Berty Albrecht

Berty Albrecht (15 February 1893 – 31 May 1943) was a French feminist and French Resistance martyr of the Second World War.

Pre-war life Berthe Wild was born into a Protestant family of Swiss origin, but of the Marseille bourgeoisie. She studied in Marseille and then in Lausanne, and obtained her nursing diploma in June 1912. She worked in a military hospital during World War I. In 1919 she married a Dutch financier, Frédéric Albrecht, with whom she had two children, Frédéric (born in 1920) and Mireille (born in 1924). The couple lived first in the Netherlands, and then moved to London in 1924. It was in London that she met English feminists and became active in trying to improve the condition of women.

Albrecht's husband's business failed after the 1929 financial crisis and the ensuing depression. They agreed that it would be better for her to return to France (initially to their house in Beauvallon, near Sainte-Maxime on the French Riviera) in order to save money. Separated (but not divorced) from her husband, she and her children moved back to Paris. After being transferred to Saint-Joseph prison in Lyon, she was judged six months later and was condemned to spend the rest of the war in an internment camp set up by the Vichy government. On November 11, 1942, the Germans invaded the Free Zone in France. Fearing deportation, she took advantage of the reigning disorder to simulate madness and was interned in a psychiatric hospital (Le Vinatier in Bron). She escaped on December 23, 1942, thanks to an operation by commandos from the Groupes Francs de Combat and her daughter, Mireille. This mistake was to prove fatal.

Arrest and death Klaus Barbie hoped to trap Henri Frenay by using Berty Albrecht as bait. He arranged for a false message to be sent to Albrecht, telling her of the arrival of a person from Marseilles whom she knew (Jean Multon, who appears to have been the person who betrayed her: Berty went to the meeting and was arrested by the Abwehr and the Gestapo of Lyon on May 28, 1943, in Mâcon, in the presence of Klaus Barbie, Robert Auguste Moog and Jean Multon. While being arrested, she shouted warning to fellow resistance operatives: “Beware, friends, the Gestapo is here! ". :260

In her bag, Barbie found an envelope addressed to the Gouze family in Cluny where Albrecht had spent the night. The Gestapo searched the Gouze's house and the couple was interrogated and then released. Returning empty-handed, Barbie locked Albrecht up and tortured her at the Hôtel Terminus, the headquarters of the SIPO-SD in Mâcon.

Burial and legacy Mémorial de la France Combattante at the Fort Mount ValérienIn May 1945, Albrecht's remains were discovered in the Fresnes prison grounds. After the war, the French government decided to erect a Memorial of Fighting France (Mémorial de la France combattante) to those who died fighting in the war. Fifteen heroes of the war were to be buried at Fort Mount Valerien, in Suresnes near Paris. The fifteen were to include a man and a woman who died fighting in the Resistance. On October 29, 1945, the name of Berty Albrecht was drawn from a hat at Mont Valérien. As a result, she had the honor of being buried at Mount Valerien. The re-burial ceremony took place on November 11, 1945. :9-16

Albrecht received several distinctions posthumously': Compagnon de la Libération (she is one of the only six women named to this order) Médaille militaire (posthumous) Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 with Army acknowledgements Officer of the Resistance