Lilian Vera Rolfe, (26 April 1914 – 5 February 1945) was an Allied secret agent in the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

Early life

Rolfe and her twin sister Helen Fedora Rolfe were the daughters of George Rolfe, a British chartered accountant working in Paris. Although she grew up in Paris, she and her sister came to England for summer school to learn English when they were about 7 and then again when they were 11, as they spoke French at home. When she was 17 Rolfe came down with rheumatic fever while visiting an English family. In 1930, the family moved to Brazil for "professional reasons" and Lilian and Helen "finished school" there. She worked for the Canadian Embassy but when the war started she changed to the British Embassy. She completed courses in first aid and Morse code.

Second World War

At the onset of the

, Rolfe worked at the British Embassy in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

before going to London, England in 1943 to join the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

. Because of her fluency in the French language, she was recruited into the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE), where she was trained as a wireless operator. On 5 April 1944, Rolfe was dropped near the city of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and George Wilkinson. Her job was to transmit

Maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The network ...

and other important radio messages to London. Beyond her wireless duties, which included reporting on German troop movements and organising arms and supply drops, she actively participated in missions with members of 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 ...

against the German occupiers and was involved in a gun battle in the small town of Olivet just south of Orléans. Following the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

, an increasingly aggressive manhunt 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 ...

led to the arrest of Rolfe's superior officer. Nonetheless, Rolfe continued to work until her arrest at a transmitting house in

Nargis Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she made her screen debut in a minor role ...

on 31 July 1944. Transported 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 ...

in Paris, she was interrogated repeatedly and tortured until August 1944, when she was shipped 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 ...

. According to an admission made by a German officer after the war's end, she was so ill that she could not walk. On 5 February 1945, 30-year-old Rolfe was executed by the Germans and her body disposed of in the

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also be ...

. Three other female members of the SOE were also executed at Ravensbrück:

Denise Bloch Denise Madeleine Bloch (; 21 January 1916 – 5 February 1945) was an agent working with the clandestine British Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in the Second World War. Captured by the Germans, she was executed at Ravensbrück ...

Cecily Lefort Cecily Margot Gordon Lefort (30 April 1899 – February 1945) served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and in France for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. The purpose of SOE ...

, and

Violette Szabo Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC ( née Bushell; 26 June 1921 – February 1945) was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission ...

Honours

The name of Lilian Rolfe is engraved on the

Runnymede Memorial The Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England is a memorial dedicated to some 20,456 men and women from air forces of the British Empire who were lost in air and other operations during World War ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England. The "Lilian Rolfe House" at the Vincennes Estate,

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

was dedicated to her memory. In her honour, the government of France posthumously awarded her the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. In the town of

Montargis Montargis () is a communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after Orléans and its suburbs. It is near a large forest, ...

in the

Loiret Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.

département, where she had been active, a street was named for her alias: "Rue Claudie Rolfe". As one of the SOE agents who died for the liberation of France, she is listed on the "Roll of Honour" on the

Valençay SOE Memorial The Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument in France to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives working to liberate the country during World War II. The memorial was unveiled in the town of Valençay, in the de ...

in the town of

Valençay Valençay () is a commune in the Indre department in the administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. Geography Valençay is situated in the Loire Valley. It sits at the end of a plateau. on a hillside overlooking the River Nahon. Valen ...

, in the

Indre Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...

departément of France. Like many female agents she was seconded into the

First Aid Nursing Yeomanry The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...

(FANY) when she joined SOE. Thus she is also commemorated on the FANY memorial at St Paul's Church Knightsbridge in London. On 19 August 2021 a plaque was installed on the house Rolfe was born in (32 avenue Duquesne in the

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le septième''. The arrondissement, ca ...

) due to the efforts of Barbara Cronk, a member of the Rolfe family. In the 1958 film Carve Her Name with Pride, the character of Lilian Rolfe was played by Anne Leon.

Order of the British Empire (Military) Ribbon

Notes

Bibliography

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

Beryl E. Escott, ''Mission Improbable: A salute to the RAF women of SOE in wartime France'', London, Patrick Stevens Limited, 1991. * Liane Jones, ''A Quiet Courage: Women Agents in the French Resistance'', London, Transworld Publishers Ltd, 1990. * Marucs Binney, ''The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Women Agents of SOE in the Second World War'', London, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002. *

Sarah Helm Sarah Helm (born 2 November 1956) is a British journalist and non-fiction writer. She worked for ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Independent'' in the 1980s and 1990s. Her first book ''A Life in Secrets'', detailing the life of the secret agent Ver ...

, ''A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE'', London, Abacus, 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolfe, Lilian 1914 births 1945 deaths Executed spies Female wartime spies World War II spies for the United Kingdom Female resistance members of World War II Spies who died in Nazi concentration camps Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) People who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp Women's Auxiliary Air Force officers Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Military personnel from Paris French people executed in Nazi concentration camps Executed people from Île-de-France Female recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) Members of the Order of the British Empire French Special Operations Executive personnel British Special Operations Executive personnel French women in World War II Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II