She ran a beauty salon in France, but the outbreak of World War II made her join the French Resistance. She miraculously escaped death. She died at the age of ... 105. Who was Andrée Peel?
Andrée Peel was born on February 3, 1905 in Brest, northwest of France. Her family was deeply religious, and Andrée also received a thorough, patriotic upbringing. She ran a beauty salon, but her work was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. When the Nazis entered Paris, she could not remain passive. She decided to act.
102 pilots. Thousands of people saved!
The first, rather spontaneous actions were limited to hiding French soldiers and getting them civilian clothes so that they could blend in with the crowd and avoid arrest. In the summer of 1940, she and a group of friends printed and distributed the famous statement on July 18. Charles de Gaulle himself spoke:
France lost the battle, but France did not lose the war.
These words obviously referred to France's defeat in the fighting, but at the same time heralded the formation of a Free French force.
Andrée joined the French Resistance. Initially, she dealt with the distribution of the underground press, but with time her activity became even more risky. She was responsible for providing information to the Allies, and cooperated with the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Together with the team, using flaming torches, she showed safe landing routes for the pilots of the Allied planes at night.
Andrée was quickly promoted, becoming a sergeant and secret agent of British intelligence codenamed "X" and then "Rose" - interestingly, the same code name was also used by Eileen Nearne, another French SOE activist. During her service, Andrée helped save over a hundred British pilots who left Europe on board submarines. It is estimated that in total she helped or made a decisive contribution to helping twenty thousand people.
The crash was inevitable
In 1943, it was released by a comrade, when the Gestapo tortured members of his family in front of him. Andrée was forced to flee Brest. She found asylum in Paris, but she was surrendered there by a tortured member of the resistance movement. Trapped - fell into the hands of the Gestapo in 1944.
She was subjected to cruel torture:stripped naked, beaten and drowned. For the rest of her life, she suffered from throat injuries, dislocated esophagus and crushed tonsils. After interrogation, she was sent to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp, where she avoided death in a gas chamber several times. Eventually she was transferred to Buchenwald. At the time, she was suffering from meningitis.
For her activities, Andrée Peel was awarded, inter alia, Medal of the Resistance Movement
One morning was already standing in front of a firing squad when the allied forces liberated the camp. In her later memoirs, she described that she and a group of prisoners had been lined up when the phone rang in the camp. The Americans informed about the takeover of the camp, they also announced that members of the German platoon would survive if they did not carry out the sentence on the prisoners. Thus, Andrée miraculously escaped death. Again.
Miracles Do Happen! I was born to fight!
She later spoke of these events: "miracles do happen." It was these words that became the title of her autobiography, which unfortunately was never published in Poland.
After the war, she worked for a short time in a Parisian restaurant, but soon met her future husband - John Peel - and moved to England with him.
Died on March 5, 2010, aged ... 105!
For her heroic activity during the Second World War, she was awarded Medal of the Resistance, Cross of War, Order of Liberation, American Medal of Freedom . She also received a letter of thanks from Winston Churchill himself, which she destroyed after reading it.
Andrée has become a model of steadfastness and courage. She said about herself that she was born to fight:"I am a fighter" .
Sources:
The article was inspired by the book Bedtime stories for young rebels. Volume 2
- telegraph.co.uk:Andrée Peel
- womenshistorynetwork.org:Andrée Peel, 1905 - 2010
- news.bbc.co.uk:"WWII heroine Andree Peel dies in Long Ashton aged 105"