Antoinette Sasse (née Kohn, 18 June 1897 – 1986) was a French artist, and a prominent 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

World War II 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 opposin ...

Biography

Sasse was born in Paris to a wealthy Jewish family; one of four children, her sister Suzanne would later become a noted aviator. She was a pupil of

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

and a friend and pupil of Léger, Soutine, Friesz and

Van Dongen Van Dongen is a Dutch toponymic surname meaning "from/of Dongen", a town in North Brabant.

. She painted in the

Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

style, exhibiting her work in many Parisian galleries. Sasse met

Jean Moulin Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months l ...

in November 1936 and assisted him with his work of establishing a French resistance movement. In June 1940, when the

fall of Paris The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

was imminent, she and Moulin moved the papers of

Pierre Cot Pierre Jules Cot (20 November 1895, in Grenoble – 21 August 1977, Paris), was a French politician and leading figure in the Popular Front government of the 1930s. Born in Grenoble into a conservative Catholic family, he entered politics as a ...

, which documented Cot's work at the French Ministry of the Air, from Paris to a safe house in

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

. From 1942, she supervised the running of an art gallery in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

which was a cover for Moulin's activities in the area. She was also part of the Gilbert network led by her brother-in-law, Colonel Georges Groussard, and coded and de-coded messages from the resistance to

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

in London. Following Moulin's death in 1943 as a result of torture by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, Sasse returned to France from Switzerland and worked with Moulin's sister to uncover the circumstances of his arrest, detainment and death. She was later awarded the

Resistance Medal The Resistance Medal (french: Médaille de la Résistance) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 ...

. On her death in 1986, Sasse left her estate to the city of Paris for the establishment of the Musee Jean Moulin, which was opened in 1994.

Personal life

Sasse was married to a merchant, Raymond Sachs, from 1920 to their divorce in 1933. She was later in a relationship with the poet Paul Geraldy, during which time Moulin asked her to marry him; she declined his proposal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasse, Antoinette 1897 births 1986 deaths Painters from Paris Jews in the French resistance Recipients of the Resistance Medal 20th-century French painters French women painters 20th-century French Jews 20th-century French women artists Female resistance members of World War II