Germaine Guérin () was a

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

owner and a

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 ...

sympathizer during the

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

. She was part of

Virginia Hall Virginia Hall Goillot DSC, Croix de Guerre, (April 6, 1906 – July 8, 1982), code named Marie and Diane, was an American who worked with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Stra ...

's spy network that operated in

Lyon, France Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Along with the

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

Jean Rousset, she helped Hall save

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, Allied pilots, spies, radio operators, and refugees during 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 ...

Biography

Little is known about Guérin's life and background except for accounts chronicling her life as a "madam", an owner of a popular brothel in Lyon. She was described as a brunette who wrapped herself in jewels, silks, and furs. She lived in an apartment above her business, which was located in a backstreet of the city, an area now occupied by the offices of the National Treasury of France.

French Resistance

When Virginia Hall was assigned in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to establish resistance networks, she was given a list of names she could contact by an Allied pilot, Flight Lieutenant Simpson. Guérin was on the list, and the two women first met at the former's salon in the winter of 1942. The 37-year-old Guérin was already part of the French resistance movement; she was known for harboring Jews forced into hiding. Guérin's brothel was popular among German soldiers, enabling her to extract information through the prostitutes she employed. Guérin also helped undermine 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 ...

by spreading sexually transmitted diseases among her German patrons. She used forged white cards that authorities used in their efforts to prevent the spread of such diseases. With the help of gynecologist Rousset, she manipulated identification documents so that infected girls were presented as disease-free. After Hall fled France, Guérin continued to help resistance fighters, providing them food and shelter. She was later arrested after she was betrayed by Father Robert Alesch, a French Nazi collaborator who posed as Rousset's associate. It was also Guérin who introduced several of Hall's colleagues to Alesch, leading to their arrests. These included Monsieur Genet and two collaborators whom Hall identified in her correspondence as the "Siamese twins".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerin, Germaine French Resistance French Resistance members French Resistance networks and movements Year of birth missing Year of death missing