Born in the industrial Borinage region and a child of authentic proletarians, René Noël rose, through hard work, to the intellectual and administrative middle class in the inter-war period. He taught at the Ecole moyenne de Mons and became head of an evening school while taking up the activities of a socialist unionist. Allying himself with the communist cause at the beginning of the Occupation (1941) due to his visceral hostility towards the occupier, he quickly became a senior official of the Front de l'Indépendance in his region and then throughout the province (end of 1942), before being appointed to the national leadership of the Front from 1943 onwards. As such, he was one of the creators of the Faux Soir, a well-orchestrated parody of the main collaborationist daily newspaper, which made the whole of Belgium laugh at the expense of the Nazis and their local supporters. Once the country was liberated, he worked as a senior executive in the ministries managed by the communists before holding a series of political mandates, either as a municipal councillor and alderman, or as a provincial councillor and senator (1950-1974). Faithful to his party – while being cautiously critical of its "Stalinist" tendencies – and well-established in his region, he succeeded in pursuing both an honourable professional career (as director of the Ecole industrielle et commerciale de Cuesmes/Mons) and a no less honourable political career, striving even in the early 1970s to set up, with the Union Démocratique et Progressiste, a vast "leftist" confederation to try to revitalize his dear Borinage. If this attempt at political renewal turned out to be short-lived, René Noel, an undeniably courageous, imaginative and strong-willed character, maintained the esteem of his fellow citizens to the very end and well beyond communist circles. With the help of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles and in partnership with CEGE-SOMA.

Belgium 

René Noël

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny wurde für seinen engagierten Einsatz im 1. Weltkrieg mehrfach ausgezeichnet. Als jüngster General der französischen Armee befehligte er während des Falls Frankreichs 1940 eine Division und hatte später verschiedene militärische Posten inne. Im November 1942, im Zuge der Besetzung der „Freien Zone“ Frankreichs durch die Deutschen, verweigerte er den Befehl des Vichy-Regimes, sich nicht zu widersetzen, und wurde inhaftiert. Allerdings konnte er Ende 1943 aus dem Gefängnis flüchten und wurde anschließend ein hochrangiger Befehlshaber der Freien Französischen Streitkräfte. Im August 1944 kommandierte de Lattre de Tassigny die „B-Armee“, also den französischen Teil der Operation Dragoon. Seine Truppen befreiten Marseille und trieben – gemeinsam mit der 7. amerikanischen Armee – die Deutschen hinauf nach Lothringen. Im Winter 1944/45 befehligte er die 1. französische Armee bei den Kämpfen in Lothringen und der Zerschlagung des Brückenkopfes Elsass. In der letzten Offensive der Alliierten gegen Deutschland rückten die Truppen von de Lattre bis an die Donau vor. General de Lattre de Tassigny repräsentierte Frankreich bei der bedingungslosen Kapitulation Deutschlands in Berlin-Karlshorst. Vor der Zeremonie drängte er die Alliierten erfolgreich, Frankreich als separate Macht aufzunehmen, die die Kapitulation akzeptierte. Später kommandierte er französische Truppen in Indochina. De Lattre starb 1952 an Krebs und wurde posthum zum Marschall von Frankreich befördert.

France

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny

Über Lieutenant General Alexander Patch ist nur wenig bekannt. Einer seiner Untergebenen, General Lucian Truscott, rühmte Patch als „einen Mann von großer Integrität, einen mutigen und fähigen Anführer und uneigennützigen Kriegskameraden“. Patch hielt nichts von einem rauen Umgangston und kümmerte sich um das Wohl seiner Soldaten. Im März 1944 wurde Patch für die Invasion in Südfrankreich (Deckname: Operation Dragoon) das Kommando über die 7. US-Armee übertragen. An der Seite der 7. Armee kämpfte auch eine große Zahl französischer Einheiten, die Patch für ihren Heldenmut lobte. Die Invasion war ein Erfolg und die 7. Armee arbeitete sich – auf den Fersen der zurückweichenden deutschen Truppen – zügig das Rhônetal hinauf. Innerhalb eines Monats legte die Armee über 600 km zurück und befreite zahlreiche Städte und Orte, darunter Marseille, Lyon und Toulon. Im Winter 1944/45 kämpften Patch und seine Armee in den Vogesen gegen deutsche Truppen und trugen die Hauptlast des „Unternehmens Nordwind“, eine der letzten deutschen Offensiven im Westen. Nachdem man den Vormarsch der Deutschen gestoppt hatte, ging Patch mit der 7. Armee erneut in die Offensive. Sie eroberten die beim Unternehmen Nordwind verlorenen Gebiete zurück, überquerten schließlich den Rhein und betraten deutschen Boden. Unter dem Kommando von Patch befreiten US-Soldaten am 29. April 1945 das Konzentrationslager Dachau.

Alexander M. Patch

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Shalwa Loladze was in service with the Red Army. As a commander of a Soviet squadron his airplane was brought down above Ukraine in 1942. He was taken prisoner by the German Army. To avoid the terrible conditions of a German prisoner-of-war camp he decided to join the Georgian Legion which served the German Army. Here he became lieutenant of the Georgian 882nd Infantry Battalion. Because of different revolts of Georgian troops in Eastern Europe the German Army decided to station these troops in the West. The battalion of Loladze therefore arrived on Texel on 6 February 1945. 2 months later the battalion was told to fight the Allies on the Dutch mainland. According to the battalion a revolt was the only chance to prevent this. Led by Loladze they started their revolt on 6 April at 01:00 and in the early morning 180 German soldiers were killed. However, the tide would soon turn after German reinforcements reached the island. Five weeks later the battalion surrendered. During the revolt 565 Georgians, 120 local citizens and around 800 Germans died. Shalwa Loladze was one of them. He was shot in the back on 25 April. A large number of the Georgians are buried on the Georgian cemetery on Texel. After the war the surviving 228 Georgians returned to their own country.

The Netherlands

Sjalwa Loladze

As a member of the 761st Tank Battalion, Sergeant Ruben Rivers arrived at Omaha Beach in France on 10 October 1944. Here, his unit became part of General George Patton’s 3rd Army. Rivers was 26 years old and known for his bravery. On 19 November he led a peloton of Sherman tanks to the occupied village Guébling. Arriving in the village under enemy fire, Rivers’ tank struck an anti-tank mine. Despite having an open bone fracture on his leg, he refused any morphine the medical team tried to give him.Soon after, he even took command of another thank. Over the following days Rivers fought without morphine and with a swollen and infected leg. On 19 November, the Black Panthers again tried to break through the lines at Guébling, but German troops were waiting with anti-tank guns. Rivers ordered his tank to get out of cover and to attack the enemy so that his comrades could retreat. His plan worked, but Rivers’ tank was blown up.Rivers’ actions were an example for the entire 761st Tank Battalion. After the war, like many other African-American soldiers, he did not gain the recognition he deserved. It wasn’t until 1997 that President Bill Clinton awarded his family his Medal of Honour. Rivers is one of only seven African-Americans to be awarded the Medal of Honour for his actions during the Second World War.

Ruben Rivers

George Dukson, born in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon), decided to join the French army in Europe immediately after the Second World War broke out. Shortly before the French capitulation, he was taken prisoner by the German army. and after spending two years in a German prisoner-of-war camp he successfully escaped.Dukson returned to France, entering the underground resistance movement in Paris and where he played an important role in the resistance. During the liberation of the city of Paris, he rose through the ranks to gain the command over a group of resistance fighters. With just a few revolvers and grenades, Dukson and his comrades succeeded in capturing a German tank. On 21 August he was hit in his arm by a bullet, but Dukson kept fighting until Paris was liberated.On 26 August General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French Forces, marched with his troops in a victory parade through the city. At the request of the Allies, only white soldiers had been involved with the liberation of the city, therefore the parade was therefore also white, despite a huge part of the French army existing of non-white people. However, George gained a spot in the parade and is seen near General de Gaulle in several pictures.After the Liberation of Paris, Dukson started to trade on the black market, until he was arrested. He was shot as he attempted to flee from his arrest and died from his wounds on 11 November 1944.

George Dukson

Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow on New Year’s Day 1914 to an American mother and an Indian father who was a descendant of the Sultan of Mysore in India. After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the family moved to London and later to France in 1920. Here Inayat Khan focused on playing music and writing children's stories.After the capitulation of France in 1940 the family fled to London, where Inayat Khan would join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in November 1940. Here she trained to be a radio operator. She was recruited for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) at the end of 1942 and despite her lack of experience she was dropped in France on 17 June 1943. This was due to a shortage of spies and the fact that she spoke French fluently.In France, Inayat Khan became a radio operator for the Physician-network of the SOE in Paris. The goal of this network was to encourage and aid French resistance against the German occupier. Inayat Khan maintained the contact between the resistance and the SOE in London. However, a lot of members were arrested quite soon because of infiltration by the Sicherheitsdienst (intelligence agency of Nazi Germany).Despite this Inayat Khan tried to maintain contact with London all summer long. In October she was betrayed by a French woman and afterwards arrested by the Gestapo, the German secret state police. The Sicherheitsdienst knew how to decipher the coded notes of Inayat Khan which lead them to arrest several other people. Inayat Khan was imprisoned in the prison of Pforzheim in Germany for ten months, after which she was transferred to the Dachau Concentration Camp. Here she was tortured for two days. Together with three other SOE spies, she was executed on 13 September 1944.

Noor Inayat Khan

Edgard Tupët-Thome was born in Bourg-La-Reine on 19 April 1920. After obtaining his school diploma, he quitted his further education in order to join the French Armed Forces in October 1938. During the German invasion of Western Europe, Tupët-Thomé fought in Lorraine and Belgium. Along with the other Allied armies he was pushed back to Dunkirk. Here he helped with the embarking of the British Expeditionary Force before he was taken prisoner. During his transfer to Germany he managed to escape. After he had escaped, Tupët-Thomé joined the French resistance. He managed to reach England via Spain and joined the Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle. He was dropped in France to gather information in December 1941. Even though he was wounded during his parachute jump he stayed for six months to fulfill his tasks. He finally returned to England to let his wounds be treated in May 1942. After he was recovered, he became an instructor for French commando units in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. In August 1943 Tupët-Thomé joined the British Special Air Service and half a year later he became second-in-command of the French 3rd Parachute Chasseur Regiment. Together with his regiment Tupët-Thomé landed in France in August 1944 where they took part in the liberation of several villages. His last mission took place in the Netherlands on 7 April 1945 and was part of Operation Amherst. The goal of the paratroops was to take bridges and other important locations in Drenthe and Groningen, to pave the way for the liberation of these areas. After the war Edgard Tupët-Thome received several medals including la Légion d’honneur. He died at the age of one hundred in Hôtel National des Invalides on 9 September 2020.

Edgard Tupët-Thomé

Sophie Scholl wurde 1921 in Forchtenberg geboren, einer kleinen Stadt in Württemberg, in der ihr Vater Bürgermeister war. Im Jahr 1932 zog ihre Familie nach Ulm. Als Sophie Scholl zwölf Jahre alt war, trat sie dem Bund Deutscher Mädel bei, einer Organisation der Hitlerjugend für Mädchen, und &nbsp;stieg dort zur Gruppenführerin auf. &nbsp;1937 wurden drei ihrer &nbsp;Geschwister kurzzeitig inhaftiert, weil sie verdächtigt wurden, sich an verbotenen Jugendgruppen beteiligt zu haben. In der Folge &nbsp;lehnte sie den Nationalsozialismus zunehmend ab.Nach dem Abitur begann Sophie Scholl eine Ausbildung zur Kindergärtnerin, da sie hoffte, so dem obligatorischen Reichsarbeitsdienst zu entgehen. Dennoch &nbsp;wurde sie im Frühjahr 1941 zum Arbeitsdienst einberufen. Die Erfahrung der erzwungenen Unterordnung und Unfreiheit sowie ihre Beschäftigung mit Literatur und religiösen Themen bestärkten sie in ihrer Opposition gegen das NS-Regime.Sophie Scholl war künstlerisch sehr begabt und &nbsp;spielte mit dem Gedanken, Kunst zu studieren. &nbsp;Schließlich begann sie jedoch im Mai 1942 ein Studium der Biologie und Philosophie in München. Dort wurde sie rasch in den Freundeskreis ihres Bruders aufgenommen. Die Freunde knüpften Kontakte zu Schriftstellern, Philosophen und Künstlern. Sophie Scholl beschäftigte sich intensiv mit der &nbsp;Frage, wie sie sich als Christin in einer Diktatur verhalten sollte. Da ihr Freund Fritz Hartnagel Offizier war, diskutierten sie häufig über die Frage, ob ein Krieg legitim sein könne.Im Sommer 1942 musste Sophie Scholl in einer Munitionsfabrik in Ulm Kriegshilfsdienst leisten. Während dieser Zeit war ihr Vater für drei Monate im Gefängnis, weil er sich kritisch über Hitler geäußert hatte. Im November, zurück an der Universität, zog Sophie Scholl mit ihrem Bruder Hans in eine gemeinsame Wohnung. Von nun an spielte sie eine aktive Rolle in der Widerstandsgruppe. Sie kaufte in großem Stil Briefumschläge und Briefmarken, beteiligte sich an der Vervielfältigung und Verteilung der letzten beiden Flugblätter in München und brachte 2.000 Exemplare mit dem Zug nach Augsburg, Ulm und Stuttgart.Am 18. Februar 1943, als Sophie und Hans Scholl das sechste Flugblatt in der Münchner Universität verteilten, wurden sie verhaftet. Vier Tage später verurteilte der Volksgerichtshof die Geschwister zusammen mit ihrem Freund Christoph Probst zum Tode. Noch am selben Tag wurden sie im Gefängnis München-Stadelheim hingerichtet.

Germany

Sophie Scholl

Claude Mademba-Sy was born on 11 December 1923 in Versailles. His father, Abdel Kader, was the first black commander of a colonial infantry battalion of the French Army. Mademba-Sy did not grow up in France, but spent the first years of his childhood dependant on where his dad was stationed, on Madagascar, as well as in Mali and Senegal.After his father died Mademba-Sy spent several years in an orphanage after which he went to live with his mother, who had remarried, in Tunisia. After the German Army invaded Tunisia in November 1942, nineteen year old Mademba-Sy voluntarily joined the Free French Forces. As part of the French 2nd Armoured Division led by General Philippe Leclerc, he arrived on Utah Beach in Normandy on 1 August 1944. He hereafter played a role at the liberation of Paris and Strasbourg and the capture of Berchtesgaden, Adolf Hitlers’ country retreat in the Alps.It was extremely unusual that Mademba-Sy, as a black soldier, was present at the liberation of Paris, because at the insistence of the Allies it was the intention that only white troops would be present. However, since Mademba-Sy was born in Versailles he had the French nationality and because of this he was part of a white French unit which meant he could attend.After the war Claude Mademba-Sy stayed active in the army and he was one of the founders of the Senegalian army in 1960. He also fought for better appreciation of French colonial troops and for a raise for their pensions. He died at the age of 90 in France on 9 April 2014.

Claude Mademba-Sy

Ibrahim Asem was born on 7 January 1924 in Damascus in Syria, which was a protectorate of France at that moment. After France capitulated in 1940, Vichy France took control over Syria. This changed in July 1941, when the British Army and the Free French Forces took over the area. It was under these circumstances that Asem joined the Free French Forces in September 1942, after which he became part of the British Special Air Service (SAS) in 1943. On the night of 7 to 8 April 1945, he was dropped in Drenthe for Operation Amherst together with 701 other French parachutists. The mission of these parachutists was to make contact with the resistance, secure bridges and above all cause confusion and unrest among the German Army. This to make sure the Canadian troops could liberate the northern part of the Netherlands quickly. In different small groups the parachutists were dropped all over Drenthe. However, the group of Asem ended up in the wrong place and broke up on their way to the right destination. In order to escape from the sight of German troops, Asem and six other soldiers hid in a barn. The next day Asem and his group were discovered by German soldiers and a fire fight broke out. The straw roofing of the barn was shot on fire and collapsed. Three French soldiers were burned alive because of this. Three other parachutists, including Asem, were shot dead behind the barn. Just one Frenchman managed to escape.

Asem Ibrahim

Roscoe Brown was born on 9 March 1922 in Washington D.C. With his father being a dentist and his mother a teacher, Brown grew up in an intellectual climate and performed well at school. After he finished his studies with excellent results, he decided to join the American Air Force in 1943.As an African American, Brown ended up at the flying school in Tuskegee, Alabama. Just like the other parts of the American Army, the Air Force was segregated during this time. The flying school in Tuskegee was founded as an experiment to prove that African Americans were not capable of flying airplanes. However, it proved the contrary.The Tuskegee Airmen turned out to be great pilots and would form escort squadrons in Europe. Divided between different squadrons in the 332nd Fighter Group, the Tuskegee Airmen performed important tasks in Europe. Besides attacking different ground targets by themselves, their main task was protecting Allied bombers against the German fighters. Brown finished his training and was sent to Europe in August 1944. As part of the 100th Fighting Squadron he flew a total of 68 missions, with his most successful flight taking place on 24 March 1945. During a very long escort mission with the goal of bombing a German tank factory in Berlin, he shot down a German jet-fighter. Because of this Brown is known as one of the three jet-killers.After the war Brown went back to school to obtain his Master’s degree and later his PhD. He became, amongst other things, a professor at New York University and later director of Bronx Community College. Roscoe Brown died at the age of 94 on 2 July 2016.

Roscoe Brown

Joe Polowsky wurde am 2. Oktober 1916 in Chicago geboren. Nach dem Schulabschluss begann er ein Studium an der Universität Chicago bis er im Dezember 1942 zur 69. Infanterie Division der U.S. Army einberufen wurde. Als jüngster Sohn jüdischer Einwanderer aus Kiew sprach er auch fließend Russisch. Er gehörte zu der Patrouille unter der Leitung von Leutnant Kotzebue, die am 25. April 1945 bei Torgau an der Elbe zum ersten Mal auf sowjetische Soldaten traf. Das Foto dieser Begegnung ging um die Welt und steht bis heute symbolisch für das nahe Kriegsende. Der Friedensschwur zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs in Torgau war für Polowsky bis ans Lebensende prägend. Vergeblich bemühte er sich bei den Vereinten Nationen, den 25. April als „Elbe Day“ zum Weltfriedenstag erklären zu lassen. Aus Anlass des zehnten Jahrestages der Elbe-Begegnung besuchte Polowsky 1955 gemeinsam mit weiteren Kriegsveteranen Moskau. Es folgten zwei weitere Besuche in Torgau 1960 und 1961, bei denen er am Denkmal der Begegnung sprach. Trotz vieler Bemühungen kam es zu keiner weiteren Einreise in die DDR. Zum Gedenken an die Begegnung von 1945 hielt Polowsky alljährlich am 25. April auf der Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago eine Mahnwache. Joe Polowsky starb am 17. Oktober 1983, sein letzter Wunsch war ein Begräbnis in Torgau. Es galt, politische Hürden zu überwinden. Nach der Einverständnisgabe des Staatsratsvorsitzenden Erich Honecker fand am 26. November 1983 sein Begräbnis auf dem evangelischen Friedhof in Torgau statt. Die Beerdigung war ein internationales Medienereignis im Beisein amerikanischer und sowjetischer Veteranen sowie Regierungsmitgliedern der USA, der UdSSR und der DDR. Bis zum Ende seines Lebens blieb Joe Polowsky seinen Idealen treu. Selbst mit seinem letzten Willen und schließlich dessen Umsetzung gelang es ihm, während des kalten Krieges ein Zeichen zu setzen, das Ost und West für einen Moment ein Stück näherbrachte. In Torgau erinnert heute neben seinem Grab ein Friedenslauf an ihn, ebenso wie die Polowsky-Friedensrose im Rosengarten des Torgauer Schlosses und ein nach ihm benannter Weg.

United States

Joseph “Joe” Polowsky

In the summer of 1939, the United Kingdom was on the verge of war with Nazi Germany. Because male farm workers were send to the front, the British government decided to establish the Women’s Land Army (WLA). These women became known as Land Girls and replaced the men on the land in order to avoid a food shortage. Between June 1939 and November 1950 over 200,000 women signed up for the WLA. Coming from all walks of life, they played a critical role in increasing Britain’s food production.Daphne Mary Banks, born on 11 May 1922 in Slough, was a Land Girl. In the summer of 1939 she decided to quit her office job in order to join the newly-formed WLA. Driven by patriotism and supported by her parents she went down to the recruiting office in Portland Terrace, Southampton. At that time Daphne’s knowledge of farming mostly came from magazines she had read.As a Land Girl Daphne worked at several farms in the county of Hampshire. On these farms she performed several tasks, from fertilising the fields to trimming hedges. Daphne’s main task was looking after the cows. She fed them, milked them and moved them around the farm. During her stay at the different farms, Daphne always had a private billet in the farmhouse of the family she worked for.After the war, Daphne met her husband and left the WLA. They married in 1947. She had great memories of her WLA days and always recalled them as being some of the best of her life. She died on 14 March 2019.

United Kingdom

Daphne Mary Banks

Lee Miller was born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1907, where from a young age her father introduced her to photography. After a successful modelling career in the late 20’s Miller decided to go behind the camera herself. During the 30’s she worked in Paris, New York, Caïro and London.At the outbreak of the Second World War, Miller was living in London and working for Vogue. She ignored the plea of her friends and family to return to the United States. When the male photographers of Vogue were send to the front, Miller was offered the position of photographer. One of her first series was photographing women who were active in the army or worked as nurses.As the war proceeded Miller started to do more fieldwork which lead to her being appointed as one of the few female photographers of the U.S. Army. She arrived in Normandy in July 1944, a month after the allied invasion had begun. Her first task was photographing the American nurses near Omaha Beach. During the following months she accompanied the Allied troops who liberated Europe. She was present during the siege of St. Malo, the liberation of Paris and the Alsace region. Miller also produced impressive pictures of the concentration camps Buchenwald and Dachau, alhough her most iconic photo remains the one she took of herself in the bath of Hitler’s apartment in Munich.After the war, Miller had a difficult time processing what she had seen at the Front. She spoke little about it. Her son only discovered much of her work in boxes in the attic, after her death in 1977.

Lee Miller

From 1941 Eugene Pinte, nicknamed Athos, operated out of a small farm in a town called La Gaubertie in the region Aixe-Sur-Vienne. Pinte was in command over several resistance groups in the west of Haute-Vienne. The farm functioned as command centre and from there messages were sent and received. It was also the gather point for supplies that arrived from England via parachute. Pinte insisted his family helped as well. Even his youngest son, Marcel Pinte, became involved in the resistance.Born on 12 April 1938 in Valenciennes, in the northern part of France, the six-year-old Marcel was appointed an important task. As a courier he delivered secret messages to different resistance leaders. Because he was only a small boy, German troops didn’t suspect him. In August 1944, Eugene Pinte had gathered a group of over 1200 men around him. Together with other groups of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) they surrounded German troops around Limoges and tried to stop a German breakthrough. They won this battle.However, for Marcel it didn’t end well. On the early morning of 19 August, one of the sten guns of the resistance fighters went off by accident. Marcel was hit and died. Marcel was buried on 21 August, just before the liberation of Limoges. A large group of resistance fighters was present, including leaders of different movements. During the last drop of supplies on the farm the parachutes were black instead of white. The British did this to honour Marcel. Posthumously Marcel was promoted to FFI sergeant and became the youngest resistance fighter of France.

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