Jeanne Coroller-Danio (25 May 1892 in

Mordelles Mordelles (; ; Gallo: ''Mordèll'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in northwestern France. Geography The river Meu forms the commune's southwestern border. Population Inhabitants of Mordelles are called in French ' ...

– 13 July 1944 in Penguily) was a

Breton nationalist Breton nationalism (Breton: ''roadelouriezh Brezhoneg'', French: ''nationalisme Breton'') is a form of regional nationalism associated with the region of Brittany in France. The political aspirations of Breton nationalists include the desire ...

and writer. She is also known as Jeanne Coroller (her maiden name) and Jeanne Chassin du Guerny (her married name). Her best-known pen-name was Danio, but she published her work under various pseudonyms: J.C. Danio, Jeanne de Coatgourc'han, Gilles Gautrel and Gilesse Penguilly. She was the daughter of Breton-language writer Eugene Coroller (1857–1923), friend of Theodore Hersart of Villemarqué. Born in

in 1892, she married Rene Chassin du Guerny in 1924, with whom she had six children.

Literary career

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...

and talented writer, she published the nationalistic ''History of our Brittany'' in 1922, which was illustrated by

Jeanne Malivel Jeanne Malivel (; 15 April 1895 – 2 September 1926) was a Breton designer and illustrator who inspired the Breton nationalist art movement Seiz Breur. Originally from Loudéac, she revived the art of woodblock printing in her illustratio ...

, inspiring the foundation of

Seiz Breur Seiz Breur was an artistic movement founded in 1923 in Brittany. Although it adopted the symbolic name ''seiz breur'', meaning ''seven brothers'' in the Breton language, this did not refer to the number of members, but to the title of a folk-story. ...

, the nationalist movement in Breton art and literature. In 1929, she published the ''Mystery of Brittany'', which was dramatised in the Abbe Perrot's Breton language translation at a

Bleun-Brug Bleun-Brug (Flower of the heather) is a Catholic association oriented towards Breton nationalism. Origins The group was created in 1905 by abbé Jean-Marie Perrot, with a name devised at the 1905 conference of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne at ...

festival in

Douarnenez Douarnenez (, ; meaning ''douar'' (land) ''an enez'' (the island) or land of the island), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, northwestern France. It is located at the mouth of the Pouldavid River, an estuary ...

in front of nearly 10,000 people. In 1940, she contributed to the children's journal ''Ôlolé'' which published ''The Wolves of Coatmenez'' (1941), followed shortly by ''Crusade of the Wolves'' (1943).

Collaborationism and death

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 ...

she was associated with the pro-Nazi faction of

Célestin Lainé Célestin Lainé (1908–1983) was a Breton nationalist and collaborator during the Second World War who led the SS affiliated Bezen Perrot militia. His Breton language name is Neven Hénaff. He was a chemical engineer by training. After ...

, whose Breton militia she supported. Her chateau also quartered the ''Bagadou Stourm'' (Breton nationalist stormtroopers). As a member of Lainé's faction she was kidnapped by a

Maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The network ...

group in 1944 and was stabbed and beaten to death. Her death caused considerable debate, since she had not been directly involved with anti-Resistance activity.

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

the Welsh nationalist party in Britain, protested that French anti-Bretonism lay behind the killing rather than anti-Nazism.Plaid Cymru, ''Breton Nationalism'', Cardiff, 1947, p. 25

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coroller-Danio, Jeanne 1892 births 1944 deaths People from Ille-et-Vilaine Breton nationalists Breton collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed French collaborators with Nazi Germany Writers from Brittany Breton women Christian fascists Deaths by stabbing in France Deaths by beating in Europe Extrajudicial killings in World War II