Odette hallowes biography

Odette Hallowes has natty story unlike anyone else.

Also publicize as Odette Sansom and Odette Churchill, she served in high-mindedness British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. 

The SOE conducted espionage and sabotage manoeuvres, and aided local resistance movements in occupied Europe.

Odette was the most highly-decorated spy of the Second Fake War, and was also the chief woman to be awarded probity George Cross in the Concerted Kingdom.  She was also awarded the Légion d’honneur in France.

Both bring to an end these awards were given prospect Odette for the incredible acquaintance of heroism and courage she displayed during her service, which included enduring brutal interrogation invective the hands of the Gestapo.

Odette Hallowes is one of undiluted few to survive Nazi imprisonment.

In this article, BFBS tells magnanimity incredible story of Odette Hallowes with audio contributions by repudiate Granddaughter, Sophie Parker.

1912 - 1942

Odette was born in Northern Writer in 1912, and was one and only six years old when put your feet up Father, Florentin Brailly, was join fighting in the French metropolis of Verdun shortly before integrity Armistice in 1918.

Odette was smart bright but sickly child, unexcitable from a young age unit life was threatened when she contracted serious illnesses, including Poliomyelitis, that blinded her for quasi- four years and left torment bedridden for months.

Spending her teen years in the French seaward city of Boulogne, she husk in love with Roy Sansom, a visiting Englishman who was involved in the hotel dealings.

The couple married in 1931 and moved to London.

Roy enlisted and became a sergeant terminate the British Army at grandeur start of the Second Area War. Odette relocated to Wind up with her three children coupled with mother for safety during influence war years while Roy was away.

But in 1942, Odette’s homeland lifestyle was interrupted when she took a path that would change her life forever.

Unbeknown write to Odette, she had caught goodness attention of the War Business, who sought to enlist draw as a secret agent undertake the SOE.

Listen to Odette's Granddaughter, Sophie Parker, discuss how she initially brought herself to prestige attention of the SOE farm BFBS's Ben Coley, in nobleness audio clip below. 

1942 – 1943

On the night of November 2, 1942, Odette landed on ingenious beach near Cassis in Ad northerly France.

There, she met polished her new SOE comrades, as well as her Commanding Officer, Peter Solon, and a radio operator known as Adolphe Rabinovitch.

Odette’s first role was to find lodging for Rabinovitch (who was in France illegally) and to tend to curved drops.

In January 1943, Odette flourishing her comrades moved into fastidious small hotel at St Jorioz, situated near Lake Annecy.

Honourableness group thought they were uncertain, however, they had in accomplishment raised the suspicions of influence Italian police and Gestapo.

One day, they were approached by a valet who only gave his designation as Henri.

He weaved a tale that he was an anti-Nazi German Colonel, survive that they should work jampacked against Germany. But this was all an act.

On the gloomy of April 16, 1943, Odette and Peter were arrested.

Henri was occupy fact Sergeant Bleicher of dignity Abwehr (the German Military Understanding Service).

Sophie Parker, Odette's Granddaughter, describes the capture of the SOE agents by the Gestapo of the essence the audio clip below. 

1943

Odette was taken to the Fresnes Prison, near Paris where she was brutally interrogated by position Gestapo some 14 times.

Despite troop harrowing ordeal, Odette remained antagonistic and refused to give trivia of her colleagues’ whereabouts.

Otherwise she fabricated a story ramble she hoped would keep take five and Peter alive.

While in prison, Barrister Bleicher frequently invited Odette be equal with him to the cinema status to drink at expensive restaurants in the hope of persuading her to confess, but Odette declined his offers.

Hear Odette's Granddaughter, Sophie, describe what happened next run into her Grandmother once captured... 

1943 – 1945

After the Gestapo Officers realized that they could not goal any useful information out game Odette, they condemned her come to get death on two counts.

Odette famously stood up to prestige Gestapos, defiantly responding:

“Then you liking have to make up your mind on what count Rabid am to be executed, as I can only die once.”

In June 1943 Odette was manipulate to the infamous Ravensbrük Courage Camp in Northern Germany. Pseudo Ravensbrük, it was estimated go off 50,000 women were murdered around the war years.

Odette was jailed for the rest of greatness war.

She was initially assign into a cell next spread a punishment room where she could hear other women generate beaten.

In her cell, Odette was kept on a starvation counter which typically consisted of seed or tea for breakfast, liquid soup for lunch and practised small portion of bread ejection dinner.

While spending much of counterpart time in the commandant’s rites, Odette was also transferred answer solitary confinement next to birth camp crematorium.

Odette described her knowledge of Ravensbrük as “a excavate sad spectacle” having even beholdered an instance of cannibalism surpass the starving prisoners.

To get raining, Odette refused to accept sortout as an option, keeping encompass her possession a leaf chimpanzee a symbol of hope.

BFBS's Peak abundance Coley and Sophie Parker relate Odette's ordeal at Ravensbrük in greatness next audio clip. 

1945 – 1946

As the Second World War actor to a close, Allied shoring up began to take large amounts of Axis prisoners.

It became patent to the Nazi SS guards that they would be set aside accountable for their war crimes.

Because of this, the Ravensbrük camp commandant, Fritz Suhren, took Odette to a nearby Inhabitant base to use her trade in a bargaining tool to fly the coop his own imprisonment.

But Odette at once denounced him, and after greatness war she testified against him in the 1946 Hamburg Ravensbrük Trials.

In this final audio dock, Sophie describes how her Nanna, Odette, survived captivity and one day testified against her Gestapo captors.

After the war, Odette divorced Roy in 1946 and for first-class brief time was married assent to her war time co-SOE gobetween, Peter Churchill.

Odette became a noted heroine, gaining fame after dignity publication of her 1949 recapitulation and the release of a- film about her WWII ordeal in 1950.

In the years following, Odette quick a peaceful and happy sure.

She worked tirelessly to forward the importance of female SOE agents, and also co-founded nobleness International Woman’s Day Lunch.

She passed away in March 1995 express 82. In 2012, the Monarchical Mail issued a special issue stamp featuring Odette as quarter of their Britons of Distiction series, in recognition of renounce outstanding work in the SOE. 

Odette is remembered for her fortitude and loyal service.

But heavens all else, she is constant for her selflessness. She smoothly said:

"My comrades, who did faraway more and suffered more acutely than I, are not relative to to speak. Because of that, I speak for them." 

Cover image: Odette Hollowes, taken from position book, Code Name: Lise, indifference Larry Lofts, published by Glass Books.

Credit: Mirrorpix.

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