Adolphe Rabinovitch (27 May 1918 – 1944), also known as Alec Rabinovitch, was a

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

officer in France 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 ...

. He rose to the rank of captain.

Life

Born to a family of Jewish extraction in Russia and raised in Egypt, he studied in Paris and lived in the United States before the outbreak of the war. He was a junior wrestling and boxing champion in his youth, and has been described as a "giant of a man." In 1939 he volunteered in the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...

. He was taken prisoner by the Germans in June 1940 but escaped after three months. He then escaped to Britain via Spain and became an SOE agent. Rabinovitch was described by a trainer as argumentative and humourless, an "enigma." He was first parachuted into France on 27/28 August 1942 north of

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

. He was dropped in the wrong place and became a radio operator for the SPINDLE network (codename "Arnaud"), with

Peter Churchill Peter Morland Churchill, Croix de Guerre (1909 – 1972) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) officer in France during the Second World War. His wartime operations, which resulted in his capture and imprisonment in German concentrat ...

and

Odette Sansom Odette Marie Léonie Céline Hallowes, (née Brailly; 28 April 1912 – 13 March 1995), also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Sansom, code named Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in ...

, and managed to evade capture when that network collapsed. With Victor Hazan (codename "Gervais"), he got back in contact with the network's contacts around Annecy and on the Côte d'Azur before returning to England via Spain. There he became the assistant to

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny (2 February 1889 – 11 January 1952) was a French ''général d'armée'' during World War II and the First Indochina War. He was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1952. ...

before being parachuted back into France on the night of 2/3 March 1944 with

Roméo Sabourin Lieutenant Roméo Sabourin (January 1, 1923 – September 14, 1944) was a Canadian soldier and spy during World War II. Biography Born in Montreal, Quebec, Sabourin joined the Canadian Army, serving in the Canadian Intelligence Corps. Because ...

. His orders were to set up and command the BARGEE network, but the landing site was under German control and he was wounded and captured as he landed. Because he was a Jew, he was deported to

Gross-Rosen concentration camp Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main camp was located in the German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, di ...

in Poland, where he was gassed. Peter Churchill dedicated his book ''Duel of Wits'' to "my beloved Arnaud, the late Captain Alec Rabinovitch, a violent, difficult, devoted and heroic radio operator, and through him to all 'underground' men and women of his supreme calibre who died, as they lived, in solitude. Their feats are legendary and beyond all military awards."Churchill, ''Duel of Wits'', front matter In the 1950 British film '' Odette'' he is played by

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, director and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received #Awa ...

Recognition

Distinctions

* UK:

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. * France :

Croix de guerre 1939–1945 Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort d ...

with Étoile de Vermeil.

Monuments

* His name is on the SOE memorial at

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. Va ...

Indre Indre (); is a 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 administrative region of Cent ...

, France. * Brookwood Memorial, Surrey, panel 21, column 3.

Notes

References

* Churchill, Peter, ''Duel of Wits'', New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, U.S. edition (combining British editions of ''Duel of Wits'' and ''Of Their Own Choice)'', 1955. *Loftis, Larry (2019). Code name: Lise: The True Story of World War II's Most Highly Decorated Spy (Hardcover ed.). New York: Gallery Books. . * Michael Richard Daniell Foot, ''SOE in France. An account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France, 1940–1944'', London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1966, 1968; Whitehall History Publishing, in association with Frank Cass, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rabinovitch, Adolphe 1918 births 1944 deaths Egyptian Ashkenazi Jews Russian Jews Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion People who died in Gross-Rosen concentration camp Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Soviet emigrants Immigrants to Egypt Military personnel who died in the Holocaust Jewish French military personnel French Jews who died in the Holocaust French military personnel of World War II Egyptian expatriates in the United States Egyptian emigrants to France British Army General List officers British Army personnel killed in World War II 20th-century Egyptian people 20th-century Egyptian Jews 20th-century French people 20th-century French Jews