- Laure Diebold
Laure Diebold, sometimes written "Laure Diebolt" (
January 10 1915 -October 17 1965 ) was a high-profile female member of theFrench Resistance duringWorld War II . She was also the private secretary ofJean Moulin before being arrested then deported from 1943 to 1945 to the Nazi camp ofAuschwitz ,Ravensbrück and finallyBuchenwald . Moreover, she is one of only six female resistants to be awarded the titleCompagnon de la Libération .Life
Laure Diebold was born "Laure Mutschler" in
Erstein (Alsace-Lorraine , part of theGerman Empire ) to a French patriot family on10 January 1915 . She spent her childhood inSainte-Marie-aux-Mines where her parents lived from the year 1922.At the end of her studies, just before
World War II , she became an administrative assistant in the "Etablissements Baumgartner".In 1940, Mutschler integrated the resistance network "A.V." (which means "Army of the Volunteers" in French) of Dr. Bareiss in the annexed
Alsace , and, at the same time, became a special agent under the name "Mado" in another resistance network known as "Mithidate". Her secret job led her to host in her home inAlsace escaped war prisoners before helping them to escape toFrance ; but just beforeChristmas 1941, she had to leaveAlsace secretly. She went toLyon in the free south ofFrance hidden in a locomotive.There, she worked as an administrative assistant in the service which works with refugees from
Alsace ; and from 1942, she collected information for her resistance network "Mithidate" before encoding them and sending them toLondon by post mail.On January 31 1942, Mutschler was married to Eugène Diebold, who also escaped to Lyon. In July 1942 she was arrested with her husband, but they were released by the
Gestapo . They moved toAix-les-Bains where Mutschler became known only as "Mona".In September 1942 she was promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant of theFree French Forces . She was assigned to the position of private secretary ofJean Moulin . After the arrest of Jean Moulin in 1943, she was sent to Paris to be the secretary ofGeorges Bidault .She was arrested again on 23 November 1943 with her husband and sent to
Fresnes Prison . She was not tortured because she convinced her Nazi captors that she was just a secretary and not a major figure in the resistance network. Nevertheless, she was sent to the Nazi camp ofSchirmeck and between January 1944 and her liberation in April 1945 she was transferred to Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and Buchenwald.Laure Diebold died suddenly on 17 October 1965 in Lyon and in accordance with her last wishes, she was buried in her childhood place Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace.
Today a street in Lyon and a square in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines are named in her honour.
Honour
* Knight of the
Légion d'Honneur
*Compagnon de la Libération - legislative bill of November 20 1944
* Croix de guerre 1939-1945
*Médaille de la Résistance with rosette
* Médaille des Services Volontaires dans la France LibreReferences
*fr [http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/287.html Official biography of Laure Diebold on the website of the Order ot the Libération]
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