Marguerite Gonnet (13 October 1898 - 27 May 1996) was a member of the

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 ...

during

World War II 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 ...

. She was from the city 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 ...

in southeastern France. At age forty-four, married with nine children, she joined the resistance group

Libération-sud ''Libération-sud'' ( French for "Liberation-South") was a resistance group active between 1940-1944 and created in the Free Zone of France during the Second World War in order to fight against the Nazi occupation through coordinated sabotage a ...

. She became the head of the resistance cell in the department of

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

. She was one of the only female heads of a resistance cell, along with

Marie Reynoad Marie may refer to the following. People Given name * Marie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** List of people named Marie * Marie (Japanese given name) Surname * Jean Gabriel-Marie, French compo ...

. In April 1942, she was arrested by the Nazis for carrying illegal newspapers. A German military prosecutor asked Gonnet why she had taken up arms against France's occupiers, to which she said, "Quite simply, Colonel, because the men had dropped them". This quote was used by American author

Sarah Rose Sarah Rose (born 1974) is an author and journalist known for ''D-Day Girls'' and ''For All the Tea in China''. Early life and education Rose was born in Chicago and attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Harvard College, and t ...

as the epigraph of her 2019 book ''D-Day Girls''. Gonnet was sentenced to two years in prison, and her leadership role in the resistance was taken up by Jean Weber. She died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 27 May 1996 at the age of 97. There is a street in Grenoble named after her. In 2020, author Olivier Vallade published a book about Gonnet ''Marguerite Gonnet: Déterminée à Sortir de l’ombre'' (English: Marguerite Gonnet: Determined to Emerge from the Shadows).

References

1898 births 1996 deaths French Resistance members People from Grenoble Female resistance members of World War II French women in World War II 20th-century French women {{France-bio-stub