Dr. Escudero Lectures on Female Fighters
How the French led the Resistance
Dr. Monique Saigal-Escudero gave a lecture in the Harris Art Gallery on the University of La Verne campus on Wednesday, Oct. 22 on the topic of women fighters in the French resistance. The presentation detailed Saigal-Escudero’s personal experiences as a young child during the Holocaust and the research she has conducted with these influential women. The lecture began with an introduction by Dr. Gerard Lavatori from the honors department, and continued first with Saigal-Escudero’s speech and then a short video presentation of some of the women she has interviewed.
Saigal-Escudero's Early Life
She began by talking about her life as a small child in France. Her father died in the trenches in 1940 during the war, and she was raised by her mother and grandmother. Saigal-Escudero went to live briefly with a family as part of a special month long program organized by the city she grew up in. But on the day she was supposed to return, French police raided her grandmother’s home and sent her to Auschwitz (where she was eventually gassed.) Saigal-Escudero ended up staying with this family for her own safety for eight years. She was baptized and raised as a Catholic to prevent the Nazis from knowing that she was Jewish. Her mother later collected her, but never spoke about what had happened to their family.
Saigal-Escudero moved to Los Angeles a number of years later, where she attended LA City College and then UCLA. Her research into her own heritage as a Jewish woman began after she saw a therapist who specialized in “hidden children.” The therapist said that her troubles stemmed from “still living a hidden life.” After being inspired by a UCLA professor to research the internment camps in France, Saigal-Escudero decided to go on a trip to film the camps near Paris. She wanted to find women who had fought in the resistance movement, because she thought the perspective of women was more interesting and less well-known than talking about men. She also found this topic to be more uplifting than just writing about the Holocaust.
The History of the French Resistance Fighters
Once she started interviewing these women, Saigal-Escudero realized what inspiring stories they had. She spoke to 20 women, and filmed 18 of their interviews. She found out that nine had published books about their experiences. An interesting fact was that most of the women who were involved in the resistance movement were very young—the oldest one at the time was 30, but most were around college-age. Three were married and had children. While six were Jewish, most of the women were Catholic. One of the amazing aspects of their stories is that women in France couldn’t even vote until 1944, so these women were performing brave acts and they didn’t really have a lot of respect until much later. They were “fearless women,” who were encouraged to do the right thing and help people by professors, parents, books, etc. The women interviewed by Saigal-Escudero said that they were not scared of getting caught—many of them said, “When I’m in action, I’m not scared.” These women did numerous things to participate in the resistance movement. They put up stickers, published pamphlets to encourage
others to join the fight, found food for rescued families, and hid people who were in danger, among many other acts of courage.
However, there were many women who were caught, jailed, beaten and tortured in their efforts to help people. There were a total of nine who were in prison. Some of the women who were sent to the camps had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to participate in roll call. They had to perform hard labor, and barely survived being executed. But despite being mentally and physically torn down, many of the women still were able to help the resistance movement while imprisoned. Those who worked in factories helped to slow down production. They used their “inventive spirit” to further the movement’s goals. The most important aspect was that they worked together and used solidarity to combat their enemies and to survive horrific circumstances.
Monique Saigal-Escodero
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