Belgian Women during the Nazi occupation

This week, I have decided to focus on the situation of Belgian women during the German occupation of 1940-1945. One does not need to be an expert to know that living in this period was hell. Food was extremely scarce, and money was not abundant either. Tickets for food were given at the City Hall. Everyone had to go there with their Identity Card in order to know in which category they belonged: pregnant women were allowed the biggest ration of food; Jews were only allowed a tiny quantity. The only way to get more food was to buy some at the illegal black markets. During the Nazi occupation, Belgian women lived in constant fear. They tried their best to feed and protect their family while trying not to think about the fact that their husbands may never come back from the war.

 

One Belgian woman who decided it was time for her to take actions in order to do some good during the Second World War is Andrée de Jongh. Born in Brussels in 1916, Andrée was only 24 years old when the German occupation started. When the war broke out, she resigned from her previous job and began to work as a nurse for the Red Cross. She helped wounded soldiers to recover and when they were fit enough to walk again, Andrée sent them to safe houses.

However, nursing wounded soldiers was not enough for her. She wanted to do more to help them and so, she decided to found a resistance group. Women leaders of resistance groups were extremely rare. She knew how risky her project was, but she decided to go through with it anyway. In an interview she gave in 2000, Andrée recalls: "When war was declared I knew what needed to be done. There was nohesitation. We could not stop what we had to do although we knew the cost. Even if it was at the expense of our lives, we had to fight until the last breath." 

Andrée created an escape network for Allied soldiers, and especially airmen, to help them escape from occupied Belgium and to reach Britain. The line started in Belgium, crossing France, climbing the Pyrenees Mountains and then reaching the British consulate in Madrid, Spain. Her resistance group was called the “Comet Escape Line” because of the unusual speed at which she managed to help Allied soldiers escape. Over 3000 members joined the Comet Line. Allied soldiers were sent to Spain through the Comet Line in small groups to avoid being noticed. Andrée de Jongh accompanied these groups more than thirty times. She said that it was best if she made the journey with them because women attracted less attention from the German army than men and it would look less suspicious. She was so involved in helping these soldiers escaping that she even sold her own jewelry in order to afford the journey. In total, Andrée personally helped 118 Allied men to reach Britain.

But during one of her many journeys to Spain, Andrée got arrested by the Nazis. The Gestapo tortured her in order to get information out of her. She tried to struggle as long as she could but eventually she gave in. She admitted that she was the founder and the leader of the Comet Escape Line. As incredible as it may sound, when Andrée told the Germans the truth, they did not believe her. In their opinion, it was impossible that a woman was the leader of a resistance party. The image that society had of women at that time actually saved Andrée’s life. Instead of killing her right away, the Nazis sent her in a concentration camp. She was freed in 1945 when the war was over.

For her heroic efforts during the war, Andrée de Jongh received numerous rewards from the United States, Britain, France and Belgium. In 1985, this incredibly brave woman was made a Countess by the Belgian King Baudouin. She died in 2007 at the age of 90.

Sources:
https://books.google.be/books?id=yN_17svfqSQC&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=belgian+women+world+war+II&source=bl&ots=wU5AMQ7f1J&sig=3sKxMe3AbTGKsz_XoCrPcwsT1UY&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=nw6PVKOHBYX5UMGGg4AP&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1566506/Andree-de-Jongh.html