Suzanne Spaak, ''née'' Augustine Lorge known as Suzette Spaak (6 July 1905 – 12 August 1944) was a

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 ...

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 ...

operative. On 21 April 1985,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

recognized Spaak as

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

, for helping to smuggle several Jewish children to safety, by providing them with ration cards and clothing.

Life

Spaak was born in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

into a prosperous Belgian banking family in 1905. She married Brussels-born dramatist Claude Spaak (1904-1990), brother of both

Charles Spaak Charles Spaak (25 May 1903 – 4 March 1975) was a Belgian screenwriter who was noted particularly for his work in the French cinema during the 1930s. He was the son of the dramatist and poet Paul Spaak, the brother of the politician Paul-Henri ...

, a screenwriter, and

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...

, a Belgian statesman who was one of first leaders of the European Communities. Living 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 ...

with her husband and two children, Lucie known affectionately as ''Pilette'' and Paul-Louis as Bazou, she enjoyed a life of luxury and prestige as one of the city's leading socialites. Her husband had acquired paintings by their fellow Belgian,

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...

, and in 1936, Magritte painted her portrait. Her lifestyle changed drastically with the onslaught of World War II and the subsequent occupation of France by Germany.''The Socialite Heroine Of The French Resistance''
Jewish Press 27 July 2017

French Resistance

Angry with the suppression, brutality and racial intolerance of the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, she volunteered to work with the underground National Movement Against Racism (MNCR). With time and growing atrocities by the Nazis, Spaak devoted herself to ridding France and her native Belgium of its oppressors. She joined the Red Orchestra intelligence network, a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-sponsored organization founded by a Polish Jew,

Leopold Trepper Leopold Zakharovich Trepper (23 February 1904 – 19 January 1982) was a Polish- Israeli Communist, career Soviet military intelligence officer of the Red Army Intelligence and resistance fighter. With the code name Otto, Trepper had worked wi ...

. This group conducted very effective intelligence gathering in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The network became so successful, even infiltrating the German military intelligence service

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

, that the Nazis set up the "Red Orchestra Special Detachment" ( Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle) to destroy it. A mother of two, Spaak worked doggedly to save the lives of Jewish children who were facing deportation to the German

death camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

s. In early 1943, she was part of a group that saved 163 Jewish children who were about to be deported from the

Union générale des israélites de France The General Union of French Israelites (, UGIF) was a body created by the antisemitic French politician Xavier Vallat under the Vichy regime after the Fall of France in World War II. UGIF was created by decree on 29 November 1941 followin ...

(UGIF) centers. At enormous risk to herself and her family, she hid some of the children in her own home, helping to provide the children with clothing and ration cards and arranging for them be moved to the safety of homes of people in various parts of France willing to risk hiding them. In Belgium, in the spring of 1942, the Germans traced and monitored Red Orchestra radio transmitters and made their first arrests of Red Orchestra agents. Captured members were brutally tortured and several broke, divulging network secrets that, over the ensuing eighteen months, allowed for more than 600 people to be arrested, including Suzanne Spaak in Paris. Sent by the Gestapo to the prison in Fresnes in October 1943, she was kept in horrific conditions and subjected to torture. When the Allied forces broke through at

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

and began to fight their way to free Paris, the Gestapo prepared to flee but before they did, they began executing certain prisoners. On 12 August 1944, just thirteen days before the liberation of Paris, Spaak was shot by the Gestapo officer, Heinz Pannwitz in her cell. She was 39 years old. On 21 April 1985,

recognized Suzanne Spaak as

.Suzanne Spaak profile
yadvashem.org; accessed 6 December 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spaak, Suzanne 1905 births 1944 deaths Activists from Brussels Belgian Righteous Among the Nations Belgian participants in the French Resistance Female wartime spies Suzanne Spaak Executed Red Orchestra members Female resistance members of World War II Belgian civilians killed in World War II Belgian people executed by Nazi Germany Deaths by firearm in France Belgian emigrants to France Nazi war crimes in France People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm People executed by Nazi Germany for aiding Jews