An American Heroine in the French Resistance: The Diary and Memoir of Virginia D'Albert-Lake

Virginia d' Albert-Lake

Jan 2006 · Fordham Univ Press

About this ebook

""Something broke inside me. I knew somehow that it was all over ... Sweat started in my armpits; my scalp tingled; I had no choice but to stand there in the center of the dusty road, grip my [bicycle] handle bars, and wait." -- Virginia d'Albert-Lake." "It was on this road deep in the forests of France on June 12, 1944, that the Germans arrested Virginia d'Albert-Lake and an Allied airman she was leading to safety. D'Albert-Lake's work in the Resistance was over -- she would spend the next eleven months as a prisoner of war, much of it in the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, where she almost died. Virginia d'Albert-Lake was one of thousands who risked their lives saving downed airmen along the Comet escape line that stretched from Belgium to Gibraltar. What distinguished Virginia from other resisters was that she was an American citizen who had the option to return to the safety of her native country. Yet she chose to remain in France where her dangerous work nearly cost her life. This fascinating book tells the remarkable story of an ordinary American woman's heroism in the French Resistance. Born in Ohio and raised in Florida, Virginia Roush fell in love with Philippe d'Albert-Lake during a visit to France in 1936; they married soon after. In 1943, they joined the Resistance. Defying gender stereotypes, Virginia put her life in jeopardy as she sheltered downed airmen. As a prisoner of war, her refusal to reveal secrets saved many lives, and when Free French and Allied forces finally liberated her in 1945, she weighed 76 pounds, 50 pounds under her normal weight. After the war, Virginia stayed in France with Philippe, receiving awards that included the Légion d'Honneur and the Medal of Honor. She died in 1997. Judy Barrett Litoff brings together two rare documents in this unique book -- Virginia's diary of wartime France until her capture in 1944 and her prison memoir written immediately after the war. Masterfully edited, they capture the compassion and toughness of a nearly forgotten heroine as they provide an invaluable recordof the workings of the Resistance by one of the very few American women who participated in it." -- Publisher description.

About the author

JUDY BARRETT LITOFF's books include We're in This War Too: World War II Letters from American Women in Uniform and, from Fordham, Fighting Fascism in Europe: The World War II Letters of an American Veteran of the Spanish Civil War. She is Professor of History at Bryant University.