Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabo, G.C., M.B.E., CdG (June 26, 1921 – c.February 5, 1945) was a World War II secret agent. Her wartime activities in Occupied France were dramatised in the film Carve Her Name with Pride, based on the book of the same name by R.J. Minney. During her time in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) she met Leo Marks, who gave her what is now thought of as the definitive World War II code-poem The Life That I Have.
She was born Violette Bushell in Paris, France to a French mother and an English father. In 1940, Violette married Etienne Szabo, a French officer of Hungarian descent. Shortly after the birth of their only child, Tania, in 1942, he was killed at the Battle of El Alamein. This was the event that caused Violette to offer her services to the SOE.
After a series of searching interviews she was inducted into SOE, and recieved intensive training in navigation, weapons, unarmed combat, demolitions, communications and cryptography. An minor accident during parachute training delayed her deployment into the field until 5 April 1944 when she was parachuted into France, near Cherbourg. Code-named "Louise" she reorganized a resistance network that had been smashed by the Germans leading them in sabotaging bridges, while her reports to SOE headquarters on the factories producing war materials for the Germans were extremely important to establish bombing targets. She returned to England by Lysander on 30 April.
She was sent back to Limoges in France on 7 June, 1944, where she coordinated the local Maquis in sabotaging German communication lines. She was captured by German soldiers, most likely from the 1st Battalion of the Deutschland Regiment, around mid-day on 10 June, 1944, near Salon-la-Tour, while they were searching for one of their missing officers. In R.J. Minney's biography, she is described as putting up fierce resistance with her Sten gun. German documents of the incident record no injuries or casualties to German soldiers.
She was transferred to the custody of the SD in Limoges where she was interrogated under torture, then in late August 1944 was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp where she was forced into hard labour and suffered terribly from malnutrition and exhaustion. Violette Szabo was executed on or about February 5, 1945 and her body disposed of in the crematorium. She was 23 years old. Three other female members of the SOE were also executed at Ravensbrück: Denise Bloch, Cecily Lefort, and Lilian Rolfe.
Szabo was the second woman [1] to be awarded the George Cross; this was awarded posthumously on December 7 1946. The Croix de Guerre was awarded by the French government in 1947. As one of the SOE agents who died for the liberation of France, Sub-Lieutenant Szabo is listed on the "Roll of Honor" on the Valençay SOE Memorial in the town of Valençay, in the Indre département.
The Violette Szabo GC Museum is in "Cartref", Tump Lane, Wormelow Tump, Herefordshire, HR2 8HN, England.
The Royal College of Music offers an annual award called Violette Szabo GC Memoriam Prize for pianists who accompany singers. The current holder is James Southall.
References
- Minney, RJ. Carve her Name with Pride: The Story of Violette Szabo. Newnes, 1956.
- Ottaway, Susan. Violette Szabo: The Life That I Have. Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2003. ISBN 085052976X