Noëlla Rouget facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Noëlla Rouget
Rouget in 1942/43
Born	Noëlla Poudeau 25 December 1919 Saumur, France
Died	22 November 2020(2020-11-22) (aged 100) Geneva, Switzerland
Nationality	French
Occupation	Resistance member Teacher

Noëlla Rouget (born December 25, 1919 – died November 22, 2020) was a brave French Resistance member and a teacher. She became well-known in the 1980s for sharing her powerful experiences from World War II in Switzerland and parts of France.

Noëlla Rouget's Life Story

Noëlla Rouget was born Noëlla Poudeau in Saumur, France. Her parents were Clément and Marie Poudeau. She had an older brother named Georges. Noëlla went to school at Saint-Laud d'Angers. She was also very active in Scouting with the Girl Guides of France, where she was a leader. She had planned to study literature, but World War II changed everything.

Joining the French Resistance

In 1940, when the Battle of France happened, Noëlla was working as a teacher. She soon learned about Charles de Gaulle's famous "Appeal of 18 June," which called on French people to resist the German occupation.

The city of Angers was taken over by Nazi Germany. Noëlla secretly began to distribute leaflets and underground newspapers. She became a "liaison," which meant she carried important packages, sometimes containing supplies for fighters, to members of the French Resistance. The Resistance was a secret group of people fighting against the German occupation.

Her first contact in the Resistance was René Brossard, who sadly died after being captured. Noëlla joined a Resistance group called Honneur et Patrie. Later, she also joined another secret network called Buckmaster Alexandre Privet. During her Resistance work, she met Adrien Tigeot, a young teacher. They became engaged, but both were arrested in June 1943. Adrien was killed by the Nazis in December 1943. Before he died, he sent Noëlla a letter telling her to "live, to forget, and to love."

Life in the Concentration Camp

On November 9, 1943, Noëlla was sent to the Royallieu-Compiègne internment camp. Then, on January 31, 1944, she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp with nearly 1000 other people. This was a very harsh place where people were held against their will and forced to work. She arrived on February 2 and was given the number 27240.

Noëlla was forced to work 12 hours a day, six days a week. She faced extreme danger but managed to survive thanks to the help of other prisoners. She made friends with several brave women in the camp, including Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Germaine Tillion, and Denise Vernay.

Freedom and Recovery

On April 5, 1945, Noëlla and 300 others were freed. They traveled for four days and arrived in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. A few days later, they reached Annemasse, France. After getting medical help and resting, she took a train back to Paris.

Charles de Gaulle himself greeted the returning prisoners. Noëlla was reunited with her family in Angers. She was very weak, weighing only 32 kg, and had health problems.

During the summer of 1945, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz suggested Noëlla go to Switzerland for medical treatment. She moved to Château-d'Œux and stayed in a special chalet for former prisoners. There, she met André Rouget, who would become her husband. They settled in Geneva and had two sons, Patrick and François. André passed away in 2005.

Breaking the Silence

For a long time, like many survivors of the Holocaust (the terrible events where millions of people were killed by the Nazis), Noëlla did not talk about her experiences.

However, in 1965, she was asked to speak at the trial of Jacques Vasseur. He was the head of the Gestapo (the Nazi secret police) in Angers and was responsible for her first fiancé's death. Vasseur was sentenced to death. But Noëlla, who had found it in her heart to forgive him, asked President De Gaulle to pardon him, which he did.

In the 1980s, when some people started to deny that the Holocaust happened, Noëlla decided to speak out. She sent an open letter to a newspaper in 1986, challenging a schoolteacher who denied the existence of gas chambers. This letter was also published in other magazines.

Noëlla shared her story on a television program in 1987. From then on, she spoke at many schools in Switzerland and France. She often quoted Albert Camus, saying that "Who in this world would respond to the terrible obstinacy of crime if not the obstinacy of testimony." She gave speeches every year on the anniversary of the end of World War II. She also took part in Yom HaShoah, a day to remember the Holocaust. She even went with schoolchildren on trips from Geneva to Auschwitz, a place where many terrible things happened during the Holocaust.

In 2011, Noëlla signed an important document called the Appel de Thorens-Glières, which aimed to remind people of the message of the National Council of the Resistance. In 2013, during a speech at the International School of Geneva, she said, "When I talk to you about the sufferings that we experienced in Ravensbrück, I speak to preach vigilance to the younger generations because if Auschwitz was possible, Auschwitz is possible as long as hatred of others, racism and hatred reign in the world." This powerful message encouraged young people to be aware and fight against hatred.

On June 15, 2016, she helped unveil a special plaque at the chalet where she recovered after the war. In September 2019, a major article about her life and her act of forgiveness was published in the newspaper Le Monde.

Noëlla Rouget passed away in Geneva on November 22, 2020, at the age of 100.

Awards and Honors

Noëlla Rouget received several important awards for her bravery and service:

• Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (1946) - A military honor for bravery.
• Combatant's Cross - Awarded to those who fought for France.
• Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite (2019) - A very high French honor, presented to her in 2020.