Shut away in the dark and dirty cell Andrée had had no idea of how much time had passed when she was dragged out for a second interrogation with the same questions - Where are the "terrorists" hiding ? - Where are the arms hidden ?. Followed by more violent punches than before. Andrée was this time taken back to the original cell where she found madame Nadaud, such a relief !
Andrée had returned to the cell with lice picked up from the dungeon. Madame Nadaud put a white handkerchief on her knees andsplaced Andrée's head there and searched for the lice in her hair. For Andrée, this was a moment of pure happiness after the violence. The cell was small and Andrée was used to living in the open countryside so was restless. Her toings and froings drove Madame Nadaud crazy at times.
The cell had one small high window with iron bars on it. It was possible by standing on the bed frame to see out of the window into the prison courtyard. Twice a day the male inmates would be allowed into the space but had to walk around in a circle while they were there. Andrée was able to recognise a few of the men, Monsieur Berger from Angoulême, Roger Desmier from Châteauneuf and Moise Pasturaud who used to visit the house. Andrée was able to talk to them.
Monsieur Berger pleaded with Andrée not to give away any information about his son Guy "Pasteur". She replied with utter conviction "They could cut me like a sausage and I'd still say nothing !". This made madame Nadaud laugh but she was not keen on Andrée being up at the window and she was right, because amongst the men was a mole.
Among the prisoners was a man given the name "le grand Maurice". Madame Nadaud had already warned Andrée to be careful around him. Andrée had passed this on to the others but wasn't taken seriously, they all thought he was fine as he had been arrested on three different occasions before Andrée had been arrested. Some of the women were so sure of him that they had said to Andrée that he was going to be released soon and he wanted to join Edmond's group and needed to know how he could do it.
Andrée said she had no paper to write any info on so they provided her with a small piece. Madame Nadaud insisted that she write nothing on the paper. Le grand Maurice at this point had been given the job of handing out soup to the women in the cells and as he approached Andrée's cell he demanded for her to give him the piece of paper. She ignored him and it was just as well as it turned out a little later that he had been a traitor.
Being young and so against the German occupation, Andrée would take many risks and some of her "initiatives" could have had devastating consequences. She was alerted to a snippet of information that had been heard in a conversation between Brissaud and one his accomplices about the château Deffends near Bunzac. They were intending on doing a raid there. Andrée knew this château and she was overwhelmed with worry as she knew that Blaireau and Pasteur often went there. She tried to think of a way of getting a message to them to warn them.
The following day the opportunity presented itself when perched up at the window she noticed a builder working on the small building in the courtyard. She managed to attract his attention and he approached the window with caution. Andrée explained the situation and asked him if he could warn the owners of the château. He promised that he would do it. Madame Nadaud thought she was taking a big risk asking him to do this and Andrée remained worried for a long time about it.
What a relief when she returned from the concentration camps that he hadn't been arrested and even better to discover by chance in 1959, from the owner of the château himself, that the builder had in fact passed on the message to him.
There were three guards in the prison. One of them, nicknamed "Bouboule" (tubby) had a massive scar on his head, received during his time fighting in Russia. He would walk up and down the corridor making a lot of noise with his boots only to then pass by again silently hoping to catch the women in the cells saying something compromising.
Another guard was Austrian and given the nickname "Sourire" (smile) by madame Nadaud. The third one they had called "Pétrole" (paraffin), he was a big man and menacing. He had entered Andrées cell once and she remained sitting on a stool at the table. Her punishment for not standing as he entered was a blow to the head.
In that part of the prison there were three cells in a row. On one side a cell for all new inmates and on the other a German, quite young, who had been imprisoned for leaving his post at Cognac during an air raid. He was kept in a cell during the night and had to work during the day. Whenever he came back to his cell he would tap on the cell wall between their two cells and start singing in German, always the same popular song at the time. Andrée resisted the temptation to sing the same song back in French "Si, si, si, ce n'est qu'une sérénade, sérénade sans espoir".
In the window of their cell someone had drawn a boat and written "Bornéo". Andrée and madame Nadaud would invent possible stories behind the mysterious message. Andrée had also drawn on the window, a spoon and her house but wished she could have drawn a calendar to have been able to rub out each day she was imprisoned.
When one is deprived of liberty and cut off from their family and friends, the smallest things can become incredibly important. Andrée and madame Nadaud returned to their cell escorted by Bouboule one day after their once fortnightly shower to find a copy of "Le Petit Echo de la Mode", a weekly fashion newspaper, left as a gift in their cell by someone. This was a feast for their eyes that they read and re-read until they knew it all by heart.
They would hear the arrival of new inmates in the cell next to theirs and tap on the wall to let them know of their presence and that they were not alone. One day a lady by the name of madame Mugnier arrived. Her daughter Suze (Suzanne) would die in the concentration camps. Madame Mugnier would often be seen walking in the courtyard, had quickly noticed Andrée perched up at her window.
She had a heart condition and her doctor who lived near the prison would bring her some hot milk each morning. One day while Andrée and madame Nadaud were in the courtyard they heard a call from the window of madame Mugnier's window. This lovely old lady asked if Andrée would like some milk and then lowered down the milk bottle tied to some hankies. She told Andrée to drink it quickly as she'd drop down some more. Suddenly Bouboule came into the courtyard shouting as usual. Madame Mugnier explained that this young lady must have some milk to drink and the following day this was granted.
Madame Mugnier left the prison a little while after. Andrée was given permission to carry her things to the main prison door. The door which she could only dream that she could open. She was so close, to freedom, to her life before ! but alas she was returned back to her cell.
Freedom ! that's all Andrée could think about. At times it seemed so close like the day when a massive fight could be heard in the prison, with cries, stamping boots and doors slamming. Andrée and madame Nadaud looked at each other wondering if the "terrorists" had arrived to free them. It turned out not to be so and the following day they noticed two new prisoners in the men's courtyard both standing silently in a corner. Andrée could see how sad they looked and learnt from the other cellmates that they were going to be shot.
Andrée would remain in this prison for two nine weeks. The interrogations had continued throughout without any pattern except the increase of violence. Sometimes days would pass with no interrogation and she believed that she was perhaps safe now. But then they would come to collect her and by the end the interrogations had multiplied followed by longer stays in the dark dungeon of the prison, "For reflection" Brissaud would say.
She worried often that one day they would bring in one of her family or someone she knew. This would only happen once when early one morning she was lead into a room where she found Alfred, Brissaud and ???(other frenchman), along with a man she knew. He had been severely beaten and in a pretty bad way. He had been tortured and had said that he knew Andrée, handing over small bits of information on her activities but holding back the more compromising. Andrée denied it all vehemently shouting to Alfred (rather than the two French traitors) "Look at the guy, you can see he's not well and isn't making any sense. I don't know him or have ever seen him before". Her outburst did not evade a beating and a long stay in the dungeon.
Andrée had one fixed idea in her head that stayed with her the whole time, she would not talk. When she found herself being interrogated by Alfred she had convinced herself that he would believe all that she said and she had convinced herself that the stories and explanations were in fact true. She would often use her size to explain how it would have been impossible to do the things she had been accused of. She would lie constantly but the pressure was always there to remember all the lies ! Back in her cell with madame Nadaud she would go through the stories again to try to remember them. Madame Nadaud in the end would say that some of the stories were too far fetched so Andrée decided from that point on to say nothing. So as the blows rained down Andrée would think of only one thing - that she would say nothing.
In fact during interrogations Alfred did not lay a finger on her, it was the two Frenchmen, the traitors as she called them, Brissaud and ???, that would be hitting her as Alfred would threaten her that if she did not talk all her family will be shot and her house will be reduced to ash.
When Andrée returned to her cell severely beaten, madame Nadaud et madame B()ucher would apply cream to her cuts and bruises. Madame B()ucher was so saddened to see Andrée like this and would implore Andrée to at least tell them something not actually knowing how involved Andrée was in the Résistance. Andrée would reply "If I knew something, I would say it !"
But the worst thing that Andrée dreaded was the cold, damp, dark dungeon, the "dungeon of death" as Brissaud would call it. When she was locked up in it a little bit of light came into the room as the door was opened. There would be just enough time to see the messages written in desperation on the walls, the same questions that would haunt her : How long will I be stuck here ? What will happen to me ? Will I be shot like all those shot in the courtyard ? How can I escape this prison ? A question that one day Andrée had thought she had found a solution. From her high cell window she noticed one day a young girl walking in a circle as was compulsory in the courtyard. She managed to get her attention and the young girl had said that she had tried to escape by feigning an acute attack of appendicitis and while en route to hospital with a guard she had tried to escape. But not being from the area she had become lost in the small lanes and caught. The story however struck a chord with Andrée because she knew all the back streets of Angoulême like the back of her hand.
At the next opportunity when Andrée was hauled in for interrogation she entered the room falling to the floor in incredible agony. Brissaud and ,,, surrounded her, she was kicked and then dragged to the dungeon along with madame B(u)cher. Alfred tried to make her drink a glass of what seemed to be ether, perhaps to make Andrée talk. She took a mouthful but managed to spit it out.
On 19th May, there was an unusual commotion in the prison. Andrée was taken by a guard to the sick bay for a medical examination and she asked to be able to fill out a questionaire about her health. She declared that she had numerous illnesses in the hope that this might speed up her release or at least a visit to the hospital.
She was told to get dressed and then taken to a cell on her own. In fact madame Nadaud and her daughter Marcelle had been allowed to spend a last night together in another cell. This had been authorised by Alfred and was used in his defence at his trial at Bordeaux on 22nd July 1953. (Sentanced to death ....)
The following day Andrée was lead to the entrance of the prison where she was given back her jewellery and a beaten up parcel containing the clothes that she arrived in. An incredible feeling joy came over her, she believed that she was about to be released. The guard also gave her a little note from her mother announcing the birth of her little nephew.
Her joy was short lived, there was no release only the nightmare to continue. She joined a group of three women and around thirty men and was handcuffed to Marcelle Nadaud, the other two women handcuffed together were madame Noblet and Betty de Maudy, an American lady who had been arrested in Brittany because she had tried to help some fellow Americans. They were all told to not to speak to anyone and that it would be foolish to attempt an escape as their families would suffer immediate reprisals.
Andrée's sister arrived at the prison that morning with a parcel for her. She was only told that there was no longer a need for her to bring any more parcels. She went to see the grocer nearby who told her that he had seen a truck leave earlier going in the direction of the railway station but knew no more.
Andrée remembers arriving at the station full of people going about their business. Civilians passed them but there was no contact. She tried to look for someone she might recognise. Amongst the group of prisoners Andrée found monsieur Ferrand who occasionally visited the farmhouse. She also found René Glangetas and the group at Châteauneuf, the Desmier family, the father would die in deportation), Guy Barat, madame Noblet who had been joined by her husband on the platform who had also been imprisoned.
They were all put on to a train in compartments of four along with a German guard and their handcuffs were taken off. The train made many stops in open countryside as the line had been sabotaged. At Poitiers the train stopped and they were all given water. Some Gendarmes got on the train and checked the prisoners. Andrée was asked her age, they thought that she was only 14 years of age. She was told that by saying she was only 14 she could save herself. This was alot to take in but she remembered that she had been warned that if she tried to escape her family would be taken hostage so she remained.
The train's conductor passed through the prisoners recommending that when the train stopped to ask for some water from one of his collegues. He also asked, as he passed them, for all their addresses. This was how Andrée's parents received a message from a rail worker saying that Andrée had left the prison at Angoulême on 2Oth May and was being taken to Romainville near Paris.
Marcelle Nadaud had managed to keep on her some paper and a pencil, even some stamps ! They had managed to write little messages addressed to their families and threw them on the track, sadly none ever arrived at their destination.
Night time came and madame Noblet and Betty de Mauduy laid on the long bench seats, Marcelle slept on the floor and Andrée was left the only space left which was next to the German guard. A terrible journey huddled up trying to be as far from him as possible, while he dozed and from time to time moved nearer to her.
Andrée had not been tried but she had been condemned, like her companions, to live in horror.
At the arrival at Austerlitz station, the women were seperated from the men. Madame Noblet turned for the last time towards her husband Jules and said "It would appear we're going to Germany, perhaps we'll see André there ?". André Noblet was a prisoner of war and would return to France after the German capitulation. Jules and Berthe Noblet would both die in the concentration camps.
A small black SS car took Andrée, madame Noblet and Marcelle Nadaud to the prison camp at Romainville, situated in the suburbs to the North East of Paris. In total 38OO women had been imprisoned there, 9O (percent) of them would be deported to Ravensbr(u)ck in North Germany.
Andrée remembers that it had a large courtyard, like a barracks. They remained there a few days until 6th June 1944. After the Prison at Angoulême, the beatings, the dungeon, she was relieved, almost happy, there were no more interrogations to be afraid of.
Madame Noblet and Marcelle Nadaud were both religious and would recite prayers. Andrée too. They would walk for hours together in the courtyard reciting "Je vous salue Marie" and some "Notre Père". Andrée, without daring to say it, wanted to join a group of young political women, probably young communists, who would sing at the top of their voice. They were lead by a red haired Dutch women and Andrée remembers well one of their songs "Vive la rose rouge et le joli bleuet. A mon bouquet j'ajoute un brin de blanc muguet" (Long live the red rose and the pretty cornflower. To my bouquet I add a sprig of lily of the valley). Andrée would have loved to have joined these young women, so happy, so alive, but she could not leave her two "mums" who were so kind and had taken Andrée under their wings.
It is at Romainville that Andrée meets Suze Mugnier. She speaks German and has heard that they are all going to be leaving for Germany. She teaches them a few useful phrases in German to prepare themselves.
There were several in each room and Andrée had already noticed a group of women who she knew had been part of the Résistance. The American Betty de Mauduy had joined them. These women carried themselves particularly well. Madame de Laprade, when they ended up ??? at Ravensbr(u)ck would often give Andrée some of her food, making out that she didn't care for it. Absurd that she did not like the food, they were the whole time famished ! She obviously took pity on Andrée, to be in that hell so young.
On 5th June they were locked up in the bunkers, a very dark place. They noticed a women slouched at the end of the room who pronounced "We are going to Germany". She continued to talk of "camps" but of course, no one really understood what she meant.
Before they left, they all received a parcel from the Red Cross. It contained various provisions including some gingerbread but they were all told to not touch it yet as there would be no more food for two or three days.
Andrée would grab Marcelle's hand hoping with all her heart that they would not be seperated.
They all boarded some trucks which then left in the direction of the Gare de l'Est railway station.
There, they boarded some trains that left heading to the east. Some women who had started to write some letters were handcuffed.
Every mile was taking Andrée further away from her parents who must have been mad with worry. During the sixty six days of imprisonment and interrogation she had not been able to get the smallest piece of news to them. For Andrée, above everything, she had not passed on any information whatsoever during the interrogations and she wanted so much for her family to know !
Andrée had returned to the cell with lice picked up from the dungeon. Madame Nadaud put a white handkerchief on her knees andsplaced Andrée's head there and searched for the lice in her hair. For Andrée, this was a moment of pure happiness after the violence. The cell was small and Andrée was used to living in the open countryside so was restless. Her toings and froings drove Madame Nadaud crazy at times.
The cell had one small high window with iron bars on it. It was possible by standing on the bed frame to see out of the window into the prison courtyard. Twice a day the male inmates would be allowed into the space but had to walk around in a circle while they were there. Andrée was able to recognise a few of the men, Monsieur Berger from Angoulême, Roger Desmier from Châteauneuf and Moise Pasturaud who used to visit the house. Andrée was able to talk to them.
Monsieur Berger pleaded with Andrée not to give away any information about his son Guy "Pasteur". She replied with utter conviction "They could cut me like a sausage and I'd still say nothing !". This made madame Nadaud laugh but she was not keen on Andrée being up at the window and she was right, because amongst the men was a mole.
Among the prisoners was a man given the name "le grand Maurice". Madame Nadaud had already warned Andrée to be careful around him. Andrée had passed this on to the others but wasn't taken seriously, they all thought he was fine as he had been arrested on three different occasions before Andrée had been arrested. Some of the women were so sure of him that they had said to Andrée that he was going to be released soon and he wanted to join Edmond's group and needed to know how he could do it.
Andrée said she had no paper to write any info on so they provided her with a small piece. Madame Nadaud insisted that she write nothing on the paper. Le grand Maurice at this point had been given the job of handing out soup to the women in the cells and as he approached Andrée's cell he demanded for her to give him the piece of paper. She ignored him and it was just as well as it turned out a little later that he had been a traitor.
Being young and so against the German occupation, Andrée would take many risks and some of her "initiatives" could have had devastating consequences. She was alerted to a snippet of information that had been heard in a conversation between Brissaud and one his accomplices about the château Deffends near Bunzac. They were intending on doing a raid there. Andrée knew this château and she was overwhelmed with worry as she knew that Blaireau and Pasteur often went there. She tried to think of a way of getting a message to them to warn them.
The following day the opportunity presented itself when perched up at the window she noticed a builder working on the small building in the courtyard. She managed to attract his attention and he approached the window with caution. Andrée explained the situation and asked him if he could warn the owners of the château. He promised that he would do it. Madame Nadaud thought she was taking a big risk asking him to do this and Andrée remained worried for a long time about it.
What a relief when she returned from the concentration camps that he hadn't been arrested and even better to discover by chance in 1959, from the owner of the château himself, that the builder had in fact passed on the message to him.
There were three guards in the prison. One of them, nicknamed "Bouboule" (tubby) had a massive scar on his head, received during his time fighting in Russia. He would walk up and down the corridor making a lot of noise with his boots only to then pass by again silently hoping to catch the women in the cells saying something compromising.
Another guard was Austrian and given the nickname "Sourire" (smile) by madame Nadaud. The third one they had called "Pétrole" (paraffin), he was a big man and menacing. He had entered Andrées cell once and she remained sitting on a stool at the table. Her punishment for not standing as he entered was a blow to the head.
In that part of the prison there were three cells in a row. On one side a cell for all new inmates and on the other a German, quite young, who had been imprisoned for leaving his post at Cognac during an air raid. He was kept in a cell during the night and had to work during the day. Whenever he came back to his cell he would tap on the cell wall between their two cells and start singing in German, always the same popular song at the time. Andrée resisted the temptation to sing the same song back in French "Si, si, si, ce n'est qu'une sérénade, sérénade sans espoir".
In the window of their cell someone had drawn a boat and written "Bornéo". Andrée and madame Nadaud would invent possible stories behind the mysterious message. Andrée had also drawn on the window, a spoon and her house but wished she could have drawn a calendar to have been able to rub out each day she was imprisoned.
When one is deprived of liberty and cut off from their family and friends, the smallest things can become incredibly important. Andrée and madame Nadaud returned to their cell escorted by Bouboule one day after their once fortnightly shower to find a copy of "Le Petit Echo de la Mode", a weekly fashion newspaper, left as a gift in their cell by someone. This was a feast for their eyes that they read and re-read until they knew it all by heart.
They would hear the arrival of new inmates in the cell next to theirs and tap on the wall to let them know of their presence and that they were not alone. One day a lady by the name of madame Mugnier arrived. Her daughter Suze (Suzanne) would die in the concentration camps. Madame Mugnier would often be seen walking in the courtyard, had quickly noticed Andrée perched up at her window.
She had a heart condition and her doctor who lived near the prison would bring her some hot milk each morning. One day while Andrée and madame Nadaud were in the courtyard they heard a call from the window of madame Mugnier's window. This lovely old lady asked if Andrée would like some milk and then lowered down the milk bottle tied to some hankies. She told Andrée to drink it quickly as she'd drop down some more. Suddenly Bouboule came into the courtyard shouting as usual. Madame Mugnier explained that this young lady must have some milk to drink and the following day this was granted.
Madame Mugnier left the prison a little while after. Andrée was given permission to carry her things to the main prison door. The door which she could only dream that she could open. She was so close, to freedom, to her life before ! but alas she was returned back to her cell.
Freedom ! that's all Andrée could think about. At times it seemed so close like the day when a massive fight could be heard in the prison, with cries, stamping boots and doors slamming. Andrée and madame Nadaud looked at each other wondering if the "terrorists" had arrived to free them. It turned out not to be so and the following day they noticed two new prisoners in the men's courtyard both standing silently in a corner. Andrée could see how sad they looked and learnt from the other cellmates that they were going to be shot.
Andrée would remain in this prison for two nine weeks. The interrogations had continued throughout without any pattern except the increase of violence. Sometimes days would pass with no interrogation and she believed that she was perhaps safe now. But then they would come to collect her and by the end the interrogations had multiplied followed by longer stays in the dark dungeon of the prison, "For reflection" Brissaud would say.
She worried often that one day they would bring in one of her family or someone she knew. This would only happen once when early one morning she was lead into a room where she found Alfred, Brissaud and ???(other frenchman), along with a man she knew. He had been severely beaten and in a pretty bad way. He had been tortured and had said that he knew Andrée, handing over small bits of information on her activities but holding back the more compromising. Andrée denied it all vehemently shouting to Alfred (rather than the two French traitors) "Look at the guy, you can see he's not well and isn't making any sense. I don't know him or have ever seen him before". Her outburst did not evade a beating and a long stay in the dungeon.
Andrée had one fixed idea in her head that stayed with her the whole time, she would not talk. When she found herself being interrogated by Alfred she had convinced herself that he would believe all that she said and she had convinced herself that the stories and explanations were in fact true. She would often use her size to explain how it would have been impossible to do the things she had been accused of. She would lie constantly but the pressure was always there to remember all the lies ! Back in her cell with madame Nadaud she would go through the stories again to try to remember them. Madame Nadaud in the end would say that some of the stories were too far fetched so Andrée decided from that point on to say nothing. So as the blows rained down Andrée would think of only one thing - that she would say nothing.
In fact during interrogations Alfred did not lay a finger on her, it was the two Frenchmen, the traitors as she called them, Brissaud and ???, that would be hitting her as Alfred would threaten her that if she did not talk all her family will be shot and her house will be reduced to ash.
When Andrée returned to her cell severely beaten, madame Nadaud et madame B()ucher would apply cream to her cuts and bruises. Madame B()ucher was so saddened to see Andrée like this and would implore Andrée to at least tell them something not actually knowing how involved Andrée was in the Résistance. Andrée would reply "If I knew something, I would say it !"
But the worst thing that Andrée dreaded was the cold, damp, dark dungeon, the "dungeon of death" as Brissaud would call it. When she was locked up in it a little bit of light came into the room as the door was opened. There would be just enough time to see the messages written in desperation on the walls, the same questions that would haunt her : How long will I be stuck here ? What will happen to me ? Will I be shot like all those shot in the courtyard ? How can I escape this prison ? A question that one day Andrée had thought she had found a solution. From her high cell window she noticed one day a young girl walking in a circle as was compulsory in the courtyard. She managed to get her attention and the young girl had said that she had tried to escape by feigning an acute attack of appendicitis and while en route to hospital with a guard she had tried to escape. But not being from the area she had become lost in the small lanes and caught. The story however struck a chord with Andrée because she knew all the back streets of Angoulême like the back of her hand.
At the next opportunity when Andrée was hauled in for interrogation she entered the room falling to the floor in incredible agony. Brissaud and ,,, surrounded her, she was kicked and then dragged to the dungeon along with madame B(u)cher. Alfred tried to make her drink a glass of what seemed to be ether, perhaps to make Andrée talk. She took a mouthful but managed to spit it out.
On 19th May, there was an unusual commotion in the prison. Andrée was taken by a guard to the sick bay for a medical examination and she asked to be able to fill out a questionaire about her health. She declared that she had numerous illnesses in the hope that this might speed up her release or at least a visit to the hospital.
She was told to get dressed and then taken to a cell on her own. In fact madame Nadaud and her daughter Marcelle had been allowed to spend a last night together in another cell. This had been authorised by Alfred and was used in his defence at his trial at Bordeaux on 22nd July 1953. (Sentanced to death ....)
The following day Andrée was lead to the entrance of the prison where she was given back her jewellery and a beaten up parcel containing the clothes that she arrived in. An incredible feeling joy came over her, she believed that she was about to be released. The guard also gave her a little note from her mother announcing the birth of her little nephew.
Her joy was short lived, there was no release only the nightmare to continue. She joined a group of three women and around thirty men and was handcuffed to Marcelle Nadaud, the other two women handcuffed together were madame Noblet and Betty de Maudy, an American lady who had been arrested in Brittany because she had tried to help some fellow Americans. They were all told to not to speak to anyone and that it would be foolish to attempt an escape as their families would suffer immediate reprisals.
Andrée's sister arrived at the prison that morning with a parcel for her. She was only told that there was no longer a need for her to bring any more parcels. She went to see the grocer nearby who told her that he had seen a truck leave earlier going in the direction of the railway station but knew no more.
Andrée remembers arriving at the station full of people going about their business. Civilians passed them but there was no contact. She tried to look for someone she might recognise. Amongst the group of prisoners Andrée found monsieur Ferrand who occasionally visited the farmhouse. She also found René Glangetas and the group at Châteauneuf, the Desmier family, the father would die in deportation), Guy Barat, madame Noblet who had been joined by her husband on the platform who had also been imprisoned.
They were all put on to a train in compartments of four along with a German guard and their handcuffs were taken off. The train made many stops in open countryside as the line had been sabotaged. At Poitiers the train stopped and they were all given water. Some Gendarmes got on the train and checked the prisoners. Andrée was asked her age, they thought that she was only 14 years of age. She was told that by saying she was only 14 she could save herself. This was alot to take in but she remembered that she had been warned that if she tried to escape her family would be taken hostage so she remained.
The train's conductor passed through the prisoners recommending that when the train stopped to ask for some water from one of his collegues. He also asked, as he passed them, for all their addresses. This was how Andrée's parents received a message from a rail worker saying that Andrée had left the prison at Angoulême on 2Oth May and was being taken to Romainville near Paris.
Marcelle Nadaud had managed to keep on her some paper and a pencil, even some stamps ! They had managed to write little messages addressed to their families and threw them on the track, sadly none ever arrived at their destination.
Night time came and madame Noblet and Betty de Mauduy laid on the long bench seats, Marcelle slept on the floor and Andrée was left the only space left which was next to the German guard. A terrible journey huddled up trying to be as far from him as possible, while he dozed and from time to time moved nearer to her.
Andrée had not been tried but she had been condemned, like her companions, to live in horror.
At the arrival at Austerlitz station, the women were seperated from the men. Madame Noblet turned for the last time towards her husband Jules and said "It would appear we're going to Germany, perhaps we'll see André there ?". André Noblet was a prisoner of war and would return to France after the German capitulation. Jules and Berthe Noblet would both die in the concentration camps.
A small black SS car took Andrée, madame Noblet and Marcelle Nadaud to the prison camp at Romainville, situated in the suburbs to the North East of Paris. In total 38OO women had been imprisoned there, 9O (percent) of them would be deported to Ravensbr(u)ck in North Germany.
Andrée remembers that it had a large courtyard, like a barracks. They remained there a few days until 6th June 1944. After the Prison at Angoulême, the beatings, the dungeon, she was relieved, almost happy, there were no more interrogations to be afraid of.
Madame Noblet and Marcelle Nadaud were both religious and would recite prayers. Andrée too. They would walk for hours together in the courtyard reciting "Je vous salue Marie" and some "Notre Père". Andrée, without daring to say it, wanted to join a group of young political women, probably young communists, who would sing at the top of their voice. They were lead by a red haired Dutch women and Andrée remembers well one of their songs "Vive la rose rouge et le joli bleuet. A mon bouquet j'ajoute un brin de blanc muguet" (Long live the red rose and the pretty cornflower. To my bouquet I add a sprig of lily of the valley). Andrée would have loved to have joined these young women, so happy, so alive, but she could not leave her two "mums" who were so kind and had taken Andrée under their wings.
It is at Romainville that Andrée meets Suze Mugnier. She speaks German and has heard that they are all going to be leaving for Germany. She teaches them a few useful phrases in German to prepare themselves.
There were several in each room and Andrée had already noticed a group of women who she knew had been part of the Résistance. The American Betty de Mauduy had joined them. These women carried themselves particularly well. Madame de Laprade, when they ended up ??? at Ravensbr(u)ck would often give Andrée some of her food, making out that she didn't care for it. Absurd that she did not like the food, they were the whole time famished ! She obviously took pity on Andrée, to be in that hell so young.
On 5th June they were locked up in the bunkers, a very dark place. They noticed a women slouched at the end of the room who pronounced "We are going to Germany". She continued to talk of "camps" but of course, no one really understood what she meant.
Before they left, they all received a parcel from the Red Cross. It contained various provisions including some gingerbread but they were all told to not touch it yet as there would be no more food for two or three days.
Andrée would grab Marcelle's hand hoping with all her heart that they would not be seperated.
They all boarded some trucks which then left in the direction of the Gare de l'Est railway station.
There, they boarded some trains that left heading to the east. Some women who had started to write some letters were handcuffed.
Every mile was taking Andrée further away from her parents who must have been mad with worry. During the sixty six days of imprisonment and interrogation she had not been able to get the smallest piece of news to them. For Andrée, above everything, she had not passed on any information whatsoever during the interrogations and she wanted so much for her family to know !
.JPG)
