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Lucie Aubrac

Origin: Mâcon, France
(June 19, 1912 - March 14, 2007)

Heroic Values: Achievement, Caring, Courage, Faith, Humility, Integrity, Perseverance, Selflessness, Tolerance, Vision

Background

Lucie Bernard was born the daughter of a wine grower in southern Burgundy. She left home at seventeen to travel to Paris, and later became a French history teacher in Strasbourg. There she met Raymond Samuel, and they were married in 1939. There is debate over the origin of the name “Aubrac.” It is possible that with growing sentiments of anti-Semitism during this time, they changed their surname to “Aubrac,” but this name is also regarded as a code name that they used to protect themselves during resistance operations.

After the occupation of France by Nazi forces, Lucie Aubrac joined the Liberation-Sud French resistance group in Lyon, which was formed by her husband. In 1941 the couple joined forces with Emmanuel d’Astier to found and run an underground newspaper for the French Resistance, titled “Liberation.”

Raymond Aubrac was captured by the Gestapo in 1943, and Lucie organized a group of Resistance members to rescue her husband and thirteen other resistance members on October 21, 1943. It is believed that this rescue mission, which Lucie undertook while pregnant, was the only time during World War II that members of the Gestapo were attacked on the streets.

Lucie and her family were later smuggled to London, where they served as part of Charles de Gaulle’s French Free Forces. Aubrac remained active in politics, serving on a consultative committee for De Gaulle’s French Republic Provisional Government as well as the tribunal that charged Marshal Petain, France’s leader under the Vichy regime.

Lucie returned to her teaching career after the war, and continued to campaign for human rights throughout her life. In the 1950 she was a protester against the French colonial wars in Algeria, and after writing her memoirs she traveled to schools to share stories of her wartime experiences. She died March 14, 2007. The Independent quotes Aubrac as saying, “Resistance is not just something locked away in the period 1939-45. Resistance is a way of life, an intellectual and emotional reaction to anything which threatens human liberty."

Submitted By: Karen Langdon

Sources

Wikipedia
The online encyclopedia

The Independent
Aubrac's obituary