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The General's Niece

Page 26

by Paige Bowers


  “If you raze these slums”: Glorion, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 84.

  “Few outsiders come to the camp”: Glorion, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 85.

  As much as she feared Malraux’s legendary temper: Anthonioz, Le Secret, 26–27.

  saw that they took a toll on women and children: Neau-Dufour, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 168.

  The Elle magazine article is widely referenced in works about Noisy-le-Grand, Father Joseph, and Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, but the vivid details of this piece are rarely shared. After several months of attempts to get my hands on this story, Véronique Davienne from the Center International Joseph Wresinski kindly provided me with a copy that she pulled from Geneviève’s own scrapbook. Marlyse Schaeffer, “1,000 enfants qui ne peuvent pas croire au Père Noël,” Elle, December 1958.

  “Here, we will be able to discover our dignity”: Glorion, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 87.

  decorated with lithographs: Glorion, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 88.

  “The first woman who dared”: Neau-Dufour, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 169.

  “She became a real friend”: Glorion, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 89; Neau-Dufour, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 170.

  Geneviève opened her memoir Le Secret de l’espérance with her account of the igloo fire and the children’s funerals. Although she had been working with Father Joseph for at least a year and a half by then, this story became illustrative for her of the indignities and injustice faced by the poor and cemented her decision to fight for them full-time (Anthonioz, Le Secret, 13–15). Glorion captures the off-color dialogue that Geneviève did not wish to include in her story (Glorion, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 90).

  Francine de la Gorce was interviewed by the French journal Revue Projet a year after Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz’s death. “Itinéraire: Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz,” Revue Projet, February 1, 2003.

  A few days later: Anthonioz, Le Secret, 27–28.

  “I could not help but think”: Anthonioz, Le Secret, 21.

  “If you wanted to destroy such misery”: Anthonioz, Le Secret, 25–26.

  Geneviève describes the Christmastime walk around the camp in sweet and simple prose (Anthonioz, Le Secret, 28–30).

  “Despite the work”: Anthonioz, Le Secret, 39.

  Clerc recounted Pierre’s death and Madeleine’s journey into the workforce in Les de Gaulle, 279–80.

  Chapter 14: A Voice for the Voiceless

  Geneviève writes about her experience with ATD Quart Monde in her memoir Le Secret de l’espérance. Much of the initial narrative here is derived from those recollections.

  Geneviève Tardieu shared her experience with ATD and in working with Geneviève de Gaulle in an author interview on January 7, 2016, in Pierrelaye, France.

  Neau-Dufour conducted an interview with Michel Anthonioz about his parents’ night of worry in May 1968 in Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 182. Geneviève gave Glorion her opinions about May 1968 in Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 118.

  On the defeat of de Gaulle’s referendum, “De Gaulle Loses, Quits,” Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1969, 1.

  “An event the gravity of which”: BBC On This Day, “1969: President de Gaulle resigns.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/28/newsid_2500000/2500927.stm.

  The story of how Charles’s hermetic existence kept him from Michel’s wedding is captured by Clerc in Les de Gaulle, 302–3.

  “You must also know that I think of you often”: Anthonioz, Le Secret, 76.

  Voix et Visages’ special Charles de Gaulle issue appeared in November 1970 and reproduced many of his speeches and texts. The general’s funeral instructions were reprinted in the New York Times, November 11, 1970, 19. Details about the funeral were included in “Pompidou and Chaban-Delmas Fly to Colombey and Pay Their Last Respects to de Gaulle,” New York Times, November 12, 1970, 1.

  Geneviève wrote about her heart attack and Father Joseph’s death in her ATD memoir.

  Neau-Dufour wrote about Bernard’s death and its impact on Geneviève in Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 204–5.

  Epilogue

  “It was unbelievable to think that [ATD] could last 60 years” and the quotes that follow: Geneviève Tardieu, author interview, January 7, 2016, Pierrelaye, France.

  “When the last among you has died”: Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, quoting André Malraux, in “Assemblée Général du 15 avril 1978,” Voix et Visages 161 (April/May 1978): 1.

  “In a period of economic difficulty”: Neau-Dufour, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, 188–89.

  “Faced with indifference”: François Hollande speech, May 27, 2015, Paris. The text of the discourse is located on the Élysée Palace website at www.elysee.fr/declarations/article/ceremonie-d-hommage-solennel-de-la-nation-a-pierre-brossolette-genevieve-de-gaulle-anthonioz-germaine-tillion-et-jean-zay-pantheon-3/.

  Selected Bibliography

  Anthonioz, Geneviève de Gaulle. The Dawn of Hope: A Memoir of Ravensbrück. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1999.

  ———. Le Secret de l’espérance. Paris: Fayard, 2001.

  Anthonioz, Geneviève de Gaulle, and Germaine Tillion. Dialogues: D’après les entretiens filmés par Jacques Kebadian et Isabelle Anthonioz Gaggini. Paris: Plon, 2015.

  Bloch, Marc. Strange Defeat: A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.

  Buber-Neumann, Margarete. Under Two Dictators: Prisoner of Stalin and Hitler. London: Random House UK, 2008.

  Cailliau de Gaulle, Marie-Agnès. Souvenirs personnels. Paris: Parole et Silence, 2006.

  Clerc, Christine. Les de Gaulle: Une famille française. Paris: Le Grand Livre du Mois, 2000.

  Collins Weitz, Margaret. Sisters in the Resistance: How Women Fought to Free France, 1940–1945. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995.

  d’Albert-Lake, Virginia. An American Heroine in the French Resistance: The Diary and Memoir of Virginia d’Albert-Lake. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006.

  Gaulle, Charles de. The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1998.

  Gildea, Robert. Fighters in the Shadows: A New History of the French Resistance. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2015.

  Glorion, Caroline. Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz: Résistances. Paris: Plon, 1997.

  Helm, Sarah. Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler’s Concentration Camp for Women. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2014.

  Jackson, Julian. France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

  Lacouture, Jean. De Gaulle: The Rebel, 1890–1944. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993.

  ———. De Gaulle: The Ruler, 1945–1970. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993.

  ———. Le témoignage est un combat: Une biographie de Germaine Tillion. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2000.

  La Guardia Gluck, Gemma. Fiorello’s Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck’s Story. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2007.

  Lanckoronska, Karolina. Michelangelo in Ravensbrück: One Woman’s War Against the Nazis. New York: Da Capo, 2008.

  Maurel, Micheline. An Ordinary Camp. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1958.

  Morrison, Jack G. Ravensbrück: Everyday Life in a Women’s Concentration Camp, 1939–1945. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2000.

  Neau-Dufour, Frédérique. Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz: L’autre de Gaulle. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 2004.

  Nord, Philip. France 1940: Defending the Republic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.

  Paxton, Robert O. Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940–1944. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.

  Postel-Vinay, Anise, with Laure Adler. Vivre. Paris: Grasset, 2015.

  Rosbottom, Ronald C. When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940–1944. New York: Little, Brown, 2015.

  Saint-Cheron, Michaël de. Dialogues avec Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz suivi de La Traversée du Bien.
Paris: Grasset & Fasquelle, 2015.

  Sweets, John F. Choices in Vichy France: The French Under Nazi Occupation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

  Tillion, Germaine. Ravensbrück. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1988.

  Vos van Steenwijk, Alwine de. Father Joseph Wresinski: Voice of the Poorest. Santa Barbara, CA: Queenship, 1996.

  Wieviorka, Olivier. Une certaine idée de la Résistance: Défense de la France, 1940–1949. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1995.

  Index

  Abbé Pierre, 183–85, 189

  Abbé Steiner, 75

  Abetz, Otto, 107, 108

  Afrika Korps, 59

  Aide à Toute Détresse Quart Monde (ATD Quart Monde), 201, 210, 213

  Alesch, Robert, 43

  Algeria, 178–80

  All Saints’ Day, 75

  Allied Forces, 44, 59, 72, 139–40

  Amicale des prisonnières de la Résistance (APR), 157

  Andrieu, Claire, xiv

  Anicka (Czech prisoner), 142

  Anna (inmate), 117–20, 124, 129, 133

  Anthonioz, Bernard (husband), 159–60, 162–66, 172, 176–77, 181, 199–200, 207, 209

  Anthonioz, François-Marie (son), 170, 200

  Anthonioz, Geneviève de Gaulle, xi, xv–xvi, 3, 5, 10, 20–21, 25, 170–71, 175

  awards and accolades for, 215

  birth of, 8–9

  books by, 215

  children of, 170

  death and burial of, 215

  dreams of, 99, 108–9, 118, 120, 124, 129, 145

  education of, 14–15, 21

  fight against poverty by, 207–11

  at Fresnes Prison, 66–69, 73–75, 77–78

  health issues of, 103, 108, 206

  interrogation of, 131–33

  letter to her uncle Charles, 53, 73

  marriage of, 166

  prison transfer of, 78–81

  pseudonyms of, 41–42, 62

  at Ravensbrück, 87–90, 92, 105–6, 107–11, 116–20, 128–30

  relationship with father, 12, 14, 140

  release from Ravensbrück, 133–40

  resistance activities of, 30–31, 36–39, 41–43, 44, 45–47

  Anthonioz, Michel (son), 170, 200, 203

  Anthonioz, Philippe (son), 170, 200

  Anthonioz-Gaggini, Isabelle (daughter), 170, 200, 203

  Apparicio, Mathilde, 193

  Association nationale des anciennes déportées et internées de la Résistance (ADIR), 157–58, 159, 169, 172–75, 179–80, 205, 214

  Astier, Jacques. See Gaulle, Roger de (brother)

  Auschwitz concentration camp, 133, 146

  Barbie, Klaus, 56–57, 206

  beatings, 95, 113, 120

  Beckett, Samuel, xiii

  Bernanos, Georges, 171

  Binz, Dorothea, 87, 92, 94, 121, 136, 147–48, 168

  Block 2 (Ravensbrück), 107–8

  Block 31 (Ravensbrück), 90, 95, 107, 142–43

  block guards, 95

  blockovas, 91, 95

  Boissieu, Alain de, 154

  Bonny, Pierre, 61–62, 125–27

  Brancion, Marthe de, 185–86

  Braun, Max, 17

  Bräuning, Edmund, 91–92

  Brittany, 23

  Brossolette, Pierre, 216

  Buber-Neumann, Margarete, 112, 113, 121–22, 145

  bunker, the, 96, 109, 113

  Cahiers du Rhône, 160, 163

  Cailliau, Alfred (uncle), 53, 68

  Cailliau de Gaulle, Marie-Agnès (aunt), 53, 68, 69, 78, 204

  Chagall, Marc, 171, 200

  Chaplin, Charlie, 184

  Charlie Hebdo attack, 216

  Chevallier-Chantepie, Armelle. See Gaulle, Armelle Chevallier-Chantepie de (step-mother)

  Chirac, Jacques, 210, 215

  Cinz, Krystina, 116

  clothing, 90, 117, 123–24, 133, 142

  cockroaches, 117–18, 129

  Commissariat of State for War Prisoners, Deportees, and the Repatriated, 157

  correspondence, secret, 116, 121–22

  Coty, René, 180

  Couve de Murville, Maurice, 204

  crematoriums, 123–24

  Czechoslovakia, 21

  d’Albert Lake, Virginia, 133–39

  d’Alincourt, Jacqueline, xi, 57–58, 73, 97–99, 103, 108, 116–17, 120, 141–43, 146–49, 164

  Dawn of Hope, The (Anthonioz), 215

  Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 202

  Défense de la France (DF) (resistance group), 49–53, 58–61, 63, 127

  Défense de la France (underground newspaper), 50–51, 54–55, 58

  Delegation of Scientific Research, 181

  Delepouve, Madeleine, 8, 33. See also Gaulle, Madeleine Delepouve de (aunt)

  Delestraint, Charles, 56

  Delmas, Irène, 157

  deportees, 153–54, 156–58

  Donautal, Germany, 138

  Drancy internment camp, 40

  Elle magazine, 191–92

  experiments, medical, 114–15

  Ferriday, Caroline Woolsey, 175

  Fischer, Fritz, 115

  Fleiss, Bernhard, 121–22

  food, 92

  forced marches, 88–89

  France, 3–4, 9, 15–16, 21–23, 27, 127, 153, 155–57, 162, 214

  Franco, Francisco, 85

  Free France movement, x–xv, 25, 27–28, 35, 43–44, 70–73, 79

  French Forces of the Interior, 125

  Fresnes Prison, France, 65–67, 69, 78

  Frick, Wilhelm, 17

  fumigation units, 123

  Fürstenberg, Germany, 86

  Garnier, Geneviève. See Anthonioz, Geneviève de Gaulle

  Gaulle, Anne de (cousin), 13–14, 175–76

  Gaulle, Armelle Chevallier-Chantepie de (stepmother), 14, 17, 19

  Gaulle, Chantal de (cousin), 33, 38, 176

  Gaulle, Charles de, xiv, 6, 7, 12–13, 16, 127–28, 180–81

  death and funeral of, 204–5

  death of daughter and, 175–76

  Free France movement and, 24–25, 27–28, 43–44

  learns of death of his mother, 29

  leaves for Britain, 23–24

  popularity of, 36–37

  Rassemblement du peuple français and, 171–72, 178

  rebuilding of France and, 162

  relationship with niece, 20, 53, 154–55, 165–66, 176–77, 202–3

  resignation of, 204

  Roger de Gaulle and, 52–53

  Gaulle, Elisabeth de (cousin), 12, 13, 154–55, 165–66

  Gaulle, Geneviève de. See Anthonioz, Geneviève de Gaulle

  Gaulle, Germaine Gourdon de (mother), 7, 10

  Gaulle, Henri de (grandfather), 6

  Gaulle, Henry de (half brother), 19

  Gaulle, Jacqueline de (sister), 9, 13, 14–15, 19–21

  Gaulle, Jacques de (uncle), 6, 21, 23, 52

  Gaulle, Jeanne de (grandmother), 6, 11, 22, 23, 24–25, 28–29

  Gaulle, Madeleine Delepouve de (aunt), 33–34, 37–39, 40, 53, 176, 197. See also Delepouve, Madeleine

  Gaulle, Marie-Agnès Cailliau de (aunt). See Cailliau de Gaulle, Marie-Agnès (aunt)

  Gaulle, Philippe de (cousin), 13

  Gaulle, Pierre de (uncle), 8, 21, 33–34, 53, 176, 196–97

  Gaulle, Roger de (brother), 5, 9, 12, 14, 22, 29, 52–53, 129, 163

  Gaulle, Xavier de (father), 4, 5–12, 14–17, 19, 22, 24, 34, 52–53, 105, 140, 163–64, 177

  Gaulle, Yvonne de (aunt), 12–14, 24, 52, 163, 165–66, 203, 204, 206

  Gaullist myth, xiv

  Gebhardt, Karl, 114–15

  General Commission for Jewish Affairs, 39

  Germany, 3, 21, 41, 59, 73

  Gestapo, 38, 43, 53, 56–57, 61–63, 73, 116, 132–33

  Giles, Barney M., 76–77

  Girard, Anise, 103–6, 110–13, 122–24, 143–46, 148–49, 159–61, 164–66. See also Postel-Vinay, Anise

  escape plan of,
69–70

  Germaine Tillion and, 99–100

  Glorion, Caroline, xvi

  Gorce, Francine de la, 192, 194

  Gourdon, Geneviève (grandmother), 7, 11

  Gourdon, Germaine. See Gaulle, Germaine Gourdon de (mother)

  Gourdon, Pierre (grandfather), 7

  Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, 215

  Grospiron-Verschuren, Thérèse (cellmate), 74, 92

  Hauet, Paul, 35

  Haute-Savoie, France, 44, 140

  Heydrich, Reinhard, 114

  Himmler, Heinrich, 86, 96, 106, 108, 114, 155

  Hitler, Adolf, 15, 17–18, 21, 39, 58–59, 76, 85–86, 111, 114, 154–55

  Hollande, François, 216

  Humbert, Agnès, 36

  igloos, 185, 193

  International Committee of the Red Cross, 115

  Jesenska, Milena, 112–13

  Jews, Hitler’s treatment of, 39–40

  Kafka, Franz, 112–13

  Kersten, Felix, 148

  Knoll, Käte, 111–12

  Kocwa, Eugenia, 96

  “La Marseillaise,” 63

  Lafont, Henri, 125, 126–27

  Lascaut, Jacques, 125–26

  Lascaut, Jean, 125, 126

  Lascaut, Mme., 125

  Laval, Pierre, 27, 30, 41

  Le Havre, France, bombing of, 22–23

  Le Monde, 128

  League of Nations, 9

  Lebon, Marcel, 49–50

  Lecomte, Geneviève. See Anthonioz, Geneviève de Gaulle

  Liebenau internment camp, 139–40

  Luftwaffe, 23

  Maillot, Jeanne. See Gaulle, Jeanne de (grandmother)

 

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