Olga Bancic (; born Golda Bancic; also known under her French '' nom de guerre'' Pierrette; 10 May 1912 – 10 May 1944) was a Jewish

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n communist activist, known for her role in 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 ...

. A member of the FTP-MOI and

Missak Manouchian Missak Manouchian (Western hy, Միսաք Մանուշեան; , 1 September 1906 – 21 February 1944) was a French-Armenian poet and communist activist. An Armenian genocide survivor, he moved to France from an orphanage in Lebanon in 1925. ...

's Group, she was captured by

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

forces in late 1943, and executed soon after. Bancic was married to the writer and fellow FTP-MOI fighter Alexandru Jar.

Biography

Bancic was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Chișinău, Bessarabia, which was part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

at the time, becoming part of the Romanian Kingdom after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. She worked in a mattress factory by the age of 12, and joined the labor movement, taking part in a

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

during which she was arrested and allegedly beaten. Bancic, who became a member of the outlawed Romanian Communist Party (PCR), was subsequently arrested several times. In 1936, she traveled to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where she aided local

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

activists in transporting weapons to

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

forces fighting in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

."Olga Bancic"
a
''Souviens-toi des déportes''
/ref> Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Bancic gave birth to Dolores, her daughter with Alexandru Jar, named after

Dolores Ibárruri Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (; 9 December 189512 November 1989), also known as (English: "the Passionflower"), was a Spanish Republican politician of the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 and a communist known for her slogan ''¡No Pasará ...

("la Pasionaria"). She left Dolores in the care of a French family following the start of the German occupation,"Last letters of The Manouchian Group May, 1944. Olga Bancic"
at the

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Eng ...

(translated by Mitch Abidor) and joined the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

-based '' Francs-tireurs et partisans – main-d'œuvre immigrée'' (FTP-MOI), taking part in about 100

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

acts against the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

(Armed forces of Nazi Germany), and being personally involved in the manufacture and transport of explosives. This came at a time when the PCR, weakened by successive crackdowns, had become divided into several autonomous groups. Similar to

Gheorghe Gaston Marin Gheorghe Gaston Marin (April 14, 1918, Chișineu-Criș – February 25, 2010, Bucharest) was a Romanian communist politician who had many roles under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceaușescu. He was born Gheorghe Grossmann in Pădureni, Arad ...

, Bancic was among the Romanian activists who were integrated into the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

. Arrested 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 orga ...

on 6 November 1943, she was subject to

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

, but refused to give information about her comrades. After the arrest of the Manouchian Group, the Gestapo published a series of propaganda posters, named ''

l'Affiche Rouge The ''Affiche Rouge'' (Red Poster) is a notorious propaganda poster, distributed by Vichy France and German authorities in the spring of 1944 in occupied Paris, to discredit 23 immigrant French Resistance fighters, members of the Manouchian Gr ...

'', which depicted its members, Bancic included, as "

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

". On 21 February 1944, she, Manouchian, and 21 others were

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

—all male defendants were executed later that day at

Fort Mont-Valérien Fort Mont-Valérien ( French: ''Forteresse du Mont-Valérien'') is a fortress in Suresnes, a western Paris suburb, built in 1841 as part of the city's ring of modern fortifications. It overlooks the Bois de Boulogne. History Before Thiers built ...

; since a law prevented women from being executed on French soil, Bancic, the only female in the Group, was deported to Stuttgart and

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

in the local prison's courtyard at 6 AM on her 32nd birthday and was buried the same day. During her transportation to the place of execution, she composed a letter to her daughter Dolores, who was known under the name Dolores Jacob, on a piece of paper which she threw out a window.

Legacy

Plaque commemorative Olga Bancic 114 rue du Chateau Paris 14

Bancic's widower, Alexandru Jar, returned to Romania at the end of the war, and established a career under the new

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

. During the 1950s, he became a noted opponent of the Party leadership around

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ...

, and, together with Mihail Davidoglu and Ion Vitner, faced criticism from activist

Miron Constantinescu Miron Constantinescu (13 December 1917 – 18 July 1974) was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR, known as PMR for a period of his lifetime), as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, ...

over his "

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

ist- liberalist tendencies". Several streets were named in Bancic's honor, and small monuments were erected in her memory, along with a wall plaque in the PCF plot at

Ivry Cemetery Ivry Cemetery (''cimetière parisien d'Ivry'') is one of the extramural cemeteries of Paris, located in the neighbouring town of Ivry-sur-Seine in Val-de-Marne, less than 500 metres outside Paris's intramural area. As well as a green space, it is ...

Ivry-sur-Seine Ivry-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Paris's main Asian district, the Quartier Asiatique in the 13th arrondissement, borders the ...

. Her name continued to be used as an asset by Communist authorities, but it fell into disuse after the 1989 Revolution. In 2005, writer and journalist Bedros Horasangian objected to the initiatives of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

officials to remove the Polonă Street commemorative plaque making mention of her activities and to rename a street previously bearing her name, arguing that: "It is not proper and insults the memory of a woman who actually died for Allied victory (when Romania was allied to the Germans!). ..In France, those who have fought in the

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

resistance enjoy full respect". Bedros Horasangian
"Caragiale, go home!"
in ''

Ziua ''Ziua'' (''The Day'' in Romanian) was a major Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It was published in Romanian with a fairly sizeable and often informative English section. ''Ziua'' was founded in 1994 by Sorin Roşca Stănescu, eve ...

'', June 29, 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancic, Olga 1912 births 1944 deaths Politicians from Chișinău People from Kishinyovsky Uyezd Moldovan Jews Romanian Communist Party politicians Romanian emigrants to France Romanian people of the Spanish Civil War Women in the Spanish Civil War Romanian participants in the French Resistance FTP-MOI Members of the Francs-tireurs et partisans Romanian trade unionists 20th-century Romanian women politicians Jewish socialists Communist members of the French Resistance People condemned by Nazi courts Jews in the French resistance Affiche Rouge Female resistance members of World War II Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany People executed by Nazi Germany by guillotine Romanian people executed abroad Executed Romanian women Romanian people executed by Nazi Germany Jewish women Executed communists