Madeleine Riffaud, French resistance heroine and war correspondent, dies at 100

Madeleine Riffaud, an emblematic figure of the French Resistance, passed away on Wednesday, November 6, at the age of 100, according to La Croix. Her publisher, Dupuis, announced her death on November 6, confirming information from the newspaper L'Humanité. L'Humanité stated, "A heroine has left us. Her legacy: a whole century of struggles." L'Humanité described Madeleine Riffaud as "a character from a novel, with a life woven by struggle, writing, three wars, and a love. A life of crazy intensity, after childhood in the ruins of the Great War, from her first steps in the Resistance to the maquis of South Vietnam."

The political world also paid tribute to her on Wednesday. In a statement, the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati reacted, "I salute the memory of this heroine with admirable and exemplary courage," recalling that Madeleine Riffaud was also a poet and close to Paul Éluard, who published her works. The French government recalled in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that "just a few months ago, she was sharing her testimony about her life and her fight in the Resistance." Left-wing deputy François Ruffin reminded, "Arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, engaged journalist alongside the striking miners of 1948, the Algerians, and the Vietnamese against colonial power: she led a life of struggle for emancipation." Fabien Roussel, the national secretary of the Communist Party, wrote on X, "Like a final gesture of defiance to the fascists of all kinds, whom you fought all your life."

Madeleine Riffaud was born on August 23, 1924, in Arvillers, northern France, in the Somme region. She was the only daughter of schoolteachers. She grew up in the Picardy region, which was still scarred by the horrors of the First World War, and she used to say Picardy was "A veritable graveyard." After the debacle of 1940, Madeleine Riffaud was a student in Paris and was also a midwifery student. As a midwifery student in Paris, she became a liaison officer with her communist comrades from the Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTP) at the medical faculty.

At the age of 16, she joined the Resistance. In 1942, during a stay at a sanatorium near Grenoble, recovering from tuberculosis in the Alps, she first encountered the Resistance. There, she met Dr. Daniel Douady, whom she described as "A wonderful man." She said Dr. Daniel Douady "went to Pétain to feed his patients and set up a clandestine printing works for the Resistance in the basement of his clinic."

She adopted the code name "Rainer" in homage to the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, signifying that she "is not at war against the German people but against the Nazis." The massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane, a village from her youth decimated in June 1944, prompted her to take up arms. In 1944, following the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre on June 10, the FTP Resistance headquarters issued orders for its members to each kill a German.

On July 23, 1944, Madeleine Riffaud assassinated a Nazi officer with two bullets to the head on the Solférino bridge in Paris, executing the order in broad daylight. She later reflected, "I regret, by the way, having killed that man. You are there. You were looking at the Seine. Can one be mean when looking at the Seine? He might have been a nice guy. But that... well, it's war." She was interrogated for three weeks to name the members of her group. Madeleine Riffaud was tortured by the Gestapo but never spoke. She was sentenced to death and incarcerated in Fresnes prison. At the last moment, she was spared execution.

After the Liberation, Madeleine Riffaud was honored by Charles de Gaulle and awarded the Croix de Guerre with distinction. L'Humanité reported that Madeleine Riffaud was a war correspondent for them and covered the wars in Algeria and Vietnam. She became an engaged journalist alongside the striking miners of 1948, the Algerians, and the Vietnamese against colonial power, leading a life of struggle for emancipation.

On August 23, 2024, the day of her 100th birthday, Madeleine Riffaud published the third and final volume of "Madeleine, résistante" (published by Dupuis), her war memoirs in comic book form, illustrated by Dominique Bertail and written by Jean-David Morvan. The comic book was illustrated by Dominique Bertail and written by Jean-David Morvan. Jean-David Morvan paid tribute to her on Facebook by posting a photo of her, aged, posing on a sofa. In a joint statement with translator Éloïse de la Maison and sociologist Philippe Denimal, Jean-David Morvan praised her "formidable talent as a storyteller combined with a keen sense of phrase."

Madeleine Riffaud's legacy spans a century marked by her unwavering commitment to resistance and emancipation. From her early days in the Resistance at the age of 16 to her later years as a war correspondent covering conflicts in Algeria and Vietnam, her life was characterized by courage and dedication. She often volunteered for the most radical and dangerous actions in the Resistance. She adopted the code name "Rainer"—in homage to Rainer Maria Rilke—to signify that she "is not at war against the German people but against the Nazis."

Her experiences during the war left a profound impact on her. Reflecting on her assassination of the Nazi officer, she expressed regret but acknowledged the harsh realities of war. She said, "I regret, by the way, having killed that man. You are there. You were looking at the Seine. Can one be mean when looking at the Seine? He might have been a nice guy. But that... well, it's war."

Sources: La Croix, Elle France, Le Monde

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq