Claudine Chomat (7 February 1915 – 15 October 1995) was a French communist militant 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 ...

. Chomat was born at Saint-Etienne (

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

), her father having died a few months earlier, while on active service in 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 ...

. She committed herself to the French Communist Party in 1934 and helped found the Union of Young Girls in France (l'Union des Jeunes Filles de France) in 1936, with

Danielle Casanova Danielle Casanova (born Vincentella Perini; 9 January 1909 – 9 May 1943) was a French communist activist and member of the French Resistance during World War II. A dentist by occupation, she was a high-ranking figure within the Communist Yout ...

, Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, and

Jeannette Vermeersch Jeannette Vermeersch (born Julie Marie Vermeersch; 26 November 1910 – 5 November 2001) was a French politician. She is principally known for having been the companion (1932–1947) and then the wife (1947–1964) of Maurice Thorez, general ...

. In 1937, she married , a communist leader; the marriage lasted ten years. At the end of 1939, she participated in the reorganization of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

(PCF) which had been made illegal by the Edouard Daladier government. She led the women's resistance committees beginning in 1941, she founded the Union of French Women (today called ''Femmes solidaires'') in 1944, and she served as secretary-general of that organization. In 1950, she joined the central committee of the PCF. In 1948, she became the second wife of the communist leader, Laurent Casanova. As Casanova's wife, she suffered the disgrace of the party following the Servin-Casanova scandal in 1961. She died in Boulogne-Billancourt ( Hauts-de-Seine), aged 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chomat, Claudine 1915 births 1995 deaths French activists French women activists French communists French feminists Communist members of the French Resistance French socialist feminists 20th-century French women