Yvette Lundy (22 April 1916 – 3 November 2019) was a French

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

during 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 ...

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 provided the inspiration for the character of Mademoiselle Lise Lundi in the 2009 film ''

Korkoro ''Korkoro'' ("Freedom" in Romani) is a 2009 French drama film written and directed by Tony Gatlif, starring Francophone actors Marc Lavoine, Marie-Josée Croze and James Thiérrée. The film's cast were of many nationalities such as Albania ...

'', written and directed by

Tony Gatlif Tony Gatlif is a French film director who also works as a screenwriter, composer, actor, and producer. Born 10 September 1948 as Michel (Boualem) Dahmani in Algeria, then officially part of France, to a Berber (Kabyle) father and an Andalusian- ...

Early life

She was born on 22 April 1916 in Oger, France; she was the youngest of seven siblings in a family of agricultural workers originating from the

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

area. In 1938 she began working as a teacher at

Gionges Gionges () is a former commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2018, it was merged into the new commune of Blancs-Coteaux.

, and as secretary to the mayor there. During May 1940, as the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

began, she fled the area, but returned two months later.

Wartime activities

As a Resistance worker in occupied France, Lundy began supplying forged official documents to escapees from the camp at Bazancourt and to Jewish families. She assisted the Communist Marcel Nautré, and others involved in the

Possum Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum ...

network, in avoiding detection by the authorities, as well as providing shelter at her brother Georges' farm for Free French fighters parachuted into the region. Lundy was arrested on 19 June 1944 in her classroom at Gionges and was interrogated by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

at Châlons-sur-Marne, where she was subsequently imprisoned. During the interrogation, to protect her brothers and sister (René, Lucien, Georges and Berthe) who were also working for the resistance, she pretended to be an only child. From there she was taken 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, on 18 July 1944, was deported, first to

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

Neue Bremm Neue Bremm () was a Nazi torture camp in Saarbrücken, set up in 1943 by the Gestapo intentionally with no oversight from other institutions. It was designed to break prisoners who were not destined for immediate death. Some prisoners were held on ...

, and then 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 ...

(prisoner number 47360). On 16 November of the same year, she was transferred to the

Schlieben Schlieben (, ) is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated north of Bad Liebenwerda. Schlieben was the site of a Berga concentration camp, concentration camp during The Holocaust. History From 1815 ...

subcamp of

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

. Her sister Berthe was also imprisoned in Germany and her elder brother Lucien was interned at

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

; they both survived, but her other brother, Georges, did not and was murdered at

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

in 1945. Yvette Lundy was freed from Schlieben by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

on 20 or 21 April 1945 and, after a march of some 200 kilometres to Halle, was flown back to France, arriving at

le Bourget Le Bourget () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The commune features Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hosts the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (Air and Space Museum). A very ...

on 8 May 1945.

Post-war

Lundy remained silent about her war experiences until 1959, for her family's sake. After that date, she began going into schools to share her testimony. Her visits proved extremely popular with pupils. Lundy's memoir ''Le Fil de l'araignée'' (), co-written with Laurence Barbarot-Boisson, was published in 2012. At the age of 101, she was awarded the honour of

Grand Officier de la Légion d'honneur 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 o ...

. She died on 3 November 2019 at Epernay, aged 103.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lundy, Yvette 1916 births 2019 deaths Buchenwald concentration camp survivors French women centenarians French Resistance members Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Resistance Medal