Yvette Lundy (22 April 1916 – 3 November 2019) was a French

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

during 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 ...

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 opposing ...

. She provided the inspiration for the character of Mademoiselle Lise Lundi in the 2009 film ''

Korkoro ''Korkoro'' ("Alone" in Romani) is a 2009 French drama film written and directed by Tony Gatlif, starring Francophone actors Marc Lavoine, Marie-Josée Croze and James Thiérrée. The film's cast were of many nationalities such as Albanian, K ...

'', written and directed by

Tony Gatlif Tony Gatlif (born as Michel Dahmani on 10 September 1948 in Algiers) is a French film director of Romani ethnicity who also works as a screenwriter, composer, actor, and producer. Personal Gatlif was born in Algeria of Pied noir ancestry. A ...

Early life

She was born on 22 April 1916 in

Oger Oger may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Ogre, Latvia * Oger, Marne, France * Saudi Oger Saudi Oger Ltd ( ar, سعودي أوجيه), was a Saudi construction company, incorporated in January 1978 with its headquarters in Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, ال ...

, France; she was the youngest of seven siblings in a family of agricultural workers originating from the Reims area. In 1938 she began working as a teacher at

Gionges Gionges () is a former commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2018, it was merged into the new commune of Blancs-Coteaux.

, and as secretary to the mayor there. During May 1940, as the Battle of France began, she fled the area, but returned two months later.

Wartime activities

As a Resistance worker in occupied France, Lundy began supplying forged official documents to escapees from the camp at Bazancourt and to Jewish families. She assisted the Communist Marcel Nautré, and others involved in the Possum network, in avoiding detection by the authorities, as well as providing shelter at her brother Georges' farm for Free French fighters parachuted into the region. Lundy was arrested on 19 June 1944 in her classroom at Gionges and was interrogated 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 orga ...

at Châlons-sur-Marne, where she was subsequently imprisoned. During the interrogation, to protect her brothers and sister (René, Lucien, Georges and Berthe) who were also working for the resistance, she pretended to be an only child. From there she was taken to Romainville, and, on 18 July 1944, was deported, first to Saarbrücken Neue Bremm, and then to the Ravensbrück concentration camp (prisoner number 47360). On 16 November of the same year, she was transferred to the

Schlieben Schlieben ( dsb, Sliwin) is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated north of Bad Liebenwerda. Schlieben was the site of a concentration camp during the Holocaust. History From 1815 to 1944, Schlie ...

subcamp of

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...

. Her sister Berthe was also imprisoned in Germany and her elder brother Lucien was interned at Auschwitz concentration camp; they both survived, but her other brother, Georges, did not and was murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. Yvette Lundy was freed from Schlieben by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

on 20 or 21 April 1945 and, after a march of some 200 kilometres to Halle, was flown back to France, arriving at

le Bourget Le Bourget () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The commune features Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hosts the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (Air and Space Museum). A very ...

on 8 May 1945.

Post-war

Lundy remained silent about her war experiences until 1959, for her family's sake. After that date, she began going into schools to share her testimony. Her visits proved extremely popular with pupils. Lundy's memoir ''Le Fil de l'araignée'' (), co-written with Laurence Barbarot-Boisson, was published in 2012. At the age of 101, she was awarded the honour of

Grand Officier de la Légion d'honneur Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

. She died on 3 November 2019 at Epernay, aged 103.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lundy, Yvette 1916 births 2019 deaths Buchenwald concentration camp survivors French centenarians French Resistance members Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Resistance Medal Women centenarians