The Untold Stories of Women in the Resistance: Renée Mirande

My Project

I am developing this blog as my presentation for the Scottish Baccalaureate. As a feminist, I have always been interested in women's side of history, a side which is often overlooked and forgotten about. When first thinking about the French Resistance I knew names such as Charles De Gaulle, Jean Moulin or Raymond Aubrac; surely women had to have been a part of this movement too? I worked on the assumption that because men lead the battles, the physical confrontations, that women must have played the underground roles. I began my research online, discovering that the majority of women's stories from this time were available exclusively in French, though overall the most talked about stories of Resistance action remained those of the men. After exploring the scarce internet resources, I went to Lyon, the Resistance centre of World War Two France. I have explored the archives of Centre d'Histoire de la Résistance, and Montluc Prison in Lyon to find the stories featured. Upon returning to Scotland, I have begun translation work to allow these French stories to be shared with the rest of the world. These women played diverse roles in the Resistance movement: they hid escaped prisoners; they delivered messages; they recruited agents; they distributed propaganda; they were brave fighters and their stories deserve to be told.

7 January 2016

Renée Mirande

“We said: “Yes, we are communists, but above all we have a beautiful country which we love, we must save.” I said to a comrade: “I am a communist, it’s true, but I am a mother of a family, I have children, and if I don’t start to be a good mother for my family, and to be good at my job, I will not be a good communist. And I will not be a good communist anymore, if I don’t love and defend my country.” From that moment, my decision was made. Without question, despite everything. My husband was a prisoner (this I knew after two months), I had two children, no resources other than my job, and, at that time, the job of a lawyer had tumbled, it had become three times zero. I thought to myself: “And if something happens, what will become of my children?” But also: “And if nothing is done, what will become of our children?” And again: “If I don’t return, they will understand, without a doubt, when they are adults. They will understand the need to make this choice.””