Suzanne Spaak
Encyclopedia
Suzanne Spaak World War II
heroine.
Suzanne Spaak was born into a prosperous Belgian
banking family sometime around 1905. She married Brussels
-born dramatist Claude Spaak (1904-1990), the brother of screenwriter Charles Spaak
and Paul-Henri Spaak
, one of Belgium's most important statesmen.
Living in Paris
, France
, with her husband and two children, Suzanne Spaak enjoyed a life of luxury and prestige as one of the city's leading socialites. Her husband had acquired paintings by their fellow Belgian, René Magritte
, and in 1936, Magritte painted Suzanne Spaak's portrait. However, her privileged lifestyle was about to change with the onslaught of World War II and the subsequent occupation of France by Germany.
Angry with the suppression, brutality and racial intolerance of the Nazis
, she volunteered to work with the underground National Movement Against Racism (MNCR). Because of who she was, Suzanne Spaak's offer of assistance was greeted with a certain amount of skepticism by members of the French Resistance
, who wondered if this pampered and sophisticated woman would last under difficult and dangerous conditions. Her initial involvement was almost mundane, assigned to doing typing, distributing leaflets, and shopping for everyday supplies. Nonetheless, having chosen an underground movement to which a great many Jews desperately sought help, Spaak walked all over the city of Paris in an effort to find a hospital willing to take the risk of treating Jews who were in hiding and in dire need of medical attention. Using her influence with the upper class of Parisian society, she knocked on the doors of lawyers, judges, clerics, film stars and authors to get support for her work.
With time and growing atrocities by the Nazis, the educated and very capable Suzanne Spaak devoted herself to ridding France and her native Belgium of its suppressors. She joined the Red Orchestra intelligence network, a Soviet
-sponsored organization founded by a Polish
Jew, Leopold Trepper
. This group conducted very effective intelligence gathering in Germany
, France
, the Netherlands
and in neutral Switzerland
with members known as the "Lucy Ring
". The network would become so successful, even infiltrating the German military intelligence service Abwehr
, that the Nazis set up the "Red Orchestra Special Detachment" (Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle) to try to destroy it.
A mother of two children, Suzanne Spaak worked doggedly to save the lives of Jewish children who were facing deportation to the German death camps. In early 1943, she was part of a group that saved a hundred sixty three Jewish children who were about to be deported from the Union Generale des Israelites de France (UGIF) centers. At enormous risk to herself and her family, she hid some of the children in her own home, helping to provide the children with clothing and ration cards and arranging for them be moved to the safety of homes of people in various parts of France willing to risk hiding them.
In Belgium, in the spring of 1942, the Germans traced and monitored Red Orchestra operative's radio transmitters and made their first arrests of Red Orchestra agents. Captured members were brutally tortured and several broke, divulging network secrets that, over the ensuing eighteen months, allowed for more than six hundred people to be arrested, including Suzanne Spaak in Paris. Sent by the Gestapo to Fresnes prison
in October 1943, she was kept in horrific conditions and subjected to torture. As soon as the Allied forces broke through at Normandy
and began to fight their way to free Paris, the Gestapo made preparations to flee but before they did, they began executing certain prisoners. On August 12, 1944, just thirteen days before the liberation of Paris, Suzanne Spaak was executed by the Gestapo.
In 1985, Suzanne Spaak's valor and humanity was recognized by the government of Israel
, designating her as one of the Righteous Among the Nations
in honours at the national Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem
.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
heroine.
Suzanne Spaak was born into a prosperous Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
banking family sometime around 1905. She married Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
-born dramatist Claude Spaak (1904-1990), the brother of screenwriter Charles Spaak
Charles Spaak
Charles Spaak was a Belgian screenwriter who was noted particularly for his work in the French cinema during the 1930s...
and Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul Henri Charles Spaak was a Belgian Socialist politician and statesman.-Early life:Paul-Henri Spaak was born on 25 January 1899 in Schaerbeek, Belgium, to a distinguished Belgian family. His grandfather, Paul Janson was an important member of the Liberal Party...
, one of Belgium's most important statesmen.
Living in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, with her husband and two children, Suzanne Spaak enjoyed a life of luxury and prestige as one of the city's leading socialites. Her husband had acquired paintings by their fellow Belgian, René Magritte
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
, and in 1936, Magritte painted Suzanne Spaak's portrait. However, her privileged lifestyle was about to change with the onslaught of World War II and the subsequent occupation of France by Germany.
Angry with the suppression, brutality and racial intolerance of the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, she volunteered to work with the underground National Movement Against Racism (MNCR). Because of who she was, Suzanne Spaak's offer of assistance was greeted with a certain amount of skepticism by members of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
, who wondered if this pampered and sophisticated woman would last under difficult and dangerous conditions. Her initial involvement was almost mundane, assigned to doing typing, distributing leaflets, and shopping for everyday supplies. Nonetheless, having chosen an underground movement to which a great many Jews desperately sought help, Spaak walked all over the city of Paris in an effort to find a hospital willing to take the risk of treating Jews who were in hiding and in dire need of medical attention. Using her influence with the upper class of Parisian society, she knocked on the doors of lawyers, judges, clerics, film stars and authors to get support for her work.
With time and growing atrocities by the Nazis, the educated and very capable Suzanne Spaak devoted herself to ridding France and her native Belgium of its suppressors. She joined the Red Orchestra intelligence network, a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
-sponsored organization founded by a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Jew, Leopold Trepper
Leopold Trepper
Leopold Trepper was an organizer of the Soviet spy ring Rote Kapelle prior to and during World War II....
. This group conducted very effective intelligence gathering in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and in neutral Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
with members known as the "Lucy Ring
Lucy spy ring
In World War II espionage, the Lucy spy ring was an anti-German operation that was headquartered in Switzerland. It was run by Rudolf Roessler, a German refugee and ostensibly the proprietor of a small publishing firm, Vita Nova...
". The network would become so successful, even infiltrating the German military intelligence service Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, that the Nazis set up the "Red Orchestra Special Detachment" (Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle) to try to destroy it.
A mother of two children, Suzanne Spaak worked doggedly to save the lives of Jewish children who were facing deportation to the German death camps. In early 1943, she was part of a group that saved a hundred sixty three Jewish children who were about to be deported from the Union Generale des Israelites de France (UGIF) centers. At enormous risk to herself and her family, she hid some of the children in her own home, helping to provide the children with clothing and ration cards and arranging for them be moved to the safety of homes of people in various parts of France willing to risk hiding them.
In Belgium, in the spring of 1942, the Germans traced and monitored Red Orchestra operative's radio transmitters and made their first arrests of Red Orchestra agents. Captured members were brutally tortured and several broke, divulging network secrets that, over the ensuing eighteen months, allowed for more than six hundred people to be arrested, including Suzanne Spaak in Paris. Sent by the Gestapo to Fresnes prison
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris...
in October 1943, she was kept in horrific conditions and subjected to torture. As soon as the Allied forces broke through at Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
and began to fight their way to free Paris, the Gestapo made preparations to flee but before they did, they began executing certain prisoners. On August 12, 1944, just thirteen days before the liberation of Paris, Suzanne Spaak was executed by the Gestapo.
In 1985, Suzanne Spaak's valor and humanity was recognized by the government of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, designating her as one of the Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
in honours at the national Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
.