Maisie Renault (13 December 1907 – 7 April 2003) was 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 ...
fighter and a member of the
Confrérie Notre-Dame
The Confrérie Notre-Dame (CND), later called the CND-Castille, was a French resistance group founded by Colonel Rémy. It was joined by other anti-Nazi Catholics from France.
History
Founded before the end of 1940, the Notre-Dame Brotherhood was ...
network. She was arrested in 1942 and deported to the
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück () was a Nazi 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 of 1 ...
in 1944.
Biography
Born May Renault in
Vannes
Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago.
History
Celtic ...
on 13 December 1907 she was better known as Maisie. Her father was Léon Renault, professor of philosophy and English and inspector general of an insurance company and her mother Marie Decker was daughter of composer
Théodore Decker. Maisie Renault came from a family of ten. Her brother was
Gilbert Renault
Gilbert Renault (6 August 1904 – 29 July 1984), known by the nom de guerre Colonel Rémy, was a notable French secret agent active during the Second World War and was known under various pseudonyms such as ''Raymond'', ''Jean-Luc'', ''Morin'', '' ...
, ''Colonel Rémy''. The family was strongly resistance oriented. Her other siblings included Isabelle, born on 26 August 1923 and Philippe, born 29 March 1915, killed in Lübeck-Neustadt Bay, 3 May 1945, both members of the
Confrérie Notre Dame-Castille network and both also deported.
In 1925, when her father died Renault gave up school to help her mother. She took a job at the
Banque de France
The Bank of France ( ) is the national central bank for France within the Eurosystem. It was the French central bank between 1800 and 1998, issuing the French franc. It does not translate its name to English, and thus calls itself ''Banque de ...
in Vannes. She spent a short time with her brother Gilbert in
Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
before returning home as the accountant for an agricultural cooperative. Gilbert founded an intelligence network in France called the
Confrérie Notre-Dame
The Confrérie Notre-Dame (CND), later called the CND-Castille, was a French resistance group founded by Colonel Rémy. It was joined by other anti-Nazi Catholics from France.
History
Founded before the end of 1940, the Notre-Dame Brotherhood was ...
. It was "considered to be the most important intelligence network in Free France". Renault joined in December 1940 and by the same time the following year she joined their Paris headquarters on rue Madame. Renault was responsible for sorting the information to go to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, prioritising it and transcribing the coded language and ensuring the radio operators had the details needed. The network was infiltrated and the first arrests began in June 1942. Renault was arrested on 13 June 1942 with her sister
Madeleine Cestari. They managed to ensure their brothers escape. Renault gave away no information during her interrogation.
Deportation
Initially Renault was isolated and kept incommunicado in
La Santé prison
La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) ( or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice (France), Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the 14th arr ...
, then in
Fresnes Prison until March 1943 before she was moved to
Romainville
Romainville () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, located in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France.
Location
It is located from the center of Paris.
History
On 24 July 1867, a part of the territory of Romainville was detached ...
and
Compiègne
Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' ().
Administration
Compiègne is t ...
. It was there she met
Germaine Tillion
Germaine Tillion (30 May 1907 – 18 April 2008) was a French ethnologist, known for her work in Algeria in the 1950s on behalf of the Government of France. A member of the French Resistance in World War II, she spent time in Ravensbrück co ...
's mother. In February 1944 she returned to Romainville. 15 August 1944, Renault was sent by train to the
Ravensbrück camp. She arrived 21 August. Renault was one of only seventeen survivors of her group of 550 people. The camp was liberated on 22 April 1945. Renault and her sister were taken to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
and then on to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. They were cared for by the Red Cross. They left Sweden in July 1945 and were brought back to Paris. They were reunited with their brother Gilbert there.
Memoirs
As soon as Renault's health was stable and she had received all the necessary medical care, she began to write down her memories of the deportation. She asked her brother to edit it and rearrange it into chapters but he decided to leave it as she had written it. She completed it in August 1947 in
Arradon
Arradon (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department in the Brittany region in northwestern France.
Population
The inhabitants of Arradon are known as ''Arradonnais''.
Map
See also
*Communes of the Morbihan department
The followin ...
and in 1948 it was published as ''La Grande Misère''. The book became famous and received the ''Grand prix Vérité''. Renault then returned home to Vannes in 1959, and went back to work in the cooperative, until her retirement. She never stopped testifying about what she experienced, especially in the schools of
Morbihan
The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...
. Renault died in
Vannes
Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago.
History
Celtic ...
in 2003.
Awards
Renault received the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...
, the
Croix de Guerre
The (, ''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 awarded during World ...
and the
Resistance medal
The Resistance Medal (, ) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 February 1943 "to recognize the ...
. In 2002, she was promoted to the rank of commander in the Legion of Honor.
References and sources
External links
DES FEMMES DANS LA RESISTANCE EN MORBIHAN LES OUBLIEES DE L'HISTOIRE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renault, Maisie
1907 births
2003 deaths
People from Vannes
French Resistance members
World War II civilian prisoners
French writers