Yvette Lundy | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Lundy in 2014 | |
| Born | (1916-04-22)22 April 1916 |
| Died | 3 November 2019(2019-11-03) (aged 103) |
Yvette Lundy (22 April 1916 – 3 November 2019) was a Frenchresistance fighter during theFrench Resistance ofWorld War II. She provided the inspiration for the character of Mademoiselle Lise Lundi in the 2009 filmKorkoro, written and directed byTony Gatlif.[1]
She was born on 22 April 1916 inOger, France;[2] she was the youngest of seven siblings[1][3] in a family of agricultural workers originating from theReims area.[4] In 1938 she began working as a teacher atGionges, and as secretary to the mayor there.[5][6] During May 1940, as theBattle of France began, she fled the area, but returned two months later.[4]
As a Resistance worker in occupied France, Lundy began supplying forged official documents to escapees from the camp atBazancourt and to Jewish families.[4][5] She assisted the Communist Marcel Nautré,[4] and others involved in thePossum network,[3] in avoiding detection by the authorities, as well as providing shelter at her brother Georges' farm forFree French fighters parachuted into the region.[3][6]
Lundy was arrested on 19 June 1944 in her classroom at Gionges and was interrogated by theGestapo atChâlons-sur-Marne, where she was subsequently imprisoned.[4][5][6] During the interrogation, to protect her brothers and sister (René, Lucien, Georges and Berthe) who were also working for the resistance, she pretended to be an only child. From there she was taken toRomainville,[4] and, on 18 July 1944, was deported, first toSaarbrückenNeue Bremm,[5][6] and then to theRavensbrück concentration camp (prisoner number 47360).[3][5][6] On 16 November of the same year, she was transferred to theSchlieben subcamp ofBuchenwald.[3][5] Her sister Berthe was also imprisoned in Germany and her elder brother Lucien was interned atAuschwitz concentration camp;[3][7] they both survived, but her other brother, Georges, did not and was murdered atAuschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.[3][6]
Yvette Lundy was freed from Schlieben by theRed Army on 20[8] or 21[5] April 1945 and, after a march of some 200 kilometres toHalle, was flown back to France, arriving atle Bourget on 8 May 1945.[4]
Lundy remained silent about her war experiences until 1959,[3][6] for her family's sake.[6] After that date, she began going into schools to share her testimony.[3][6] Her visits proved extremely popular with pupils.[8]
Lundy's memoirLe Fil de l'araignée (ISBN 979-1090911017), co-written with Laurence Barbarot-Boisson, was published in 2012.[3][9]
At the age of 101, she was awarded the honour ofGrand Officier de la Légion d'honneur.[6][8]She died on 3 November 2019 atEpernay, aged 103.[5][6][10]
