Remembering the Selfless Compassion of Suzanne "Suzette" Spaak
In mid-summer, 1942, a series of harrowing reports appeared in British and American newspapers, describing “the round-up of 28,000 French and foreign Jews…”
“Most were taken to the Vélodrome d'Hiver”, one of the articles read, “where food is limited, and there is no sanitation...”
“With the mass arrests ongoing”, another recounted, “suicide, for many, is preferred to internment.”
If indeed she so desired, Belgian-born heiress and socialite, Suzanne "Suzette" Spaak, could well have turned a blind eye…
Instead, she resolved that she’d use her wealth and influence to help save the Jews from their plight.
Having long helped Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Germany, Suzette doubled down on her philanthropy in November 1940, when, five months into the German occupation of her adopted city, she threw herself into helping all spheres of the Jewish community.
Leveraging her tremendous social standing to mobilize the higher echelons of society, she not only raised vast sums for the purchase of everyday supplies but, when the anti-Semitic persecution evolved into a Judeocide, she even persuaded those echelons to transform their homes into safe havens for Jews to hide.
Forever determined to do more, she did so, first, by procuring and delivering counterfeit documentation to Jews at risk of arrest and deportation; and then, by joining the ranks of a clandestine Jewish-led resistance organization.
Never one to shy away from risk or danger, she enthusiastically volunteered to work in an intelligence-gathering capacity, which, in turn, later enabled her to uncover a grim and disturbing discovery…
On learning that orphaned Jewish children were to be deported to the gas chambers, Suzette resolved that she couldn’t stand idle; and so, formulated a daring plan to rescue as many as she could from the planned “resettlement".
Christening her operation, “le Kidnapping”, she enlisted the support of no fewer than 40 Christian and Jewish women, who, posing as “long-lost relatives” of the children, gained access to the orphanages where they were living, and, once inside, smuggle countless numbers away into the arms of selfless Parisians.
Little did Suzette know, however, that her lifesaving activities had caught the attention of the Gestapo, whose officers, following an informant’s tip-off, moved swiftly to apprehend her…
Ultimately found guilty of “harboring Jews and resistors”, she was then transferred to the horrific confines of Fresnes prison where, less than two weeks before the Allied liberation, Suzette was murdered in one final act of senseless sadism.
Honored by Yad Vashem as a posthumous Righteous Gentile, on this day, in 1985, one of her own beloved children – Pilette – said that she didn’t believe her mother “would want to be described as a heroine…”
“Knowing Maman”, Pilette expressed, “I think she’d much rather be remembered as a humanitarian who acted on the emotion that drove her: Compassion.”
Addendum 1: -
An imposing aerial shot of Fresnes prison, where Suzette was held and murdered, aged just 39, on August 12th, 1944.
Located in the southern suburbs of Paris, Fresnes opened its doors in 1898 and, to this day, remains the second-largest penitentiary in France.
Seized by the German Wehrmacht in the summer of 1940, it was then commandeered by the “Geheime Staatspolizei”.
Used by the Gestapo to hold, torture, and murder agents of Great Britain’s “Special Operations Executive”, French resistance fighters, and political prisoners opposed to National Socialist teachings, the killings continued through to the Allied liberation of Fresnes, on August 24th, 1944.
Addendum 2: -
Suzette’s Gestapo executioner – SS-Hauptsturmführer Heinz Pannwitz.
A police detective by profession, Pannwitz transferred to the Gestapo in July 1939.
Assigned to “Unit II g”, responsible for investigating assassinations and sabotage, he was later appointed head of the special commission that investigated the killing of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich.
Then drafted by the Abwehr, and posted to the “Brandenburgh” special forces division, Pannwitz served four months with the “Brandenburgers”, before being recalled to Berlin.
There, he was tasked with unmasking and destroying the clandestine resistance group Suzette joined in 1942 – “Die Rotte Kapelle”.
By the summer of 1943, he’d uncovered and arrested several “Red Orchestra” agents, who, owing to the pressure of “enhanced interrogation”, revealed the identities of Suzette and a number of her comrades.
Although sentenced at the war’s end to 25 years of hard labor in a Russian gulag, Pannwitz was released early, in 1954, and returned to West Germany.
Following stints of employment with West German and American intelligence agencies, he concluded his working life in the city of Ludwigsburg, where, in 1975, Pannwitz died, aged 64, with his wife by his side.
Addendum 3: -
A selection of the harrowing reports that appeared in British and American newspapers, describing “the round-up of 28,000 French and foreign Jews…”
Addendum 4: -
An interactive map charting where the more than 11,000 French Jewish children who were deported to their deaths in the gas chambers between July 1942 and August 1944 hailed from in France.
Created to “show their origins… and bring the Holocaust to life”, the map itself can be accessed here:
http://tetrade.huma-num.fr/Tetrademap_Enfant_France/
Addendum 5: -
In November 1941, the Vichy French government of Marshal Philippe Pétain ordered the dissolution and consolidation of all Jewish-run philanthropic organizations.
Resulting in the creation of the “Union Générale des Israélites de France” (UGIF), the “General Union of French Israelites” existed – on paper – to serve the social welfare needs of Jews and their families.
While its Jewish leadership strove to fulfil that duty, Pétain and his German counterparts used the UGIF not only as a means to isolate and extort the Jewish community, but also, as an insidious tool to register and thus identify Jews for future “resettlement to the east.”
Given French Jewish children under the age of 16 were initially exempt from deportation, the UGIF established several orphanages to care for those who were ruthlessly separated from their parents.
Although lifesaving networks like Suzette’s are known to have saved no fewer than 1,000 orphans who were sent to live in the homes, sadly, they couldn’t rescue all of them.
Tragically, the young boys and girls who can be seen in this photograph were all sent to their deaths in the gas chambers.
Addendum 6: -
Of the no fewer than 40 women Suzette recruited to her lifesaving mission, 25 are said to have been Christian, and the remaining 15 Jewish.
Perhaps best known among them are these two ladies – Protestant social worker, Marcelle Guillemot (left) and the famed Jewish diarist, Hélène Berr (right).
Knowing that Marcelle had long been working with her pastor – Paul Vergara – to provide aid and welfare to beleaguered Jews and their families, Suzette had no doubts that they would be more than willing to help facilitate “le Kidnapping”.
Likewise, with Hélène having long been involved in helping Jewish orphans in the care of the “Union Générale des Israélites de France”, Suzette knew that she too would not only be an enthusiastic volunteer but, that she could mobilize others at the “General Union of French Israelites” to support them.
Although Marcelle and Pastor Vergara were later forced to flee Paris, both survived the war to be honored as Righteous Gentiles.
As for Hélène, both she and her family were sadly deported to Auschwitz, from where, she was sent to Bergen-Belsen.
There, the “French Anne Frank” endured months of horrific slave labor, before falling victim to Typhus on the eve of Belsen’s liberation.
Addendum 7: -
One of the many many selfless Parisians who sheltered Jewish orphans from the Holocaust – Henri Doru.
In addition to his lifesaving work as rescuer of Jewish children, Henri also used his position as a Romanian translator at the German headquarters in Paris to spy for the Allied powers. Honored by General Charles de Gaulle at the war’s end, the latter presented Henri with the French Flag of Resistance for his “heroic service to the Republic.”
Addendum 8: -
Suzette pictured with her “chronically unfaithful” husband, Claude, and the first of their two children – Lucie, fondly known as “Pilette.”
At 14 years of age, Suzette met and fell in love with Claude – a young and aspiring dramatist.
By the age of 20, she’d married and set up home with him; yet, within weeks of marrying him, discovered that he was having multiple affairs.
Rather than divorce Claude, however, Suzette’s love for him was unwavering; and so, “learned to live” with his “constant philandering”.
Notwithstanding his wealth as a member of one of Belgium’s leading political families, Claude enjoyed a life of luxury courtesy of Suzette, whose self-made financier of a father – Louis Lorge – ensured his beloved daughter never had to worry financially.
When Suzette was arrested, Claude made no attempt to petition her release.
Instead, he destroyed all evidence of their marriage; took up residence with one of his many mistresses; and lived the rest of his life enjoying the proceeds of Suzette’s endowment.
Addendum 9: -
Suzette’s children in their later years – Lucie (left) and Paul-Louis (right).
Known fondly as “Pilette” and “Bazou” to their beloved “Maman”, it is worthy of mention the tremendous role both siblings played in assisting Suzette with her lifesaving resistance activities.
Indeed, while Pilette became adept at forging the counterfeit documentation Suzette gave to Jews at risk of arrest and deportation, Bazou did a fearless job of distributing the documents as an undercover courier.
Addendum 10: -
Located in Jerusalem, this memorial stands in blessed memory of the Jewish-led resistance group Suzette belonged to in Paris – the “Rote Kapelle”.
Founded by the Polish-born intelligence officer, Leopold Trepper, the “Red Orchestra” was named as such by his German counterparts, who coined it as a cryptonym for the intelligence cells he built across Western Europe.
Perhaps best known for infiltrating the highest echelons of the Abwehr and the Wehrmacht, Leo’s “orchestra” succeeded in uncovering a wealth of classified information – including the exact date for Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union.
Although Josef Stalin ignored Leo’s repeated warnings, both the “conductor” and his “musicians” not only pressed on with their intelligence gathering but, they even expanded their operations to encompass the rescue of downed Allied airmen, fellow resistance fighters, and Jews fleeing deportation.
Despite their invaluable contribution, sadly, neither Leo nor his surviving operatives were recognized at the war’s end…
Unjustly portrayed as a “band of Jewish Communists” in the West – and even labeled as “traitors” in the East – it is only in recent times that they’ve been hailed for their heroic efforts to defeat National Socialism.