Aimée Bologne-Lemaire (; 6 January 1904 – 20 December 1998) was a Belgian

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, member of the resistance, and Walloon activist. Estelle Aimée Lemaire was born into a middle-class family in

Saint-Gilles, Belgium ( French, ) or ( Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the southern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Anderlecht, Forest and Ixelles. In common with all of Brus ...

. Her father was a lawyer, socialist and university professor; her mother was a school teacher. Aimée studied at the ULB, where she joined the student socialist society, graduating in 1926. She became a teacher, first in

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, then in

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

until 1943, then returning to Charleroi to take up the post of director of the ''Athénée Royal Vauban''. In 1929 she married Maurice Bologne, an activist in the

Parti Ouvrier Belge The Belgian Labour Party (, , BWP; , , POB) was the first major socialist party in Belgium. Founded in 1885, the party achieved its first electoral breakthrough in the aftermath of World War I. It was officially disbanded after the German invasi ...

, predecessor of the modern Belgian socialist parties (

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

and Socialist Party – Different). During the 1930s, the couple were active in left-wing circles, including support for the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and membership in the

Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes The Watchfulness Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals (''Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes'', CVIA) was a French socialist organization created in March 1934, in the wake of the February 6, 1934 riots organized by far right ...

. In 1938 Lemaire-Bologne was among the founder-members of the "Historical Society for the Defence of Walloon Culture". During the German occupation of Belgium in the

Second World War 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 ...

, she was associated with the

Wallonie Libre ''Wallonie libre'' ( French; literally "Free Wallonia") is a minor political party active in Wallonia in Belgium which originated as a group active within the resistance in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. Affiliated with the Walloon ...

organisation. She continued to work for a Walloon cultural renaissance, and headed the Wallonia-Association's female arm, which attempted to save Jewish children from deportation, and to feed undernourished children. She also undertook clandestine work distributing socialist newspapers, and running the secretariat of the banned Socialist Party. In 1943, as a result of her work in thwarting the German efforts to conscript young women in Charleroi into German industry (the so-called

arbeitseinsatz ''Arbeitseinsatz'' () was a Forced labor in Germany during World War II, forced labour category of internment within Nazi Germany () during World War II. When German men were conscription, called up for military service, Nazi German authorities r ...

), she was obliged to go into hiding. After the war, Bologne-Lemaire was a participant at the Walloon national congress in 1945. She returned to teaching in Charleroi, retiring in 1961. In 1960 she joined the board of the Institut Jules Destrée. She joined the Walloon Front, a movement which turned into the

Walloon Rally The Walloon Rally (, ; RW) is a regionalist political party in Belgium, active in Wallonia since 1968. The party favoured federalism and since 1985 independence. Founded on 7 March 1968, the party contested the Belgian general election of 1968 ...

party in 1968. She was president of the women's branch from 1970 to 1976. As well as writing two books, she provided numerous articles for ''Wallonie Libre'' and ''Forces Wallonnes''. Along with her husband, she was a signatory to the

Manifesto for Walloon culture The Manifesto for Walloon Culture (French: Manifeste pour la culture wallonne) was a document published on September 15, 1983, in Liège, Belgium. Signed by 75 prominent figures from the artistic, journalistic, and academic communities of Wallo ...

in 1983. She was the recipient of several Belgian honours, being made an officer of the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgiu ...

and a knight of the

Order of Léopold The Order of Leopold (, , ) is one of the three current Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the oldest and highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of its founder, King Leopold I. It consists of a military, a mari ...

. She also received the

Civilian Resistance Medal The Civilian Resistance Medal (, ) was a war service medal of the Kingdom of Belgium established by royal decree on 21 March 1951 and awarded to all members of the Belgian civilian resistance during the Second World War who were recognised as su ...

for her wartime work. Aimée Bologne-Lemaire died at

Nalinnes-lez-Charleroi Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. On January 1, 2018, Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes had a total population of 13,529. The land area is , w ...

in 1998.

Works by Aimée Bologne-Lemaire

* ''Arille Carlier ou La conscience wallonne.'' Nalinnes-lez-Charleroi: Institut Jules Destrée, 1969 * ''Jules Destrée : 21 août 1863-2 janvier 1936.'' Mont-sur-Marchienne: Institut Jules Destrée, 1976.

References

* Catherine Jacques, "LEMAIRE, Estelle, Aimée...", in

Éliane Gubin Éliane Gubin (born in 1942) is a Belgian historian, researcher and professor of political history, political and social history, specializing in the history of women and feminism. In the late 1980s, she initiated the introduction of women's histo ...

, Catherine Jacques, Valérie Piette & Jean Puissant (eds), ''Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIX^e et XX^e siècles.'' Bruxelles: Éditions Racine, 2006. * Suzanne Van Rokegem, Jeanne Vercheval-Vervoort & Jacqueline Aubenas, ''Des femmes dans l'Histoire en Belgique depuis 1830.'' Bruxelles: Éditions Luc Pire, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bologne-Lemaire, Aimee 1904 births 1998 deaths People from Saint-Gilles, Belgium Walloon people Belgian socialists Belgian feminists Belgian left-wing activists Belgian socialist feminists Walloon movement activists Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni Belgian resistance members Officers of the Order of Leopold II