Annie de Montfort (16 December 1897 – 10 November 1944) was a French writer and physician and a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Early life

She was born Arthémise Deguirmendjian-Shah-Vekil in the 9th arrondissement of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Her parents were born in Turkey and were

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

n in origin. She studied medicine before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.Mémoires de la Société historique et archéologique de l'arrondissement de Pontoise et du Vexin, Volumes 56-63, 1957 On 3 February 1919, Annie married Henri de Montfort, a historian and academic who worked at the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute ...

, and they had four children: Claude, Marc, Anne-Marie and François. Marc de Montfort (1923-1998) was a lawyer who would become noted for his humanitarian work with Polish dissidents. Also in 1919, Annie de Montfort was a co-founder of the Association France-Pologne, which had a diplomatic and cultural role and published a journal called ''La Pologne'' from 1920.

Wartime activities

In 1939, Hachette published ''Pologne'', a work jointly produced by Henri and Annie de Montfort. In 1941, the couple launched an underground Resistance publication called ''La France continue''. On 18 March 1943, Annie was arrested at

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, and interned at

Fresnes Prison Fresnes Prison (''French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a small ...

. Along with nearly a thousand other women, she was deported to a concentration camp, with transport 175, leaving Paris on 31 January 1944. Her husband continued his Resistance activities despite the breakup of his network as a result of the arrests of key members such as Paul Petit and Marietta Martin; Petit, Martin and others were executed in Germany during 1944. Along with other inmates of the camp, Annie de Montfort began creating an international cultural association for the prisoners. On 6 November she was admitted to the camp's sick bay, where she died a few days later. Her death was witnessed by a fellow Resistance worker,

Germaine Tillion Germaine Tillion (30 May 1907 – 18 April 2008) was a French ethnologist, best known for her work in Algeria in the 1950s on behalf of the French government. A member of the French resistance, she spent time in the Ravensbrück concentration ...

Death and legacy

A plaque in honour of Annie de Montfort was erected at the Collegiate Church of Saint-Martin de Montmorency. The inscription reads, "À la mémoire de Annie Archambault de Montfort, déléguée générale de l'association France-Pologne, morte pour la France et la Pologne le 10 novembre 1944" (In memory of Annie Archambault de Montfort, general delegate of the France-Poland Association, who died for France and Poland on 10 November 1944.The central bronze medallion was designed by sculptor

Henri Dropsy Henri Dropsy (21 January 1885 – 2 November 1969) was a French sculptor and medallist. He is the son of Emile Dropsy. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1924 Summer Olympics and the 1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Oly ...

. Her name is listed with those of other French writers at the

Panthéon The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...

in Paris. She was posthumously awarded the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. Her son, François de Montfort, recorded her achievements in his 1961 book ''Adolf Eichmann, levez-vous!''Notice dans la Revue internationale de criminologie et de police technique, Page 51, vol. 14-15, Centre international d'études criminologiques, 1960 ; Presses de la Cité, Paris, 1961

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montfort, Annie de 1897 births 1944 deaths Knights of the Legion of Honour French Resistance members French writers People who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp