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Jeanne Macherez (12 April 1852 – 9 December 1930) was a French heroine during the
World War I 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 ...
. In 1914, she proclaimed herself Mayor of
Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...
.Jouve, Franck et Michèle, "la vraie histoire des femmes de 14-18", éditions ''Chronique'', 2013, p. 29, (in French)L'union, l'Ardennais, Jeanne Macherez : la résistance d'une Soissonnaise (in French)


Biography

Jehanne Louise Virginie Wateau was born in
Guise Guise (; nl, Wieze) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The city was the birthplace of the noble family of Guise, Dukes of Guise, who later became Princes of Joinville. Population Sights The remains ...
on 12 April 1852. She was the daughter of farmers, Virgile Wateau and Valentine Dorigny. She married in
Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
, Alfred Macherez who later became general counsel, deputy and senator of
Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345. Macherez was particularly committed to humanitarian causes. She created the organization, Goutte de lait, which helped infants. She served as president for the Soissons-Braine region of the Association of French Women and was a member of the
French Red Cross The French Red Cross (french: Croix-Rouge française), or the CRF, is the national Red Cross Society in France founded in 1864 and originally known as the ''Société française de secours aux blessés militaires'' (SSBM). Recognized as a public u ...
. When the WWI broke out, Macherez ran the Hospital Auxiliary #201, which had 10 ambulances. The Germans arrived in Soissons on 1 September 1914. An officer, looking for supplies, enters the city and demanded to speak to the mayor. He threatened that if the mayor does not give himself up, the city will be sacked, burned. Macherez spoke up: "The mayor? It's me!". For twelve days, she was the interlocutor of the Germans. She negotiated everything, managed to minimize the negative fallout of this occupation, and protected the region from German abuses and looting. On 12 September 1914, at the end of the
First Battle of the Marne The First Battle of the Marne was a battle of the First World War fought from 5 to 12 September 1914. It was fought in a collection of skirmishes around the Marne River Valley. It resulted in an Entente victory against the German armies in the ...
, the Germans were forced to release their hold on Soissons, and occupy only the right bank of the Aisne. Macherez resumed her duties in the hospital alongside a Parisian,
Germaine Malaterre-Sellier Germaine Renée Suzanne Malaterre-Sellier (1889–1967) was a French nurse, feminist, suffragist and pacifist. From 1920, she was Vice-President of the ''Union féminine pour la Société des Nations'' (Women's Union for the League of Nations). I ...
. The prefect of the Aisne, Robert Leullier then appointed Georges Muzart to be the mayor of Soissons. The role held by Macherez was praised by some, and minimized by others. She claimed nothing, only observing that it is the circumstances that led her to take this role. Macherez died in Soissons on 9 December 1930.


Awards and honors

* June 3, 1916, Audifred Prize of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences * October 1920, Knight of the
Legion of Honour 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, ...
* December 20, 1955, a street is named after her in the Saint-Crépin district of Soissons


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macherez, Jeanne 1852 births 1930 deaths Mayors of places in Hauts-de-France French Resistance members French women in World War I Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur People from Soissons