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An anthropologist, Tillion was studying the Berbers in Algeria when Germany invaded France in World War II. She returned to Paris to help organize the French Resistance. She was betrayed by a priest and arrested by the Nazis. Sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, she was the only one of the organizers of her cell to survive. While living in the camp, she taught other prisoners history, and wrote a plan to reform education in France after the war. In the 1950s, Saadi Yacef, the leader of Algeria's National Liberation Front, asked Tillion to intercede in its war of independence against France. She worked to ensure France didn't let Algeria wallow in poverty, and fought against France's use of torture of Algerian prisoners, comparing it to "specters of the Gestapo." In return, Yacef ordered his troops to stand down, which they did until he was overthrown. Tillion was one of only five women to receive the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. She died April 19 at her home in France. She was 100. From This is True for 20 April 2008 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Jacques Lusseyran List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $11.16 Editorial Review: Selected as one of USA Today’s 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century, this astonishing autobiography tells the gripping, heroic story of the early life of Jacques Lusseyran, an inspiring individual who overcame the limitations of physical blindness by attending — literally — to the light within his own mind. Through faith in the connection between vivid inner sight and outer events, he became a leader in the French Resistance and survived the horrors at Buchenwald.  By: Albert Camus List Price: $13.95 Amazon Price: $11.16  By: USAF (Ret.), Col. Steve N. Pisanos List Price: $34.95 Amazon Price: $22.72 Editorial Review: Steve N. Pisanos’s The Flying Greek is both the classic tale of an immigrant’s bond with America and an aerial adventure. When young Pisanos arrived in the U.S. in 1938, he worked, studied English, and learned to fly. He earned a private pilot’s license in 1941, and soon after Germany invaded Greece, he volunteered for the embattled British Royal Air Force. He served with the 268 and 71 Eagle Squadrons. The 71 Eagle Squadron was one of three Eagle squadrons comprised of U.S. volunteers. In 1942, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen while in London, England. He was the first individual in American history to become a citizen while outside the U.S. border, and his becoming a citizen allowed him to be commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces. In riveting detail, Pisanos recounts his combat record, from fighter sweeps and bomber escort missions to dogfighting, flying the Spitfire, the P-47, and the P-51. While flying a P-47 named Miss Plainfield, he scored his first aerial victory on May 21, 1943. By January 1, 1944, he had become an ace. After his tenth confirmed kill, he crash-landed his P-51 in France and spent six months with the French Resistance, successfully evading capture. Because of his exposure to the French operations, the Air Force could not risk his capture again, so he returned to the U.S. and became a test pilot at Wright Field where he also attended the Air Force’s test pilot school. Despite grave danger, Pisanos set aside his pride, fears, and misgivings to help achieve a greater good. The Flying Greek is an entertaining and remarkable journey that will interest historians and aviation enthusiasts.  By: Judy Litoff List Price: $16.95 Amazon Price: $11.86 Editorial Review: This fascinating book tells the remarkable story of an ordinary American woman’s heroism in the French Resistance. Virginia Roush fell in love with Philippe d’Albert-Lake during a visit to France in 1936; they married soon after. In 1943, they both joined the Resistance, where Virginia put her life in jeopardy as she sheltered downed airmen and later survived a Nazi prison camp. After the war, she stayed in France with Philippe, and was awarded the Légion d’Honneur and the Medal of Honor. She died in 1997.Judy Barrett Litoff brings together two rare documents—Virginia’s diary of wartime France until her capture in 1944 and her prison memoir written immediately after the war. Masterfully edited, they convey the compassion and toughness of a nearly forgotten heroine as they provide an invaluable record of the workings of the Resistance by one of the very few American women who participated in it.“An indelible portrait of extraordinary strength of character . . . [D’Albert-Lake] is sombre, reflective, and attentive to every detail.”—The New Yorker “A sharply etched and moving story of love, companionship, commitment, and sacrifice. . . . This beautifully edited diary and memoir throw an original light on the French Resistance.”—Robert Gildea, author of Marianne in Chains: In Search of the German Occupation, 1940-1945 “At once a stunning self-portrait and dramatic narrative of a valorous young American woman . . . an exciting and gripping story, one of the best of the many wartime tales.” —Walter Cronkite“An enthralling tale which brims with brave airmen and plucky heroines.”—David Kirby, St. Petersburg Times  By: Terry Crowdy List Price: $17.95 Amazon Price: $12.21 Editorial Review: French Resistance Fighter |
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