Louise Thuliez

Louise Thuliez (12 December 1881–10 October 1966) was a French school teacher, resistance fighter during World War I and World War II and author.

Louise Thuliez
Born(1881-12-12)December 12, 1881
Preux-au-Bois, France
DiedOctober 10, 1966(1966-10-10) (aged 84)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationSchool teacher, resistance fighter and author

Life and career

Thuliez was born in Preux-au-Bois, northern France, on 12 December, 1881.[1]

When World War I broke out, Thuliez was working as a teacher in Saint-Waast-la Vallée. She then became part of an underground network that helped allied soldiers who were trapped behind enemy lines to get out of Belgium and into Holland. She worked closely with Edith Cavell, Philippe Baucq and Princess Marie of Croÿ.[2]

By the time German authorities closed in on the network, they had rescued around 200 soldiers.[3] Thuliez was the first to be arrested, along with Philippe Baucq on 31 July 1915. She was sentenced to death by German court martial[4] but the sentence was later reduced to life in prison due to the intervention of Alfonso XIII of Spain.[2] She was imprisoned in Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels and released on 8 November, 1918.[1]

Thuliez published a book in 1933[5] on her experiences in prison called, Condemned to Death which won a Montyon Prize in 1935.[6]

Thuliez worked with Princess Marie de Croÿ again during World War II. Thuliez helped Allied soldiers escape from the Auvergne region of occupied France while de Croÿ hid soldiers in a château in Bellignies.[7]

She died in Paris on 10 October, 1966.[1] In 1970, a statue of Thuliez was erected in Preux-au-Bois and a street in Paris was named after her in 1974.[2]

References
  1. "Louise Thuliez (1881-1966)". data.bnf.fr. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  2. Anderson, John; Pluk, Victor (2015). Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: Accounts of British Soldiers and their Protectors in the Great War. Pen and Sword. p. 50. ISBN 9781473874084.
  3. "Edith Cavell - English nurse". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  4. Macgregor, Jim; Docherty, Gerry (2018). Prolonging the Agony: How The Anglo-American Establishment Deliberately Extended WWI by Three-and-a-Half Years. TrineDay. ISBN 9781634241571.
  5. Tame, Peter; Jeannerod, Dominique; Bragança, Manuel (2014). Mnemosyne and Mars: Artistic and Cultural Representations of Twentieth-century Europe at War. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 153. ISBN 9781443855860.
  6. "Louise THULIEZ". www.academie-francaise.fr (in French). Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  7. Souhami, Diana (2011). Edith Cavell: Nurse, Martyr, Heroine. Quercus. ISBN 9781849166805.
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