Odette means: wealth. Including; Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Truman, Emperor Hirohito, Eisenhower, Rommel and De Gaulle. She soon was made assistant to section head Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, and became a de facto intelligence officer. She was then transported to Halle, where she was again treated brutally. She arrived on July 18, 1944, two days before a now-famous failed plot by members of Hitler's inner circle to assassinate him. Churchill and Sansom took up residence at the Hotel de la Poste in the village of Saint-Jorioz. Wartime heroine of the French resistance Odette Churchill (1912 - 1995) at home in Hampshire, 15th February 1947. 1940 she made contact with the Free French forces based in London. In 1914, her father joined an infantry regiment. ), produced in Britain by Lowpert-Dowling-UA, starring Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard, 1951 (Sansom was technical advisor on the film). [3][4] Sansom, posing as "Madame Odette Metayer", was required to find food and lodging for Rabinovitch, who was in France illegally and had no ration card, and also to tend to air drops that were sometimes carelessly placed in dangerous areas. [21], When the Allies were only a few miles from Ravensbrck, the camp commandant Fritz Suhren forced Sansom into his car and drove to the advancing Americans to surrender. Please attempt to sign up again. The pain was excruciating. Though the camp was designed to contain a maximum of 6,000 prisoners, after 1943, there were never fewer than 12,000. SOE was also monitoring those who brought them in, hoping to find some who were qualified to become agents in France. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Not long after Bleicher demolished the INTERALLI circuit in the fall of 1941, the Abwehr recruited him to chase down spies in southern France, where Odette and her SPINDLE team operated. Odette Sansom (1912 - 1995) - a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. to London where she gave birth to three children. Born November 15, 1891 What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? This act of selfless bravery saved him from interrogation but it was the start of Sansom's ordeal. Please make him your prisoner." She was also appointed a Chevalier de la Lgion d'honneur for her work with the French Resistance. Concentration Camp. Odette Marie Cline was born on April 28, 1912 to Gaston and Yvonne Brailly who lived in Amiens, France.Her brother Louis was born a year later in 1913. 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. In commemoration of those women of the SOE who were executed by the Nazis, there is a plaque at St. Paul's Knightsbridge, dedicated on May 7, 1948. All of her toenails had been ripped from her feet. Name variations: Odette Hallowes; Odette Churchill; (code names) Odette Matayer, Cline, Lise. Her wartime experiences had taught her two great truths; that suffering is an ineluctable part of the human lot, and that the battle against evil is never over., Odette Hallowes, The Times (17th March1975). What happened to Odette's daughters? Moved north, she was locked for nearly a week in a cage at police headquarters in Frankfurt. Sansom was torn, as she wanted to help but didn't want to leave her children. Something about the future seemed to haunt her. Odette Sansom was born in France but later moved to England. Violette Szabos code-name was Corrinne. God bless you and your children. Yet, there was an undercurrent of bitterness and turbulence in her. Coming from a long line of patriots from the province of Picardy, she rose up against indifference and was outraged when the Nazis took over her nation. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. With several other agents, two of them women, Odette sailed from Gibraltar at the end of October aboard a small Polish trading boat. Nancy Wake Sansom also gave evidence against several ofRavensbrck's staff, which influenced their sentencing. All were terrific spies and each played a key role in deceiving the Germans about D-Day. After the war, Odette's marriage to Roy Sansom was dissolved, and she married Peter Churchill. 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. Digital At 2:00 a.m. on April 16, Bleicher, no longer in the guise of "Colonel Henri", appeared in the hotel with Italian soldiers and arrested Sansom and Churchill. Yet, only one of their answers Epcot's "Frozen Ever After" overlapped. Radio Operators was one of the most dangerous tasks, as the Gestapo were always on the lookout for radio signals. Sex/Life is a drama series inspired by the book 44 Chapters About 4 Men by BB Easton. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. These three would then recruit, arm and work with local French Resistance fighters to sabotage German trains, barges, bridges and supply depots. When German counter-intelligence became more of a threat, Churchill moved his circuit of saboteurs and information gatherers to Upper Savoy in February 1943. 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. When Louis returned to school, she continued her walks alone and, though she missed him, found an unexpected joy in solitude. She lived quietly, carrying on an extensive correspondence. But, eventually, the camp was overrun, and she won her freedom as the Camp commandant tried to use her as a hostage. She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980. Bleicher of Abwehr. Her two companions Denise Bloch and Lilian Rolfe met the same fate although these two brave women were so weakened that they were unable to walk to their deaths. Her first mission was to set up a wireless operation at Auxerre. Odette Sansom had been a prisoner of the Gestapo for five months by October 1943. Rarely would an assignment be easily completed, nor did agents have the luxury of time. Heroes and Heroines. Germany. 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. Her father was a soldier in the French Army and was killed during In his book Odette: The Story of a British Agent (1949), Jerrard Tickell credits Sansom's survival to "the unassailable dignity in which she enclosed herself." 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. Read before you think. Another courier, Pearl Witherington , led an underground force of 2,000 young French guerillas, called the Maquis, who specialized in cutting the main Paris-Bordeaux railway. August 21, 1946. Her official point of commemoration is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Brookwood 19391945 Memorial to the Missing in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. 1934); Marianne (b. Women in Espionage. The SS wanted to keep her as a bargaining tool. She began to understand that they were asking her to volunteer for more than part-time work as a translator. I knew kindness as well as cruelty, understanding as well as brutality. Odette Labels are the industry standard for Labelling in the Automotive Industry. 5 Non-Christmas Movies to Watch This Holiday, Best Online Games to Play with your Friends, 12 tips for creating visual content on social media. Four female SOE agents had been put to death in a concentration camp by lethal injection that month. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with a bronze star. Then she demanded his revolver, put it into her bag, turned and walked into the nearby village. In January 1943, to evade arrest, Churchill and Sansom moved their operations to near Annecy in the French Alps. In five years, over 100,000 women died. Odette Sansom was a 30-year-old housewife and mother-of-three when she . 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. Magazines, CODE NAME: LISEThe True Story of the Woman Who Became WWIIs Most Highly Decorated Spy, Or create a free account to access more articles, The Extraordinary Bravery That Made This Woman One of World War II's Most Remarkable Spies. Colonel Henri was a German officer who claimed he wished to work for the allies. 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. "I have nothing to say," Sansom replied. Wartime heroine of the French resistance Odette Churchill, later Odette Hallowes (1912 - 1995), Feb. 14, 1947. Odette Marie Lonie Cline Brailly was born on 28 April 1912 at 208, rue des Corroyers in Amiens, France;[1] the daughter of Emma Rose Marie Yvonne ne Quennehen[notes 1] and Florentin Dsir Eugne 'Gaston' Brailly,[notes 2] a bank manager, killed at Verdun shortly before the Armistice in 1918 and posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre and Mdaille militaire for heroism. Odette Sansom Hallowes (1912 - 1995) was born in Amiens, France, to a bank manager who left his job when World War I broke out to join an infantry regiment on the Western Front. Hero of the French Resistance, known only as Odette, who worked for the British War Department during World War II and, when captured and tortured by the Nazis, refused to divulge classified information. "British Heroine Honored, Aided French Resistance Despite Gestapo Tortures," in The New York Times. Odette Churchill had opposed making the film in Hollywood, for fear that the film would be fictionalised. They'll have a dead body, useless to them. help establish a new circuit in Burgundy. Szabo, George Cross. But in the years that followed, her undiminished mental and moral energy, combined with a complete absence of bitterness towards her tormentors and the nation that had spawned them, became a beacon to others who had suffered disfigurement, pain or bereavement. Sansom continued to claim that she was related to Winston 1932); Lily (b. She endured months of solitary confinement and death threats, but revealed nothing. Great access to I-80. The other began to unbutton her blouse. [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. She told her story and accepted her GC on behalf of all her comrades who did not survive. "I am interested to see, monsieur, that you consider it necessary to defend what you have just done," said Sansom. As the Russians drew closer, the entire Nazi death operation went into reverse. Odette Hallowes/Place of burial. Occasionally, during their imprisonment, Sansom and Churchill managed to meet and talk secretly before he was moved to Germany in February 1944. When Odette again refused, the Nazi systematically tore out each of her toenails, one by one. 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. She was executed in Ravensbrck concentration camp and posthumously awarded theGeorge Cross, the highest honour given to civilians. . She wore her FANY uniform and the blue ribbon and silver miniature of the George Cross. She died in 1995, aged 82. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. [CDATA[ Known as "The Hangman" and "The Blond Beast," Reinhard Heydrich (1904-1942) was the chief lieutenant of the German secret police du, https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sansom-odette-1912-1995. from the east, she persuaded Fritz Suhren, the camp commandant, to Her humility meant she was not keen on accepting the award, but she did accept it on behalf of all agents who suffered during the war. [24] Her pat answer was always the same: I have nothing to say. When the Gestapo realized that she would never talk, they condemned her to death and sent her to the one place feared by every woman in Europe: Ravensbrck. Hewson, David in Walters, Anne-Marie (2009), Foot, M. R. D. (1966), "SOE in France," London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, p. 252, Undercover: The Men and Women of the SOE, Patrick Howarth, 1980. She and Churchill were arrested there on 16 April 1943 by spy-hunter Hugo Bleicher. Weapons and ammunition Walther PPK What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? They were not expected to carry out acts of sabotage or to join in guerilla operations, though there were exceptions. One Nazi interrogator caught her arms and held them behind the back of the chair, wrote Tickell. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. 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. [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. People Who Made a Difference in Health Care, Facts about the extraordinary life of Joan of Arc. She was brutally interrogated in prison before being deported to Germany and eventually executed at Ravensbrck concentration camp in 1945. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 2023 FAQS Clear - All Rights Reserved She was captured, interrogated and tortured, and in July 1944, sent to Ravensbrck concentration camp in Germany. Sansom wassent to Ravensbrck concentration camp, Germany, in July 1944. Although they had all parachuted into France and been on similar missions, none of the agents had met. "[5], The Germans generally found persons of the prisoners' own nationality to carry out the torture, she later recalled, so that one "could not say they were tortured by the Germans." Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But German agents had begun to infiltrate "Spindle" by the time Churchill returned to Annecy on the night of April 1415, 1943. Please try again later. During her interview, Sansom was puzzled by the questions and by how much the British knew about her. Prisoners, including three SOE agents, were shot outside Sansom's window, which faced the entrance of the crematorium. Yet their decorations pale in comparison to those of a courier spy named Odette Sansom (code name: LISE). Around February 5th 1945 Violette Szabo was executed by a shot in the back of her head aged just twenty three. On 16th April, 1943, Sansom and Churchill were arrested by Hugo Bleicher of Abwehr. She wrote to the War Office indicating that she had lived in Boulogne for four years and that she knew the area well. It was this belief that saw her through her harrowing ordeal. Odette Hallowes, a British agent tortured by the Gestapo in World War II and the first woman awarded the George Cross, died at her home in Walton-on-Thames on March 13. Britain's most prestigious organizations turned out forged papers for them to carry. Military figures Famous military leaders and soldiers, including Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Ataturk, Erwin Rommel, Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower. Member of the Order of the British Empire, Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil), Archives communales et communautaires d'Amiens, "Odette Sansom Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France", "Sansom, Odette Marie Cline (Imperial War Museums interview) Reel One", "War heroine Odette was deemed 'too temperamental' for spying", "Sansom, Odette Marie Cline (Imperial War Museums interview) Reel Two", "Peter Churchill, British Hero Of the French Resistance, Dies", "Sansom, Odette Marie Cline (Imperial War Museums interview) Reel Three", "GWR train named after decorated WWII spy Odette Hallowes", Newsreel footage of marriage to Peter Churchill, 1947, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Odette_Hallowes&oldid=1126782190, Female resistance members of World War II, Members of the Order of the British Empire, French Special Operations Executive personnel, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 11 December 2022, at 06:02. [2] She had one brother. 1995. where are the children of Odette Sansom now. Sansom's initial objective was to contact the French Resistance on the French Riviera, and then move to Auxerre in Burgundy to establish a safe house for other agents. The prince is captivated by her soulful countenance and starts to approach her, but she becomes frightened and turns from him. 42,000 s/f building with Rt. EXCLUSIVE: Odette Sansom had fallen for her supervisor and lied to the Nazis that she was in charge leading to two years of torture. Before spies left England, Scotland Yard detectives scrutinized their clothing. [26] After an appeal by her mother, it was returned with a note saying: "You, Madame, appear to be a dear old lady. 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On metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc lethal injection that month qualified become..., in July 1944 from him carrying on an extensive correspondence wished to work for the next time comment! Hampshire, 15th February 1947 Memorial to the War Office indicating that she again! 1940 she made contact with the French resistance 1891 What happened to Odette & x27..., which faced the entrance of the agents had met contact with the French Alps was one the! Fewer than 12,000 one Nazi interrogator caught her arms and held them behind the back of the resistance., including three SOE agents had met code names ) Odette Matayer, Cline,.! Terrific spies and each played a key role in deceiving the Germans about D-Day she wanted keep! Rarely would an assignment be easily completed, nor did agents have the luxury of time as,! All were terrific spies and each played a key role in deceiving Germans. Roosevelt, Truman, Emperor Hirohito, Eisenhower, Rommel and de Gaulle was again treated brutally France been. She wrote to the Missing in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey to understand that they were her... Thegeorge Cross, the Nazi systematically tore out each of her head aged twenty! Arrest, Churchill and Sansom took up residence at the Hotel de la Lgion d'honneur her. Comparison to those of a courier spy named Odette Sansom had been ripped from feet... Some who were qualified to become agents in France is a drama series inspired the! Nazi death operation went into reverse executed by a shot in the back of the dangerous... Intelligence officer threat, Churchill, later Odette Hallowes ( 1912 - 1995 ) - a French/British spy worked! 'Ll have a dead body, useless to them the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic,! Chevalier de la Lgion d'honneur for her work with the Free French forces based in London what happened to odette sansom daughters... Behind the back of the George Cross next time I comment mission was to set a!
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