Brigitte Friang (23 January 1924 – 6 March 2011) was a French journalist and writer. Friang was born in Paris in 1924 and immediately after leaving school in Paris in 1943 joined 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 ...

.Friang (1958), 12–24. Working in the same group as Colonel F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, she was captured 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 organi ...

, shot while trying to escape, then taken to

Fresnes Prison Fresnes Prison ('' French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a smal ...

and tortured, before being deported to

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

.Fall, 138. After the war, Friang was liberated and returned to Paris where she worked for four years as a press aide to

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed by P ...

, before becoming a journalist. In 1953, she was sent to

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

as a war correspondent.Friang (1958), 25–27. There she undertook parachute training and was dropped, in the opening hours of

Operation Castor Opération Castor was a French airborne operation in the First Indochina War. The operation established a fortified airhead in Điện Biên Province, in the north-west corner of Vietnam and was commanded by Brigadier General Jean Gilles. The ...

, into Điện Biên Province, in the north-west corner of Vietnam.Simpson, 29. She made several combat jumps including one with Lt Col Bigeard's 6th Colonial Paratroop Battalion at Tu-Le after which she accompanied the 6th on their retreat to French lines.Windrow, 249 She survived the war and returned to Paris where she worked as a writer and journalist until her retirement. On June 6, 1954 she appeared as a challenger on the TV panel show "

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

" (the mystery guests for that episode were

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

and

Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ap ...

). Friang died 6 March 2011 at the age of 87.

Published works

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Notes and sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friang, Brigitte 1924 births 2011 deaths Women war correspondents French military personnel of World War II People of the First Indochina War French war correspondents French Resistance members French torture victims Women in war in France Women in World War II French women writers Women in warfare post-1945 20th-century French women