Latest news with #Geneviève
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück's Story of Resistance
A circa 1941 photo of Germaine Tillion, French ethnologist and member of the French resistance. Credit - adoc-photos/Corbis--Getty Images A new book aims to preserve the stories of the prisoners at an all-female Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, who resisted their captors as much as possible. Lynne Olson's The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Female Concentration Camp looks at a labor camp about 50 miles north of Berlin where an estimated 130,000 female inmates were members of resistance movements across Nazi-occupied Europe. They sabotaged any assignments to help with the war effort, hid Polish prisoners who were the subjects of medical experiments, and even wrote and shared an opera to keep their spirits up. For her book, Olson drew on memoirs that the prisoners wrote, past interviews that they conducted, and conversations with their families and the people that knew them. She details horrific conditions in the camp, such as the Nazi officers who hurled scissors at inmates forced to sew Nazi uniforms and the Nazi's so-called doctors who cut open Polish inmates and inserted gangrene bacteria, dirt, and glass into their wounds to see what would happen. As many as 40,000 Ravensbrück inmates died of starvation, disease, torture, shooting, lethal injections, medical experiments, and from lethal gas. Here, Olson discusses the most shocking stories about the all-female Nazi concentration camp. TIME: Why isn't the history of Ravensbrück better known? OLSON: It was liberated by the Soviets, rather than the Americans. When the Soviets liberated camps, there were no Western journalists, so there are no photos, no footage of the liberation of the camp. Ravensbrück was also liberated very late in the game. Most of the other camps had been liberated. There had been so much publicity about the other camps, and then nobody knew anything at all about Ravensbrück. A shocking revelation in the book details how one of the prisoners at Ravensbrück was Geneviève, the niece of Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the French resistance movement and future President of France. Before she got caught by the Gestapo, she was a major figure in persuading resistance leaders that De Gaulle would help lead France out of this horrendous situation that they found themselves in. Geneviève would go around to the various barracks—something that was totally forbidden—and speak to the other French women about him and his plans for France after the war. He gave those women something to believe in and to fight for, to believe that maybe actually they would survive and that France would survive. She was incredibly important in keeping up the spirits of the French women there. What are some of the most surprising stories you learned about what happened in the camp? One of the most horrible ones is the medical experiments that the Nazis conducted on the young Polish prisoners, most of whom were in their late teens and early 20s. He would break their legs and see if they grow back. He inserted bacilli, tetanus and germs [into them], cut their legs to ribbons. Most of them were crippled for the rest of their lives. The records show that basically all of them survived. As the war grew to a close, the Nazis were going to execute all of the survivors of these experiments to do away with the evidence of what they had done. In the last month of the war, Ravensbrück got tens of thousands of women who had been in other camps, and it was not clear exactly who was who, so it was much easier to get away with things. Women dug little caves under the barracks and hid the Poles there. Some [inmates] managed to smuggle the Poles into convoys that were going out. It's fascinating to see that one of the inmates composed an operetta about life in the camp, as her form of resistance. I assume that did not get performed in the camp? That's my favorite story in the entire book. It was written down, and it was circulated among French women. Germaine Tillion came up with it late one night in 1944. At the time that she wrote it, the women of Ravensbrück were beginning to think that they were not going to get liberated, that they were going to get killed before the end of the war. Tillion spent 10 days writing this operetta to boost their spirit—complete with dances, music, and songs that she remembered. Every night after work, she would gather secretly with the French women in her barracks, and she would teach them the songs and the dance. They would sing these songs on their way to work, guarded by German guards. The Germans didn't understand French, and these women would basically be making fun of them as they walked along. More than 60 years later, it was performed in Paris, very close to Germane Tillion's 100th birthday. It was a huge success, and it's being performed to this day, mostly in France, but it's been performed in the US and other countries. Were there any other key ways that these women resisted or stood up to the Nazis in the camp? One of the most important ways was to try not to do anything that would help the Germans in their war effort. They would actually hide to avoid being sent to munitions factories. Those who couldn't get out of it did their best to sabotage whatever they were doing. If they were making parts for guns, they would do their best to make sure that those guns didn't work. They stole supplies. They were constantly trying to come up with ways to defy the Germans. What happened to these women after Ravensbrück was liberated? Germaine Tillion became known as one of the top French intellectuals in France after the war, and Geneviève de Gaulle set up an international organization to help the poor and the homeless. When she saw the poor and the homeless in France after the war, they reminded her of herself and the other inmates in Ravensbrück. Basically, the French overall wanted to forget the war. They wanted to forget the fact that, as a country, France had capitulated to the Germans and then collaborated with the Germans. They didn't really want to face what their country had done. They were determined to make it very clear to the country—and also to the men who were taking credit for the resistance—that women had sought to keep their country free. What did you find in your research that strikes you as particularly timely in 2025? In this evil place that was designed to dehumanize you, these women created this sisterhood and refused to allow that to happen. [The resistance in] Ravensbrück shows the incredible power of individuals when they come together to overcome evil in the worst of situations. Authoritarianism is back, and this book is a lesson: You're not powerless. You're not powerless if you join in the community and work together to do something. Write to Olivia B. Waxman at
Time Magazine
14 hours ago
- General
- Time Magazine
How Women Imprisoned at an All-Female Concentration Camp Resisted the Nazis
A new book aims to preserve the stories of the prisoners at an all-female Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, who resisted their captors as much as possible. Lynne Olson's The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Female Concentration Camp looks at a labor camp about 50 miles north of Berlin where an estimated 130,000 female inmates were members of resistance movements across Nazi-occupied Europe. They sabotaged any assignments to help with the war effort, hid Polish prisoners who were the subjects of medical experiments, and even wrote and shared an opera to keep their spirits up. For her book, Olson drew on memoirs that the prisoners wrote, past interviews that they conducted, and conversations with their families and the people that knew them. She details horrific conditions in the camp, such as the Nazi officers who hurled scissors at inmates forced to sew Nazi uniforms and the Nazi's so-called doctors who cut open Polish inmates and inserted gangrene bacteria, dirt, and glass into their wounds to see what would happen. As many as 40,000 Ravensbrück inmates died of starvation, disease, torture, shooting, lethal injections, medical experiments, and from lethal gas. Here, Olson discusses the most shocking stories about the all-female Nazi concentration camp. TIME: Why isn't the history of Ravensbrück better known? OLSON: It was liberated by the Soviets, rather than the Americans. When the Soviets liberated camps, there were no Western journalists, so there are no photos, no footage of the liberation of the camp. Ravensbrück was also liberated very late in the game. Most of the other camps had been liberated. There had been so much publicity about the other camps, and then nobody knew anything at all about Ravensbrück. A shocking revelation in the book details how one of the prisoners at Ravensbrück was Geneviève, the niece of Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the French resistance movement and future President of France. Before she got caught by the Gestapo, she was a major figure in persuading resistance leaders that De Gaulle would help lead France out of this horrendous situation that they found themselves in. Geneviève would go around to the various barracks—something that was totally forbidden—and speak to the other French women about him and his plans for France after the war. He gave those women something to believe in and to fight for, to believe that maybe actually they would survive and that France would survive. She was incredibly important in keeping up the spirits of the French women there. What are some of the most surprising stories you learned about what happened in the camp? One of the most horrible ones is the medical experiments that the Nazis conducted on the young Polish prisoners, most of whom were in their late teens and early 20s. He would break their legs and see if they grow back. He inserted bacilli, tetanus and germs [into them], cut their legs to ribbons. Most of them were crippled for the rest of their lives. The records show that basically all of them survived. As the war grew to a close, the Nazis were going to execute all of the survivors of these experiments to do away with the evidence of what they had done. In the last month of the war, Ravensbrück got tens of thousands of women who had been in other camps, and it was not clear exactly who was who, so it was much easier to get away with things. Women dug little caves under the barracks and hid the Poles there. Some [inmates] managed to smuggle the Poles into convoys that were going out. It's fascinating to see that one of the inmates composed an operetta about life in the camp, as her form of resistance. I assume that did not get performed in the camp? That's my favorite story in the entire book. It was written down, and it was circulated among French women. Germaine Tillion came up with it late one night in 1944. At the time that she wrote it, the women of Ravensbrück were beginning to think that they were not going to get liberated, that they were going to get killed before the end of the war. Tillion spent 10 days writing this operetta to boost their spirit—complete with dances, music, and songs that she remembered. Every night after work, she would gather secretly with the French women in her barracks, and she would teach them the songs and the dance. They would sing these songs on their way to work, guarded by German guards. The Germans didn't understand French, and these women would basically be making fun of them as they walked along. More than 60 years later, it was performed in Paris, very close to Germane Tillion's 100th birthday. It was a huge success, and it's being performed to this day, mostly in France, but it's been performed in the US and other countries. Were there any other key ways that these women resisted or stood up to the Nazis in the camp? One of the most important ways was to try not to do anything that would help the Germans in their war effort. They would actually hide to avoid being sent to munitions factories. Those who couldn't get out of it did their best to sabotage whatever they were doing. If they were making parts for guns, they would do their best to make sure that those guns didn't work. They stole supplies. They were constantly trying to come up with ways to defy the Germans. What happened to these women after Ravensbrück was liberated? Germaine Tillion became known as one of the top French intellectuals in France after the war, and Geneviève de Gaulle set up an international organization to help the poor and the homeless. When she saw the poor and the homeless in France after the war, they reminded her of herself and the other inmates in Ravensbrück. Basically, the French overall wanted to forget the war. They wanted to forget the fact that, as a country, France had capitulated to the Germans and then collaborated with the Germans. They didn't really want to face what their country had done. They were determined to make it very clear to the country—and also to the men who were taking credit for the resistance—that women had sought to keep their country free. What did you find in your research that strikes you as particularly timely in 2025? In this evil place that was designed to dehumanize you, these women created this sisterhood and refused to allow that to happen. [The resistance in] Ravensbrück shows the incredible power of individuals when they come together to overcome evil in the worst of situations. Authoritarianism is back, and this book is a lesson: You're not powerless. You're not powerless if you join in the community and work together to do something.
South China Morning Post
23-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- South China Morning Post
Where a French chef in Hong Kong eats French-style pastries, pizza and dim sum
Thomas Caro is the executive chef of Rex Wine & Grill, which is now rebranded as a French steakhouse. He spoke to Andrew Sun. I tend to eat in a very polarised way: very regimented and healthy, or purely for pleasure and comfort. Growing up in the French countryside, I remember walking to our village's farm with my dad to buy eggs and milk, and picking cherries, Reine Claude plums – also known as greengages – and apricots at my grandparents'. My grandmother, Geneviève, was an exceptional cook, making classic cuisine bourgeoise – middle-class home cooking – staples every Sunday for lunch. Grandpa Jean, who cultivated my love of food, made endless batches of jam, stored in his basement cellar to be given away during the year. A pizza from Fiata Pizza. Photo: Fiata Pizza Signature dishes at New Punjab Club, where 'everything bursts with flavour'. Photo: Black Sheep Restaurants He would spoil me at brasseries, ordering a whole sole meunière, a classic French fish dish, for my nine-year-old self. Now the only cuisine that makes sense to me in the summer is southern French.
New York Times
25-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
Video Catches Nun Bidding Unique Farewell to Pope Francis, an Old Friend
Before thousands lined up for a momentary glWaimpse of Pope Francis's body and a chance to pay their respects, one elderly nun stood facing the pontiff's coffin, bidding a tearful farewell to her longtime friend. A video captured the last tender moments Sister Geneviève Jeanningros shared with the man with whom she was known to be a confidante. Wearing a modest blue veil over her silver hair, Sister Geneviève stood alone and wept, rubbing her face with her hand. Sister Geneviève is a member of a Catholic religious community called the Little Sisters of Jesus, and she said she became friends with the pontiff while he was serving as the bishop of Buenos Aires. In a video posted by her order, Sister Geneviève said she had chided the church in a letter for not sending senior clergy to the funeral of her aunt, a nun who disappeared in the 1970s during Argentina's military dictatorship and who was later found dead. She said that Pope Francis, who was then known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, had responded by calling her the same evening. Until last year, Sister Geneviève had lived at a fairground outside Rome in a camper, serving the disadvantaged.
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Étoile review – a ballet show that's absolutely not on pointe
At first, Étoile looks as if it's shaping up to be Fame in pointe shoes. One character even knowingly quotes the 'This is where you start paying, in sweat' speech. This would be fine – great, even, because who didn't love the quintessential 80s series about the high-energy kids from New York City's High School of the Performing Legwarmers? The problem is that, as the new venture from Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino progresses, it doesn't seem to be sure what it is. Apart from Whimsical with a capital W, an attitude that rarely works out well for anyone. The setup is simple. Two dance companies – Le Ballet National in Paris and the Metropolitan Ballet Theater in New York City – are struggling after Covid and assorted other modern pressures such as anti-elitist attitudes and everybody's terrible attention spans. So what if they swapped their top dancers and choreographers and launched a huge publicity campaign about it so everyone abandoned YouTube and became interested in ballet instead? The head of the French company, Geneviève (Charlotte Gainsbourg, jarringly unconvincing in her first television role) has already secured funding for the project. All she needs is for her former lover and head of the New York company, Jack (Luke Kirby), to agree, even though the money is coming from a man he despises – arms and chemicals manufacturer Crispin Shamblee (Simon Callow, giving his Four Weddings and a Funeral turn an evil billionaire twist. He's not quite twirling a moustache but it's cringe-inducing nonetheless). But what are peacenik principles when you are a ballet company director who has just had to order ordinary champagne flutes (instead of the preferred etched) for the bar for cost reasons? Jack reluctantly agrees to the swap and they hammer out a deal. 'It must happen! For ballet's sake!' The big draw is star ballerina Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge). She is feisty, of course, and an ecowarrior in her spare time. So furieuse about the swap is she that she turns up at Geneviève's office straight from a protest on a fishing boat to tell her so, even though she is in a trawler's jacket and stinks of le poisson! But there is ballet's sake to be considered, so off she must go. In her stead comes Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo), returning to her native France and the keep of her neglectful parents, one of whom is the minister for culture and delighted to have her back as a ballerina if not as a daughter. Added to the mix is hapless neurotic and choreographer Tobias Bell (Gideon Glick, who provides much of the comedy that works on screen). He is sent from New York to Paris and is paralysed by the lack of Crest toothpaste there, and an unnamed cleaner's unnamed child who practises alone at the Metropolitan at night using videos of classes her mother secretly records during the day. Cheyenne discovers her and a bond is formed, revealing the golden heart under the feisty exterior. Étoile is … fine. It passes the time. But every person seems to be acting in a slightly different show from everyone else, and tonally it falls between any and every possible stool. There is a scattering of jokes per episode but it is not funny enough to be a comedy, not dramatic enough to be a drama (nor, on the basis of a seriously terrible speech Crispin gives to Cheyenne about the need for artists to prevent their humanity 'floating out into the ether', should it go further down this road), or frothy enough to be a soap. Occasionally (see the etched champagne flutes), it seems to be aiming for satire but – perhaps because Sherman-Palladino is a former ballet dancer herself and loves the form – the barbs are blunt. We are clearly meant to root for various characters – especially Cheyenne – but they remain ciphers it is impossible to invest in. De Laâge does a wonderful line in apoplectic fury, but when this is all you do – and when lesser dancers literally cower from you as you march through a studio – it becomes a bit much. And then there are all the bits of bolt-on whimsy, like the bull that is to be used in a production but must not face the principal dancer because of her red costume, which the designer refuses to change. These things strip the show of the easy charm it needs if it is to ape the Palladinos' previous hits. Étoile may be a show about dancers, but it urgently needs to find its feet. Étoile is on Prime Video now
