Andrée's War (11 page)

As the cold weather approached, Wehrmacht control over the citizens of Paris intensified and food shortages became ever more common. The winter of 1940–1941 was one of the coldest on record, with Parisians freezing without fuel to heat their homes, while also desperately trying to find food. François Clerc, a fit and healthy twenty-year-old member of the Orion Group, lost ten kilos in the four years after the winter of 1940.

In December 1940, Andrée was abruptly moved into a new section of Police Headquarters, referred to as Room 205, ‘confection et renouvellement des cartes d'identités étrangéres', where she became part of a team responsible for renewing identity cards for the many foreigners living in Paris. Among them were a large number of Jews, many of whom had previously escaped persecution in other parts of Europe only to find themselves once again discriminated against in France.

Andrée met her new department head, Monsieur Pouillet, a rather dull but immaculately dressed middle-aged man, who in turn introduced her to Madame Caillé, his seemingly charmless yet (as Andrée was later to find out) warm-hearted assistant. It was she who took Andrée through the detailed running of the department. Preparing the cards appeared straightforward, but Andrée was curious to know why every single detail on every Jew living in Paris was to be recorded: they had special filing cards indicating their name, job, date of birth, occupation, address and their identity cards were to be stamped with a red mark to indicate that they were Jewish. Even more odd, every card was duplicated four times so that they could be crosschecked in different ways. Her new colleagues explained that the updating of these special cards had been ordered by the German commandant of Paris, who wanted immediate access to the whereabouts of all the Jews in the city.

After her first day in Room 205, Andrée returned home and, over dinner, explained to her family the manner in which the Jews were being carefully controlled and watched over by the Paris police force. Alain saw immediately that Andrée's new job might afford the chance to steal some identity cards for future use. Andrée, defiant of authority and keen for any opportunity to outwit the Germans controlling Police Headquarters, thought it was an excellent idea and agreed to see what she could do, much to Edmond and Yvonne's anger and concern for her safety.

Andrée soon began to relax into her new role, partly because she enjoyed meeting the large number of foreigners whose ID cards she had to renew, but also because she enjoyed being with a like-minded group of easy-going, gossipy, giggly, fun-loving girls. But that didn't prevent her from starting to think about whether it might be possible to acquire a few blank ID cards from the cupboard where they were stored. As the weeks moved on, she
observed her colleagues carefully and noted that, although once completed, an ID card was carefully checked and signed off by the department head, the actual number of cards used did not seem to be monitored as carefully. Many were torn up if an error was made or the name or details of the holder were smudged. It was clear that here was the opportunity she had been waiting for.

By the end of December Andrée had started to help herself to a few blank ID cards, discreetly tucking them into her handbag and taking them home to be stored in the cellar before being passed on to her Resistance colleagues. She must have been aware that if she was ever caught there would be trouble, but she was undeterred. After alerting François Clerc that she had successfully taken an ID card, she would be instructed to deposit it a few days later into a particular postbox, from where it would be picked up, filled out and given to someone who wanted to leave the city and needed a false ID card to do so.

Alain, meanwhile, was now actively planning his move into the Free Zone while still trying to recruit new Resistance members into his group. He began to pressure Andrée to recruit colleagues to help with the theft of ID cards and to carry out some of the courier work which would soon be needed. Despite his pleas, Andrée was not ready to take this next step. Openly discussing one's political opinions and attitude to the invading forces within Police Headquarters was not safe and she needed to be far more confident of her colleagues' political views, let alone whether they would participate in Resistance activities.

On 4 December 1940, Andrée wrote in her diary:

I am now working on the first floor of the building. My manager is M. Pouillet. We are responsible for renewing the ID cards for all the foreigners who are living in Paris. We have to keep careful records on these people and everything has to be double-checked. Once I have renewed their permit to remain in France, I do not see these foreigners again.

I work closely with Madame Caillé, the mother of the Deputy Manager, and three other women from the Western Room.
[In 2010 Police Headquarters was still divided into north, south, east and
west sections.]
My colleagues include Marie Thérèse Jeanville, who is somewhat crazy, I like her but she is a flirt, she is tall, dark and rather overweight; Françoise de Boin, a blond girl who is very nice but a bit too fat; and Jacqueline Fresson, who is tall and fair and who I rather like. Today I bought myself a new record, the songs include ‘It's a long way to Tipperary' and ‘God Save the King'. I also bought a Judy Garland record.

On 5 December 1940, she picked up her pen again.

I am at work and here I am writing my diary again. In the last month I have changed departments four times. I will have a very clear understanding of how all these departments work. I am now in office No.205, where I am issuing ID cards again. I wonder how long I will be here? Well, it is probably of no importance.

On the evening of 6 December, Andrée was to join Renée for dinner. Her older sister was anxious to learn about how she was coping at Police Headquarters. She arrived at Renée's flat to be greeted by a long-haired dark Siamese cat rustling up against her feet. As she bent to stroke it, she looked up and saw Renée, who explained that its owners were Jewish and had left Paris, so she had taken the cat in to give it a home.

Andrée loved going to Renée's flat. She always enjoyed her elder sister's company, despite her forthright comments about Andrée's appearance and how she should organise her social life. In line with her sister's eccentric personality, the place had a very theatrical appearance and atmosphere. Her husband, Steve Passeur, had collected over the years an interesting collection of memorabilia, including photographs of the leading actors and actresses of the day. Many of these were framed and hung closely together on the walls, alongside copies of the programmes for the plays he had produced.

Andrée was looking forward to dinner, as Renée always managed to find food, and usually good food at that. As they sat down and Renée placed a salad on the table, she asked her sister how she was coping with her job. Andrée explained that she abhorred the whole set-up on principle, but that
some of what she did she found interesting and she had made a few friends. She mentioned that she had been moved from one department to another without much time to implement the skills she had learnt in each place, which seemed a little odd.

Renée listened carefully before reassuring her sister that she knew Langeron well and that if Andrée was being moved around departments, it would be for a good reason. She felt it was likely that Langeron wanted Andrée to know as much as possible about what went on within the different departments so that she could get to know her colleagues and make herself useful.

On 8 December, Andrée enjoyed a little light relief at a concert, thanks to her sister. She loved music and was grateful for any opportunity for escape.

Renée managed to obtain some tickets for Beethoven's
La Messe solennelle [the
Missa Solemnis
]. It was simply wonderful. Monsieur Leclercq was in the audience.

By January 1941, the Wehrmacht had been in Paris for over six months and no Parisian was in any doubt about the meaning of occupation. Andrée had been working at Police Headquarters for over a year and knew her way around pretty thoroughly. She was trusted with full access to the ID card supply and was allowed to request further supplies from an orderly who would deliver them directly to her office.

Some of her colleagues were aware that she had been brought into Police Headquarters by Roger Langeron, but she never referred to it and since the unsuccessful attempt in getting the police archives out of Paris, many of the staff at Police Headquarters had been careful not to be seen to be too closely associated with anyone who knew him well.

Neither she nor Alain ever told me how long they went on producing copies of
La France
, though it is unlikely that it would have continued after Alain left Paris. Possibly Andrée was still typing and printing copies of
La France
in early 1941, or perhaps it came to an earlier end. She looked back on the risks she took in working on the news-sheet with pride though: in later years she often spoke about the irony of working with members of the German military at the heart of Police Headquarters with no one ever noticing what she was actually doing.

On 1 February 1941, Andrée was moved to the Passport Department, as she described in her diary entry for that day:

I am now working in the Passport Department, where I have taken over from a woman who was responsible for those VIPs sent to us by the Head of Police who needed their passports renewed. She must have had a serious disagreement with the Germans. Monsieur Redon attempted to build up my confidence by saying that they needed a sophisticated and intelligent person to do this demanding job. Monsieur Leclercq is the manager. He is very intimidating, but I will not allow myself to be intimidated. It is going to be difficult getting around the building to see my friends and I am having trouble getting to the Copying Department, but I will now know how to prepare passports and I will have access to them.

In stark contrast to her former gusto, however, by 3 February 1941 she was beginning to feel very low:

The first day in my new job here was a nightmare, the second was like being in hell. I have never been so depressed in my life. I am alone in my new office. Monsieur Redon has moved Madmoiselle Laederich to another department, which means I am totally alone preparing passports. Luckily there are two or three really charming women I can call on if I need some help.

Not even her then-boyfriend Raymond could cheer her up:

Raymond wants to go to Tilleuls for the weekend, an auberge in
Bourgurail. I am not sure how I could explain this to Maman, so I had better forget about going away with him.

Still, the weather had its upsides:

Monsieur Leclercq is not coming in to work today. There is too much snow and he cannot get beyond St Cloud. I am delighted as I will be able to leave my office and move around the building.

Andrée herself had not had much trouble getting to work that morning, despite the heavy snowfall during the night. In central Paris the roads and pavements had been cleared and the
métro
was running. Knowing that Monsieur Leclercq would not be at work, Andrée took the chance to return to the different departments she had worked in and talk to her former colleagues. On a sudden whim, she went into the ‘Foreigners Department' and started to look through the files she had made on some of the Jews who had had to register their presence at Police Headquarters. She took out the files of three Jewish families, made a note of their names and addresses and then replaced the files in the drawers. Without quite knowing why, she had a feeling she might be able to help them one day.

One of her former colleagues, Clotilde, was sitting working at her desk but appeared to take no notice of what she was doing. Had Andrée been asked any questions, she might have backtracked quickly, but fortunately no one did. Andrée was well aware there was a difference between people who were actively prepared to work for the Resistance and those who were part of the passive resistance, who chose to ignore what was going on around them. Andrée decided to stop and chat to Clotilde and started talking about a Charles Trenet concert she had been to a couple of days previously at l'Olympia. Trenet had just released a new record and one of its songs, ‘La Mer', based on a Debussy piece, was proving highly popular. Clotilde was also a fan and they had a friendly conversation about Trenet while Andrée wondered whether she could trust her.

Before leaving the office, Andrée took a calculated risk. She moved towards the ID card cupboard and took out a couple of blank cards. Calmly
she said to Clotilde, ‘
Au revoir, à bientôt
.' Then she walked out of the room and back to her office.

4 February 1941
I am so bored. I have some work to do but there is not very much. This morning I prepared a passport and a visa which was checked by Monsieur Leclercq who made sure I had not made any mistakes. He congratulated me and said I had done everything without a single mistake. But for how long are things going to be all right? He is always so very bad tempered.

6 February 1941
It is 11.00 and Monsieur Leclercq is not here. He has a meeting with the Germans. I have some time to myself. He won't be back until lunchtime.

As Monsieur Leclercq was not around once again and Andrée had time on her hands, she thought she would return to the Foreigners' Department to see if she could get some more cards.

Clotilde was at her desk again and, as Andrée walked in, she stood up and formally shook her by the hand. Clotilde then began to talk about a play she had seen the previous evening at the Théâtre de Montparnasse – a new production of
Marie Stuart
. While showing her interest in the play, Andrée moved towards the cupboard again. This time Clotilde didn't ignore it. Instead, she warned Andrée to be careful, telling her that if the odd card disappeared no one would notice, but if she continued helping herself to them on such a regular basis someone might become suspicious and that she, Clotilde, might be in trouble. It was the first time any of her colleagues had openly acknowledged what was going on.