Madeleine Tambour, born December 18, 1908, in Paris and died in deportation to the Ravensbrück camp on March 4, 1945, was a French actress, active in 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 ...

within several networks including André Girard's Carte network and several networks of the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

Biography

Family background

Madeleine Anne Marie Tambour is the daughter of Alcide Tambour and Anne-Marie Aubin born in 1873. She has an older sister named Germaine.

Resistance

The family apartment located at 38

avenue de Suffren The Avenue de Suffren is an avenue situated between the 7th and 15th arrondissements of Paris. Location and access The Avenue de Suffren has one of its extremities at quai Branly and the others at boulevard Garibaldi near place de la Rép ...

, Paris XVe, served as a mailbox and clandestine home for a large number of agents of the Special Operations Executive at the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, starting with Andrée Borrel and Francis Suttill at their arrival in France. Her sister Germaine is the secretary of André Girard, founder of the "Carte" network, which wants to be independent of

Free France Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

and for this reason obtains the support of the

(section F of the SOE). In 1942, Madeleine Tambour was contacted by resistance fighter

Andrée Borrel Andrée Raymonde Borrel (18 November 1919 – 6 July 1944), code named Denise, was a French woman who served in the French Resistance and as an agent for Britain's clandestine Special Operations Executive in World War II. The purpose of SOE was ...

(Denise) who asked her and her sister to shelter many resistance fighters.

Arrest, internment and deportation

On April 22, 1943, Germaine and Madeleine Tambour were arrested by the Abwehr. Despite the intervention of several resistance fighters, in particular Françis Suttill, Armel Guerne,

Jean Worms Jean Worms (1884–1943) was a French film actor who appeared in a mixture of leading and supporting roles. Worms played Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in the 1938 film ''Rasputin''.Kennedy-Karpat p.204 Partial filmography * ''L'auberge rouge'' (191 ...

and Jacques Weil, to have them released, Madeleine Tambour and her older sister were interned in the prisons of Fresnes, Romainville and Compiègne. They were finally deported to the Ravensbrück camp in April 1944.

Death

Madeleine is identified under the registration number 27551 KZ. She died in Ravensbrück, executed by gas, like her sister, on March 4, 1945.

Acknowledgement

A plaque affixed to the facade of the building at 38, avenue de Suffren pays homage to her, as well as to her sister Germaine and to Marie-Louise Monnet.

Decoration

* Medal of the French Resistance posthumously (decree of March 11, 1947)

Sources and external links

* Richard Seiler, ''La tragédie du réseau Prosper, avril-août 1943'', Pygmalion, 2003. * Henri Noguères, ''Histoire de la résistance en France de 1940 à 1945, Famot, 1982.'' *

Jean Lartéguy Jean Lartéguy (5 September 1920 in Maisons-Alfort – 23 February 2011) was the pen name of Jean Pierre Lucien Osty, a French writer, journalist, and former soldier. Larteguy is credited with first envisioning the " ticking time bomb" sce ...

et Bob Maloubier, ''Triple jeu, l'espion Déricourt'', Robert Laffont, 1992. * Dimitri Vicheney, ''Une page de la Résistance dans le XVe arrondissement. Les réseaux du S.O.E.'' article in Bulletin de la société historique et archéologique du XVe arrondissement de Paris, numéro18, automne 2001, p. 5-17.

Notes

{{Reflist 1908 births 1945 deaths People who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück concentration camp prisoners Recipients of the Resistance Medal Special Operations Executive