Anne-Marcelle Kahn facts for kids

Anne-Marcelle Kahn, born Schrameck (June 4, 1896 – June 28, 1965), was an amazing French woman. She was the very first French woman engineer to graduate from a big engineering school, the National School of Mines of Saint-Étienne, in 1919.

Later, she married Louis Kahn, who became the first Jewish French Admiral. During World War II, Marcelle showed incredible bravery. She crossed the Pyrenees mountains all by herself with her two young children to find safety.

Early Life

Anne-Marcelle Schrameck was born in Paris, France, on June 4, 1896. Her mother was Marguerite Odile Bernheim. Her father, Abraham Schrameck, was an important person in France. He served as a Minister of the Interior during the Third Republic. Her family was Jewish.

Education and Breaking Barriers

In 1912, Anne-Marcelle started high school. Then, in 1917, she began studying at the National School of Mines of Saint-Étienne. In 1919, she made history! She became the first woman to graduate as an engineer from a major French school. She earned a special diploma to become a civil mining engineer.

Her admission caused a big discussion. Some people thought it was not right for a woman to take the course. This was because students had to work as miners for a while. Many felt this was not suitable for a woman. Because of this, the school changed its rules. They stopped allowing women to study there for 50 years! No other woman became an engineering student in a French mining school until 1968.

Career

After graduating, Anne-Marcelle Schrameck worked for a short time. In 1920, she worked at the Kuhlmann chemical factories in Lorraine.

Family Life

On July 11, 1922, Anne-Marcelle Schrameck married Louis Kahn. He was a marine engineer, meaning he designed and built ships. They got married at the Synagogue de la Victoire in Paris.

The couple lived in different cities like Brest, Saïgon, and Lorient. They had two sons, Pierre, born in 1926, and Jean, born in 1931.

Bravery During World War II

World War II brought many dangers to Anne-Marcelle's family. In July 1940, her father, Abraham Schrameck, voted to give power to Marshal Pétain. This was at the start of the Vichy Republic. But even with this support, Pétain removed him from his position in 1941. Her father was soon arrested and held because he was Jewish. He managed to hide in Provence until France was freed.

On August 15, 1941, Louis Kahn was fired from the Navy. This happened because of new laws against Jewish people. These laws stopped Jewish people from holding government jobs.

The family had to escape separately to stay safe. Louis Kahn tried to escape twice. He finally reached London alone. There, he joined the Free French Naval Forces. These were French forces fighting against the Germans. He became a leader in renewing these forces in Algiers. He was in charge of naval construction from 1943.

Escaping Marseille

Anne-Marcelle Kahn went to Marseille with her two young sons, Pierre and Jean, and her father. This was on June 18, 1940. Marseille was in the "Zone Libre," a part of France not yet controlled by the Germans. But in November 1942, the Germans invaded this free zone.

Marseille became a very dangerous place. The Germans destroyed parts of the city. They also carried out a big police operation called the Marseille roundup in January 1943. The French police helped check the IDs of 40,000 people. Over 2,000 Jewish people were arrested and sent away to dangerous places.

Anne-Marcelle decided to leave Marseille when a 16-year-old friend of her son was arrested. She and her children often slept at friends' houses to be safe. She tried to get new papers with a different name to protect them. The French Resistance, a secret group fighting the Germans, helped her. They gave her a safe place to stay and food. They also made new identity cards for her and her children.

Hiding Near Grenoble

Anne-Marcelle and her sons then traveled to the Alps, near Grenoble. The children stayed in a boarding house for safety. The Resistance continued to provide her with false identity cards.

She received a message from her husband, "Je suis arrivé" (I have arrived). This message from England took a long time to reach her. Louis Kahn had sent it hoping his family would join him in Britain.

Crossing the Pyrenees Mountains

Anne-Marcelle Kahn looked for guides who had helped her husband cross the Pyrenees. But most of them had been arrested. When she found other smugglers, they didn't want to guide young children. They thought her youngest son, Jean, who was only 10, would not be able to make the difficult journey. Her older son, Pierre, was 15.

So, Anne-Marcelle decided to make the journey herself with her two children. This was in October 1943. She used a Scouting compass and special maps of France.

The family crossed the Pyrenees from Perpignan alone in just two days. They took nothing with them. They hoped to look like tourists. It took them nine days to travel from Perpignan to finally reach Casablanca, in Morocco. They even spent three days in prison in Spain after being arrested in Barcelona.

Reaching Safety

Anne-Marcelle Kahn and her two sons arrived in Casablanca on October 22, 1943. On the ship, they met a man who told them Louis Kahn was alive and in Algiers. They had not heard from him for eight months! They then moved to join him in Algiers. Finally, on October 17, 1944, they returned to Paris, where the family settled down.

Later, in 1946, she shared her amazing experiences and journeys during World War II in an interview with David P. Boder.

Death

Anne-Marcelle Kahn passed away on June 28, 1965, in Paris. She was 69 years old.