Éliane Jeannin-Garreau (March 18, 1911 – June 15, 1999) served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in France as part of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

Biography

She was the "right-hand person" to the leader of the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

captured her and placed her in Ravensbrück. While there, she was tortured for the name of the leader (whom they had also unknowingly captured), but she would not speak. When she was not being tortured or working she would draw different scenes of what was happening in the women's

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

. She was eventually released and married Roger Garreau in 1948. She had one daughter, Anne. She wrote a book about her experiences, titled ''Les Cris de la Memoire'' or ''Cries of Memory''. She had her sister, Nicole Jeannin Neilson, translate it for her into English (Neilson also served in World War II as a codebreaker). She met her American husband during the war and moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where she lived with her husband and eight children.

External links

Creteil University entry (in French)
French Resistance members 1911 births 1999 deaths {{World-War-II-bio-stub