Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier
Encyclopedia
Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, (November 3, 1912 in Paris
- December 11, 1996 in Paris), whose real name was Marie-Claude Vogel, was a member of the French Resistance
.
, was a fashion photographer.
Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier chose to be a photographic reporter, at the time when the trade was uniquely male, which earned her the nickname of “the lady in Rolleiflex
”. In 1934 she joined the Communist Youth Movement of France, and in 1936, the Union of the Girls of France. In 1934, she married Paul Vaillant-Couturier, founder of the Republican Association of Ex-servicemen, a communist and chief editor of L'Humanité
, who mysteriously disappeared in 1937. She entered the photo service of L'Humanité, for which she later took the responsibility, and got to know Gabriel Péri
and George Cogniot.
Attached to the magazine Vu team, a photographer but also a Germanist, she took part, with the others, in an investigation in Germany into the rise of Nazism
. It was at the time of this voyage in 1933, two months after the accession of Adolf Hitler
to power, when she reported on the stereotypes of the concentration camps of Oranienburg
and Dachau, published as of her return to France
. She also carried out some reports for “"Regards”, in particular on the International Brigades
. The prohibition of L'Humanité in September 1939 due to the Hitler-Stalin Pact, influenced her change of activities.
's pamphlet Sang et Or (Blood and Gold) which presented the theses of the Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg
(November 1941), a clandestine edition of L'Humanité with Pierre Villon
(who she married in her second wedding in 1949). She strengthened the connection between the civil resistance (Committee of National Front Intellectuals to fight for the Independence of France) and the military resistance (the OS, later the FTPF) and she even transported explosives.
This resistance activity caused her to be arrested in a trap by Marshal Philippe Pétain
's police on February 9, 1942, with many of her companions, among whom were Jacques Decour, Georges Politzer
, Georges Solomon, Arthur Dallidet, all of whom were shot by the Nazis at Fort Mont-Valérien
. She was interned until February 15 at the Dépôt de la Préfecture, and on March 20 was placed in secret at La Santé Prison
- here she stayed until August when she was transferred to the camp of Romainville
, an internment camp under German authority. Like her companions, among whom were Danielle Casanova and Heidi Hautval, she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via the internment camp of Compiègne
in the convoy of January 24, 1943, said to be the convoy of "31000" (see the Memorial of the deportees of France to the title of repression, by the La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation
, 2004 and The Convoy of January 24, by Charlotte Delbo
, Midnight Editions, 1965). Singular by its composition, this convoy of 230 women, Resistance members, communists, Gaullist wives of resistance members, was illustrated in La Marseillaise
by crossing the entrance of the camp of Birkenau; only 49 of these 230 women would return from the camps after the war. She stayed in Auschwitz for 18 months, where she witnessed the genocide of the Jews and the Gypsies and took part in the international clandestine resistance committee of the camp. She was then transferred to the concentration camp of Ravensbrück in August 1944: first of all assigned to earthworks, she was transferred to Revier (the camp infirmary) because of her knowledge of the German language. Ravensbrück was liberated on April 30, 1945 by the Red Army; however, she returned to France only on June 25, 1945. During these weeks, she devoted herself to the patients' repatriation. A June 16, 1945 article in Le Monde
read, “Each day, this magnificent Frenchwoman makes the rounds, uplifting courage, giving hope where it is often but illusion. The word "holiness" comes to mind when one sees this grand sister of charity near these men and these women who are dying every day."
(PCF) Member of Parliament for the Seine
(1946-1958 ; 1962-1967), then for Val de Marne until 1973. She twice (1956-1958 ; 1967-1968) held the function of vice-president for the French National Assembly, for which she later became honorary vice-president.
In 1946, she was elected Secretary General of the International Democratic Federation of Women and, in 1979, was elected vice-president of the Union des femmes française (today Femmes Solidaires). She notably filed bills for the equality of wages between men and women. She was also allied with the Peace Movement.
In 1951, at the time of his trial against the newspaper Les Lettres Françaises (at the time a close relation of PCF) opposed to David Rousset
after the latter had been accused of being a “trotskyste falsifier” by the newspaper (following the comparison by David Rousset
of the Soviet Gulag
with the concentration camps). Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier declared “I indisputably regard the Soviet penitentiary system as the most desirable in the whole world” , a controversial declaration glorifying the impact of the Gulag.
A leading member of the National Federation of Resistant Deportees and Internees and Patriots since its creation in 1945, she became its vice-president, then co-president in 1978. She was also one of the first presenters of l'Amicale d’Auschwitz. A witness at the Nuremberg Trials
, she said later, “by telling of the sufferings of those who could not speak any more, I had the feeling that, through my voice, those who they had tortured and exterminated, accused their torturers.” However, she returned from the trials “shocked, worried,” “exasperated by the procedure,” dissatisfied, in particular denouncing the absence, on the dock, of the leaders of the firms Krupp
, Siemens
, IG Farben
, firms which had largely taken part in the economic exploitation of the deportees. But in spite of these insufficiencies, she underlined later how much the definition crimes against humanity was “progress for the human conscience”.
In 1964, Paul Rassinier
, father of negationism, a critic of the verdict of the trials and a holocaust survivor, accused her of having survived only by dispossessing her companions. Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier took action against these accusations and the lawsuit against Rassinier made justice of the charges. Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz
declared to the bar of witnesses “We entered the infirmary buildings not to hide, but because we needed courageous German speaking comrades.[…] When we gave back this ration of bread deducted from our own ration, this bulb, we knew that she would give it well to those who needed it most and without any political appreciation […] I know few women as courageous as Marie-Claude, who always gave the feeling that her own life was nothing if she wasn't with the company of her comrades.” The manager of the extreme-right magazine Rivarol and Rassinier were condemned. During December of the same year, she defended in front of the French National Assembly the concept of imprescriptibility of the crimes against humanity, thus opening the way with the ratification, by France in 1968, of the Convention of United Nations
on the imprescriptibility of these crimes.
In 1987, she called all the civil parties to testify against Klaus Barbie
. During the creation of the Foundation for the Memory of the Deportation, in 1990, she was unanimously designated President, then President d' Honneur until her death on December 11, 1996.
Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
from December 20, 1945 - Officer in 1981, Commander in 1995 -, she was also a holder of the title of Combattante Volontaire de la Résistance et de décorations étrangères (Croix de Guerre Tchécoslovaque).
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- December 11, 1996 in Paris), whose real name was Marie-Claude Vogel, was a member of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
.
Photographer
Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier's father, Lucien Vogel, an editor, created the magazine Vu in 1928; her mother, Cosette de Brunhoff, sister of the creator of Babar the ElephantBabar the Elephant
Babar the Elephant is a French children's fictional character who first appeared in Histoire de Babar by Jean de Brunhoff in 1931 and enjoyed immediate success. An English language version, entitled The Story of Babar, appeared in 1933 in Britain and also in the United States. The book is based on...
, was a fashion photographer.
Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier chose to be a photographic reporter, at the time when the trade was uniquely male, which earned her the nickname of “the lady in Rolleiflex
Rolleiflex
Rolleiflex is the name of a long-running and diverse line of high-end cameras originally made by the German company Franke & Heidecke, and later Rollei-Werk. The "Rolleiflex" name is most commonly used to refer to Rollei's premier line of medium format twin lens reflex cameras...
”. In 1934 she joined the Communist Youth Movement of France, and in 1936, the Union of the Girls of France. In 1934, she married Paul Vaillant-Couturier, founder of the Republican Association of Ex-servicemen, a communist and chief editor of L'Humanité
L'Humanité
L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
, who mysteriously disappeared in 1937. She entered the photo service of L'Humanité, for which she later took the responsibility, and got to know Gabriel Péri
Gabriel Péri
Gabriel Péri was a prominent French Communist journalist and politician, and member of the French Resistance. He was executed by Nazi-occupied France during World War II.-Early life:Péri was born in Toulon to a Corsican family...
and George Cogniot.
Attached to the magazine Vu team, a photographer but also a Germanist, she took part, with the others, in an investigation in Germany into the rise of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. It was at the time of this voyage in 1933, two months after the accession of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
to power, when she reported on the stereotypes of the concentration camps of Oranienburg
Oranienburg
Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...
and Dachau, published as of her return to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. She also carried out some reports for “"Regards”, in particular on the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
. The prohibition of L'Humanité in September 1939 due to the Hitler-Stalin Pact, influenced her change of activities.
Resistance and deportation
She engaged in the resistance and participated in clandestine publications: leaflets such as l'Université Libre (first issued in November 1940), Georges PolitzerGeorges Politzer
Georges Politzer was a French philosopher and Marxist theoretician of Hungarian origin, affectionately referred to by some as the "red-headed philosopher" . He was a native of Oradea, a city in present-day Romania.-Biography:Politzer was already a militant by the time of his involvement in the...
's pamphlet Sang et Or (Blood and Gold) which presented the theses of the Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
(November 1941), a clandestine edition of L'Humanité with Pierre Villon
Pierre Villon
Pierre Villon was a member of the French Communist Party and of the French Resistance during the war. With his true name of Roger Ginsburger, he was an architect...
(who she married in her second wedding in 1949). She strengthened the connection between the civil resistance (Committee of National Front Intellectuals to fight for the Independence of France) and the military resistance (the OS, later the FTPF) and she even transported explosives.
This resistance activity caused her to be arrested in a trap by Marshal Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
's police on February 9, 1942, with many of her companions, among whom were Jacques Decour, Georges Politzer
Georges Politzer
Georges Politzer was a French philosopher and Marxist theoretician of Hungarian origin, affectionately referred to by some as the "red-headed philosopher" . He was a native of Oradea, a city in present-day Romania.-Biography:Politzer was already a militant by the time of his involvement in the...
, Georges Solomon, Arthur Dallidet, all of whom were shot by the Nazis at Fort Mont-Valérien
Fort Mont-Valérien
Fort Mont-Valérien is a fortress in Suresnes a western Paris suburb, built in 1841 as part of the city's ring of modern fortifications...
. She was interned until February 15 at the Dépôt de la Préfecture, and on March 20 was placed in secret at La Santé Prison
La Santé Prison
La Santé Prison is a prison operated by the Ministry of Justice located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is one of the most famous prisons in France, with both VIP and high security wings....
- here she stayed until August when she was transferred to the camp of Romainville
Romainville
Romainville is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-History:On 24 July 1867, a part of the territory of Romainville was detached and merged with a part of the territory of Pantin and a part of the territory of Bagnolet to create the commune of...
, an internment camp under German authority. Like her companions, among whom were Danielle Casanova and Heidi Hautval, she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via the internment camp of Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
in the convoy of January 24, 1943, said to be the convoy of "31000" (see the Memorial of the deportees of France to the title of repression, by the La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation
La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation
The Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation was founded on 17 October 1990 on the initiative of former French prime minister Michel Rocard and the former minister of the Interior...
, 2004 and The Convoy of January 24, by Charlotte Delbo
Charlotte Delbo
Charlotte Delbo, , was a French writer chiefly known for her haunting memoirs of her time as a prisoner in Auschwitz, where she was sent for her activities as a member of the French resistance.-Early life:...
, Midnight Editions, 1965). Singular by its composition, this convoy of 230 women, Resistance members, communists, Gaullist wives of resistance members, was illustrated in La Marseillaise
La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song, originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795...
by crossing the entrance of the camp of Birkenau; only 49 of these 230 women would return from the camps after the war. She stayed in Auschwitz for 18 months, where she witnessed the genocide of the Jews and the Gypsies and took part in the international clandestine resistance committee of the camp. She was then transferred to the concentration camp of Ravensbrück in August 1944: first of all assigned to earthworks, she was transferred to Revier (the camp infirmary) because of her knowledge of the German language. Ravensbrück was liberated on April 30, 1945 by the Red Army; however, she returned to France only on June 25, 1945. During these weeks, she devoted herself to the patients' repatriation. A June 16, 1945 article in Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
read, “Each day, this magnificent Frenchwoman makes the rounds, uplifting courage, giving hope where it is often but illusion. The word "holiness" comes to mind when one sees this grand sister of charity near these men and these women who are dying every day."
Social and political engagement
In 1945, she sat successively at the Provisional Consultative Assembly and at the two Constituent Assemblies and was elected French Communist PartyFrench Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
(PCF) Member of Parliament for the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
(1946-1958 ; 1962-1967), then for Val de Marne until 1973. She twice (1956-1958 ; 1967-1968) held the function of vice-president for the French National Assembly, for which she later became honorary vice-president.
In 1946, she was elected Secretary General of the International Democratic Federation of Women and, in 1979, was elected vice-president of the Union des femmes française (today Femmes Solidaires). She notably filed bills for the equality of wages between men and women. She was also allied with the Peace Movement.
In 1951, at the time of his trial against the newspaper Les Lettres Françaises (at the time a close relation of PCF) opposed to David Rousset
David Rousset
David Rousset was a French writer and political activist, a recipient of Prix Renaudot, a French literary award....
after the latter had been accused of being a “trotskyste falsifier” by the newspaper (following the comparison by David Rousset
David Rousset
David Rousset was a French writer and political activist, a recipient of Prix Renaudot, a French literary award....
of the Soviet Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
with the concentration camps). Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier declared “I indisputably regard the Soviet penitentiary system as the most desirable in the whole world” , a controversial declaration glorifying the impact of the Gulag.
A leading member of the National Federation of Resistant Deportees and Internees and Patriots since its creation in 1945, she became its vice-president, then co-president in 1978. She was also one of the first presenters of l'Amicale d’Auschwitz. A witness at the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
, she said later, “by telling of the sufferings of those who could not speak any more, I had the feeling that, through my voice, those who they had tortured and exterminated, accused their torturers.” However, she returned from the trials “shocked, worried,” “exasperated by the procedure,” dissatisfied, in particular denouncing the absence, on the dock, of the leaders of the firms Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
, Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, IG Farben
IG Farben
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
, firms which had largely taken part in the economic exploitation of the deportees. But in spite of these insufficiencies, she underlined later how much the definition crimes against humanity was “progress for the human conscience”.
In 1964, Paul Rassinier
Paul Rassinier
Paul Rassinier was a French pacifist, political activist, and author. He was also an anti-Nazi French Resistance fighter, and a prisoner of the German concentration camps at Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora. A journalist and editor, he wrote hundreds of articles on political and economic subjects...
, father of negationism, a critic of the verdict of the trials and a holocaust survivor, accused her of having survived only by dispossessing her companions. Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier took action against these accusations and the lawsuit against Rassinier made justice of the charges. Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz
Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz
Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz , was a niece of General Charles de Gaulle, a member of the French Resistance, and the president of ATD Quart Monde.-Biography:...
declared to the bar of witnesses “We entered the infirmary buildings not to hide, but because we needed courageous German speaking comrades.
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
on the imprescriptibility of these crimes.
In 1987, she called all the civil parties to testify against Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
. During the creation of the Foundation for the Memory of the Deportation, in 1990, she was unanimously designated President, then President d' Honneur until her death on December 11, 1996.
Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
from December 20, 1945 - Officer in 1981, Commander in 1995 -, she was also a holder of the title of Combattante Volontaire de la Résistance et de décorations étrangères (Croix de Guerre Tchécoslovaque).
External links
- Vaillant-Couturier's hearing at the Nuremberg Trials Retrieved May 3, 2010