#15102, Andree GRIOTTERAY

Andrée Griotteray was just 19 when her home city of Paris was invaded by the Germans. She found herself working under occupation alongside the invaders. Unable to stand by and do nothing, her younger brother Alain set up his own resistance network to do whatever he could to defy the Nazis. Andrée risked her life to help him without hesitation.

Whilst working at the Police Headquarters in Paris, she printed and distributed copies of an underground news sheet and stole blank ID cards which were passed on to men and women attempting to escape France. She travelled across the country, picking up and dropping off intelligence ultimately intended for the British and Americans, always fearless in the face of immense pressure. Then, one day she was betrayed and arrested.

The citation for her Croix de guerre with Silver Star awarded in 1945 tells the circumstances of her arrest. While undertaking an important assignment as an agent in occupied France Andrée Griotteray was arrested in Bordeaux on 17th July 1944 by police officers of the occupying forces and questioned for several hours. Displaying an enormous degree of sangfroid and exceptional skill, she managed to talk her way out of the charges being levelled against her and to extract from her accusers, information which allowed her to work out the exact reasons behind her arrest and why her Resistance group had been targeted. She continued to carry out her underground activities uninterrupted until the liberation.

Andrée was also awarded the Médaille de la Résistance and the Légion d’honneur on 8th