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Denise Vernay
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Denise Vernay
Denise Vernay-Jacob (21 June 1924 – 4 March 2013) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II, who operated under the aliases of "Miarka" and "Annie" from 1941. She narrowly avoided the March 1944 roundup of Jews in Nice, France which resulted in the deportation of her parents to Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland. Captured less than three months later, she survived torture by the Gestapo and imprisonment at two Nazi concentration camps – Ravensbrück and Mauthausen. She was rescued by the Red Cross in April 1945 and returned home to France at the conclusion of the war.
Although her sisters, Madeleine and Simone, survived imprisonment elsewhere, their parents and brother did not. Vernay-Jacob helped to establish the Fondation de la Résistance to provide support to survivors of the war and honor the memories of those who had perished – efforts which she continued to support throughout her life. Her sister Simone Veil became the first president of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah. Vernay-Jacob was honored with multiple awards for her valor.
Born in Paris, France, on 21 June 1924 as Denise Jacob, she was a daughter of French Jewish architect André Jacob and his wife, Yvonne Jacob (née Steinmetz), who had given up her chemistry studies to begin her family. The second of four children, she moved with her parents and sister, Madeleine (born in 1922 and also known as "Snowy"), to Nice later in 1924 after her father received a promising business offer. Her younger brother, Jean, and sister, Simone Annie Liline, were born in 1925 and on 13 July 1927, respectively.
The family's financial situation changed, however, as the Great Depression took hold across France in 1931. By 1932, their parents made the decision to exchange the family's villa for an apartment in Nice.
The Fall of France in the summer of 1940 led to the arrival of the Gestapo in Nice on September 9 and the enactment that autumn of the law on the status of Jews by the French Vichy Government. These events made daily life even more precarious for the Jacob family. The October 1940 Statut prepared by Raphaël Alibert "embraced the definition of a Jew established in the Nuremberg Laws", and deprived Jewish people of their civil rights, including the right to work. As a result, Andrè Jacob lost his job. Sixteen-year-old Denise became a mathematics tutor to help support her family. She also became more involved in the Girl Scouts, a source of freedom and hope for her – as well as the source of her nickname, "Miarka," the pseudonym she would initially use as a courier for the French Resistance.
Our mother was the soul of the house. Family, school and scouting were the three centres of our lives, which weren’t easy but so full of tenderness, friendship and different activities. The war broke out in September 1939. In May 1940 came the German invasion, the flow of refugees, the rout of our troops even though some of them were valiantly grouped together at certain defence sites, the debacle, Pétain’s quavering voice, the armistice, occupation and collaboration. I refused to believe that it was final, that our British allies had become our enemies overnight.
In 1941, Denise Jacob performed her first acts of resistance, distributing anti-fascist educational materials and listening to BBC Radio for news of the war, an activity which had been outlawed by the Vichy Government. The 17-year-old high school student then relayed that news to her teachers and classmates by posting it on blackboards at her school. While she was away at a cheerleading camp in September 1943, she received word from her family that it was too dangerous for her to return home to Nice, so she moved to a friend's home in Isère.
During autumn 1943, Denise, now 19 years old, was encouraged to become a full-fledged member of the French Resistance by joining one of its cells in Lyon. Adopting her old scouting nickname, she entered the underground movement as "Miarka", received training, and then began clandestinely transporting resistance messages by bicycle. After seven months of this work, she was urged to leave Lyon for safety reasons.
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Denise Vernay
Denise Vernay-Jacob (21 June 1924 – 4 March 2013) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II, who operated under the aliases of "Miarka" and "Annie" from 1941. She narrowly avoided the March 1944 roundup of Jews in Nice, France which resulted in the deportation of her parents to Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland. Captured less than three months later, she survived torture by the Gestapo and imprisonment at two Nazi concentration camps – Ravensbrück and Mauthausen. She was rescued by the Red Cross in April 1945 and returned home to France at the conclusion of the war.
Although her sisters, Madeleine and Simone, survived imprisonment elsewhere, their parents and brother did not. Vernay-Jacob helped to establish the Fondation de la Résistance to provide support to survivors of the war and honor the memories of those who had perished – efforts which she continued to support throughout her life. Her sister Simone Veil became the first president of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah. Vernay-Jacob was honored with multiple awards for her valor.
Born in Paris, France, on 21 June 1924 as Denise Jacob, she was a daughter of French Jewish architect André Jacob and his wife, Yvonne Jacob (née Steinmetz), who had given up her chemistry studies to begin her family. The second of four children, she moved with her parents and sister, Madeleine (born in 1922 and also known as "Snowy"), to Nice later in 1924 after her father received a promising business offer. Her younger brother, Jean, and sister, Simone Annie Liline, were born in 1925 and on 13 July 1927, respectively.
The family's financial situation changed, however, as the Great Depression took hold across France in 1931. By 1932, their parents made the decision to exchange the family's villa for an apartment in Nice.
The Fall of France in the summer of 1940 led to the arrival of the Gestapo in Nice on September 9 and the enactment that autumn of the law on the status of Jews by the French Vichy Government. These events made daily life even more precarious for the Jacob family. The October 1940 Statut prepared by Raphaël Alibert "embraced the definition of a Jew established in the Nuremberg Laws", and deprived Jewish people of their civil rights, including the right to work. As a result, Andrè Jacob lost his job. Sixteen-year-old Denise became a mathematics tutor to help support her family. She also became more involved in the Girl Scouts, a source of freedom and hope for her – as well as the source of her nickname, "Miarka," the pseudonym she would initially use as a courier for the French Resistance.
Our mother was the soul of the house. Family, school and scouting were the three centres of our lives, which weren’t easy but so full of tenderness, friendship and different activities. The war broke out in September 1939. In May 1940 came the German invasion, the flow of refugees, the rout of our troops even though some of them were valiantly grouped together at certain defence sites, the debacle, Pétain’s quavering voice, the armistice, occupation and collaboration. I refused to believe that it was final, that our British allies had become our enemies overnight.
In 1941, Denise Jacob performed her first acts of resistance, distributing anti-fascist educational materials and listening to BBC Radio for news of the war, an activity which had been outlawed by the Vichy Government. The 17-year-old high school student then relayed that news to her teachers and classmates by posting it on blackboards at her school. While she was away at a cheerleading camp in September 1943, she received word from her family that it was too dangerous for her to return home to Nice, so she moved to a friend's home in Isère.
During autumn 1943, Denise, now 19 years old, was encouraged to become a full-fledged member of the French Resistance by joining one of its cells in Lyon. Adopting her old scouting nickname, she entered the underground movement as "Miarka", received training, and then began clandestinely transporting resistance messages by bicycle. After seven months of this work, she was urged to leave Lyon for safety reasons.
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