, and was trained to be sent into Nazi-occupied France to work with the French Resistance. Mr. Sansom joined the army at the beginning of the Second World War, and Odette Sansom and the children moved to Somerset for their safety. Her back was scorched with a red-hot poker and all of her toenails were pulled out. Photo courtesy of FANY. On . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Standing angrily over her, he said, "We Germans have no need to excuse ourselves to subject races. [3][21] The cell was located near the crematorium and would be covered with burned hair from the cremations. [CDATA[ She recalled in a post-war interview that while everyone has a breaking point, her feeling was that if she could "survive the next minute without breaking up, that is another minute of life. Sansom wassent to Ravensbrck concentration camp, Germany, in July 1944. [3][7] A bad fall during training ruled out parachute entry into France. Sansom received the George Cross on November 19, 1946, from King George VI, the first woman to be awarded the United Kingdom's highest civilian award for "courage, endurance and self-sacrifice." Her father was a soldier in the French Army and was killed during Susan Slosberg , writer, New Rochelle, New York. After receiving basic training in England, she was taken to France by boat in October 1942. Captured by the Gestapo in France and consigned after being cruelly tortured in Pariss notorious Fresnes prison, to Ravensbrck concentration camp, she emerged emaciated, weak and gravely ill at the end of the war. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. As the Russians drew closer, the entire Nazi death operation went into reverse. The Gestapo pounced. In July 1942, Sansom began her training at the SOE school, a country house hidden in New Forest, Hampshire. Buckmaster played himself in the film, and Sansom, then known as Odette Churchill, wrote a personal message that appeared at the end of the film, which was well received. Agents memorized codes in verse. [30], She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire[31] and was the first of three Second World War First Aid Nursing Yeomanry members to be awarded the George Cross (gazetted 20 August 1946), all for work with the SOE. related to Winston Churchill. [26] After an appeal by her mother, it was returned with a note saying: "You, Madame, appear to be a dear old lady. Some mistakenly say finger-nails: but her torturers stopped short when they realised that even the grotesque pain of the toe-nails could not persuade her to speak (and having been ticked off firmly by Odette myself, for springing a photographer on her, I understand the Gestapo's reluctance to displease her further). 19471956 ." Odette was a courier for the SPINDLE circuit of Special Operations Executive (SOE), the secret sabotage outfit Winston Churchill had charged to set Europe ablaze. She was a wife and mother of three who didnt drink, smoke or swear, and to the casual observer she was quite ordinary, perhaps even boring. Each Remembrance Day, Sansom placed a cross of flowers there. [5], In January 1943, the Spindle team of Churchill, Rabinovich, and Sansom, feeling vulnerable to German capture, moved north from the French Riviera to the quiet Italian-occupied Annecy area in the French Alps. Klaus Barbie, known as the "Butcher of Lyon," was a leader in the Nazi group called the SS, and was head of anti-Resistance operations in France duri, Himmler, Heinrich 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], In June 1943 Sansom was condemned to death on two counts, to which she responded, "Then you will have to make up your mind on what count I am to be executed, because I can only die once." They were married after just five weeks and Violette gave birth to their daughter Tania on 8 June 1942. Each country, including France, had its own section in London. On December 16, 1946, Major Stephen Stewart called Odette Sansom as a witness for the prosecution at the War Crimes Court at Hamburg. In October, 1941, she was sent by boat to France with orders to She briefly married, Peter Churchill, before marrying her third husband, Geoffrey Hallowes. Odette Sansom GC, MBE (28 April 1912 - 13 March 1995), also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Hallowes, code named Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during the Second World War.The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe . Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. She left her children in a convent and began training with the SOE. Her official point of commemoration is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Brookwood 19391945 Memorial to the Missing in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. from the east, she persuaded Fritz Suhren, the camp commandant, to She was to land on the Mediterranean coast and work her way north, where SOE hoped to establish a new circuit. When German counter-intelligence became more of a threat, Churchill moved his circuit of saboteurs and information gatherers to Upper Savoy in February 1943. He spun a tale to her of them travelling together to London to "discuss means of ending the war." [17][18] The British had calculated that if the Germans thought she was related to the British Prime Minister they would want to keep her alive as a possible bargaining tool. 'It will be your duty,' said my grandfather, 'to do what you can for your country.' [7], Her wartime record was the subject of a 1950 film, Odette, in which the title role was played by Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard played Churchill. We use cookies on our website to collect relevant data to enhance your visit. Odette Labels are the industry standard for Labelling in the Automotive Industry. However, since she had claimed to be the wife of Peter Churchill, and the Germans were not sure of his relationship with Winston Churchill (there was none), they were reluctant to kill her. "Life wisdom learnt in the darkness of a torture cell; Odette Hallowes, GC.," in London Sunday Times. While on a secret trip to England, he left her in charge. She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. Spies were chosen carefully. Odette, who by that time had married her third husband and become Odette Hallowes, died in 1995 at the age of 82. She endured months of solitary confinement and death threats, but revealed nothing. 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. Odette Hallowes/Spouse. Odette Hallowes/Place of burial. October 14, 1990. The son of Lillie ne Parkington and Abbey Sansom of Colchester. Something about the future seemed to haunt her. Distressed by the occupation of France by the German Army in [35], She served as a technical advisor on a film on her fellow SOE agent Violette Szabo, Carve Her Name with Pride. He was warned to avoid contact with Sansom and 'Colonel Henri" on his return to France, but when he was parachuted back into the Annecy area on April 14/15, he was met by Sansom and Rabinovich. She didnt think twice about confronting German generals or commandants, and often placed principle before prudence. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Her work brought her initially to Marseilles, then considered a dangerous town because of its infiltration by German agents. 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. Albert Speer (1905-1081) may have known of the atrocities committed in Germany during the Nazi era, but claimed he did not., Rommel, Erwin Britain's most prestigious organizations turned out forged papers for them to carry. help establish a new circuit in Burgundy. The fact she survived undetected for over a year is a testimony to her care and professionalism. to London where she gave birth to three children. 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. The official memorial to all those who served in the SOE during the Second World War was unveiled on 13 February 1996 on the wall of the west cloister of Westminster Abbey by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. "Sansom, Odette (19121995) She is excitable and temperamental, although she has a certain determination." 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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Instead, after the war, she worked for various charities seeking to lessen the pain of war. It is Odette, Queen of the Swans. What is a good mission statement for a salon? German field marshal known as the "Desert Fox" They either had a skill the SS valued, a job where they could steal food, or a protector who looked after them. Please make him your prisoner." Charles de Gaulle/Date of death. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sansom-odette-1912-1995, "Sansom, Odette (19121995) They were cremated, but evidence emerged later that some of them were still alive when they went into the ovens. Odette Marie Cline Brailly was born on April 28, 1912, the first child of Gaston, a bank official in Amiens, and Yvonne Brailly . Violette Szabos code-name was Corrinne. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Odette Name Origin: German. She would keep the pistol as a memento of the war. The marriage ended in divorce. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. She died on 13 March 1995 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, aged 82. Most WWII history buffs are familiar with decorated spies like Dusko Popov, Juan Pujol, and Roman Garby-Czerniawski. Szabo, George Cross. 1995. where are the children of Odette Sansom now. 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. They claimed they were husband and wife and related to Winston Churchill. Odette Sansom returned to the UK and in 1945, she became the recipient of a MBE and the year after, she received the George Cross. A specially trained inner core of Nazis, hand-picked by Heinrich Himmler, interrogated her repeatedly. Britain and European Resistance, 194045: A survey of the Special Operations Executive with Documents, 1980. As Odette got out of the car, Shren stood in the street with her. 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. SOE circuits were comprised of three agents: circuit leader, courier and radio operator. Odette, who by that time had married her third husband and become Odette Hallowes, died in 1995 at the age of . She was taken to Fresnes Prison in Paris, where she was interrogated and tortured on many separate occasions. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. 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. "Train me," she said. Wehrmacht soldiers, Vichy police, Abwehr (German military intelligence) and Gestapo were everywhere: control checkpoints, hotels, cafes, trains even brothels. Odette Sansom at the FANY memorial at St. Paul's Church in Knightsbridge, London, in 1948. Yet, there was an undercurrent of bitterness and turbulence in her. Odette Sansom Hallowes was born on April 28, 1912. They claimed they were husband and wife and When he assures her that he means no harm, Odette reveals to him that she and her companions have been placed under a spell by the wicked Von Rothbart. Women in Espionage. She left her husband and three children to return to occupied France as a spy for the SOE (Special Operation Executive Program, a British spy agency) The book is well written and researched. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. In between each "evulsion," he would repeat his questions, telling her she could end "the ceremony" simply by answering the questions. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Odette Sansom (1912 1995) a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. Two years later, Marianne was born. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with a bronze star. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Colonel Henri was a German officer who claimed he wished to work for the allies. I gave him a nice pat and left him a piece of meat out of fridge. 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