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Suzanne Spaak's Early Life
Suzanne Spaak was born on July 6, 1905 in Brussels, Belgium. She was born into a wealthy banking family. She then married to a man named Claude Spaak, and he was a filmmaker. They had two children and she also protected other kids when she was helping out in the war. -
Charles Spaak
Charels Spaak was a film maker and was to help Jacques Feyder in some of his films and had to be in some of them. He also worked as head manager in the publicity for the production company Albatros, then went on to write screen plays for Feyders most important films of the 1930´s. Charles was also in demand to work with the leading directors. -
Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul decided to join into politics in 1932 for the Belgian Workers Party and then gained his first minister portfolio in the government of Paul Van Zeeland in 1935. And after working for him for a while he became prime minister of Belgian in 1938 and held that position until 1939. Then during World War 2 he served as a foreign minister in the Belgian government in the exile. -
Suzaane Searching For Hospitals For The Jews
Suzanne saw how badly the jews were suffering and she wanted to help them in some way, so she would look for hospitals that were willing to help them out. She would use her social status to remind those in high society that it is their duty to fight for the persecution of the Jewish people. She typed and passed leaflets that were opposing the Nazis, as she was also working for the Resistance's Underground Intelligence (RUI). -
Suzanne and Her Husband Had Lots Of Money
Suzanne and Claude were so rich, they lived in the same building with famous French novelist Colette. Colette was later given the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Her best work was the novel called Gigi. She was very proud of it and was thinking about making another novel. -
Suzanne Worked As A Courier
Suzanne routinely acted as a courier, concealing a delivery of identity documents or pamphlet warning Jews of the next Nazi round-up. Her upper-crust position apparently also deflected doubts as she employed Jewish refugees as “servants” on their way to finding safe passage out of Europe. -
World War II
When World War II started and the Nazis were taking over Suzanne's life was tore apart. So instead of doing nothing she decided to join the French Resistance to stand up against Hitlers evil regime. The other members of the group doubted her ability to help. She told them " Tell me what to do...so I’ll know that I am serving in the struggle against Nazism.” Suzanne's bravery and heart meant that she was willing to do whatever was needed in order to not have them doubt her and save the children. -
Suzanne Volunteered To Work For The National Movement Against Racism
Everyone who already worked for the National Movement Against Racism did not think that Suzanne would volunteer to help work with them because she was a sophisticated housewife who was used to a high standard of living. When she first started working with them she said " Tell me what to do so I’ll know that I am serving in the struggle against Nazism.” At first she would do simple things like typing, distributing leaflets and shopping. But then she saved the kids that were captured by the Nazis. -
The Red Orchestra
Suzanne Spaak joined the Red Orchestra which was a communist funded intelligence network, founded by a Polish Jew. They collected information from Germany, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Suzanne worked very hard to save the Jewish children who could've been deported to consintration camps scattered across Western Europe. -
Fund-Raiser To Save Jewish Children
Suzanne hated seeing the Jewish children struggle so she decided to do something meaningful for the kids to try and save them. She decided to have a fund-raiser in her small circle of rich friends. Also she had a task to find safe houses for the Jewish children that were struggling when their parents were being deported to concentration camps. The situation got a lot worse after so many parents were being deported and the mass round ups of Jews. -
Suzanne going To Jail But Still Saving The Jewish Children
In October 1943, she was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the prison in Fresnes. Before she was taken away to jail, she had the some time to give the lists of Jewish children and their addresses to an underground comrade, which would save the children, it might not of saved all of the children but it did save a lot of them because the comrade got their names and addresses in time before they were taken away. -
Suzaane Sheltering Some Of The Children To Save Them
In early 1943, preparations for the deportation of Jewish children in UGIF centers became known. Spaak was an active participant in an operation initiated by Pastor Paul Vergara and Marcelle Guillemot that took more than sixty children to safety. She sheltered some of the children in her home until they were all taken to people who wanted to take them in. With her comrades’ help, Spaak took a great risk saving these children and giving them the things they needed. -
Suzanne Heading Back To Brussels For Her Children's Safety
As the Gestapo tightned the net around resistance workers and contacts she decided to had back to Brussels for her children's safety because she doesn't want them to get caught in all of the mess in the world. She went into hiding with her kids. She had " a magical belief in her own invulnerability”. Soon after she was revealed and to the Gestapo and pressure was put on family members to reveal her whereabouts. -
Daring Operation
In early 1943, information concerning the deportation of Jewish children leaked out. As the loving mother of her own two children, Suzanne felt so overwhelmed by the danger facing the Jewish children it affected her personal life. Working very hard to save the lives of these Jewish children about to be sent to the German death camps, she actively participated in a daring operation initiated by Pastor Paul Vergara and Marcelle Guillemot. -
Catholic Church
Suzanne was always worried about the fact that her own kids were safe and the other kids out there were not. She decided to use her roots and culture, to visit a small villages not far from Paris, go to the local Catholic church and ask the village priest to hear her out and then, in the confessional, tell him that she needed to find good homes for Parisian children. In this way she found many addresses where Jewish orphans could be hidden until the end of the War. -
Gestapo Tightens Resistance On Workers
Since the work was getting a lot tighter on the worker Suzanne decided to return back to Brussels with her children for their safety. Going into hiding, she seemed to have “a magical belief in her own invulnerability”. She didn't want to get killed or her children to get hurt that's why she decided to head home.Her name was then revealed to the Gestapo and pressure was put on family members to reveal her whereabouts, so they weren't as safe as they thought. -
Suzanne Going To Prison
Suzanne was arrested and sent to prison in Fresnes prison in Paris. The prisoners testified that she was "unfailingly kind and reassuring.” Given her powerful connections her brother in law was the former Belgian Prime Minister, Paul Henry Spaak both Suzanne and her family circle believed she was being held hostage because of the other arrests and that she would eventually be released. -
Gabrielle Weidner
Gabrielle Weidner lived in France and she had great courage. She decided to help her brother Jean in the French Resistance Act. When she helped her brother in the Act she helped a hundred or more allied airmen.The eight hundred Jews escaped from the Nazis. She then died after being arrested and was sent to a concentration camp. -
Claude Visiting Suzanne´s Cell After She Died
After the liberation of Paris Claude visited his wife’s former cell at Fresnes and saw the amazing collection of inscriptions, 300 in all she had written on the walls during her months of captivity, mined from her memory to sustain her in her isolation. There were quotes from literature and philosophy, including this particularly significant one from Rudyard Kipling: “Where the children are, the mothers should be, so they can watch over them.” It was estimated she saved many children from death. -
Suzanne's Death
On August 12, 1944 Suzanne was taken to the prison courtyard and was shot in the back of the neck, which that was what the Nazis loved to do the most for their methods. No one knows for sure who killed her or why they did it, people say " it was a stupid, administrative mistake”. It wasn't very surprising though because of the chaos that was going on in Paris as the Germans realized they were losing the war. -
Anne Nelson Doing What She Can To Keep Suzanne´s Efforts to Save Children Alive
Anne Nelson has done a great deal of research to bring Suzanne Spaak’s efforts to save French Jewish children. Unfortunately Suzanne’s husband out of selfishness or guilt burned her letters and papers, an act deplored by her two children as they grew up. She remains a somewhat tricky figure, always a “grande dame”, yet determined to move beyond her safe, comfortable existence because as she remarked when the dire situation in Paris had become clear to her, “I´ll faut faire.¨
