Marguerite Bervoets
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Marguerite Bervoets | |
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| Born | 6 March 1914 La Louvière, Belgium |
| Died | 7 August 1944 (aged 30) Wolfenbüttel, Germany |
| Occupation | Resistance Fighter |
| Years active | 1942–1944 |
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Marguerite Bervoets (6 March 1914 – 7 August 1944)[1] was a Belgian poet, teacher and member of the Belgian Resistance during World War II.[2] She was arrested while carrying out resistance work and executed in Wolfenbüttel prison, in Germany.[3]
Marguerite Bervoets was born in La Louvière. She was a graduate in philosophy and literature, and a poet. At the time of the German invasion of Belgium she was working as a teacher in Tournai.[4] After the fall of Belgium to Nazi Germany, Bervoets began publishing the underground resistance paper "La Deliverance".[3] She helped transfer intelligence to the Allied Powers.[5]
On 8 August 1942 Bervoets and another resistance member, Cécile Detournay, went to the edge of Chièvres Airfield for the purpose of photographing newly installed anti-aircraft guns.[3] They were both carrying a shopping bag and a camera, once they reached the edge of the airfield they began to take pictures. A few minutes later a German sentry caught them by surprise and escorted them both to an officer nearby. They both showed their shopping bags and claimed that they were going to a nearby farm to get some food and take pictures of the fields. Unfortunately the German lieutenant ordered an investigation. A woman, a prosecution witness, provided evidence that led to the indictment of Bervoets and the leaders of the group to which she belonged.[5] At Bervoets's house they discovered weapons. She sensed her fate, and in high school she would often quote Maeterlinck, saying; "It is beautiful to when one sacrifices oneself, that sacrifice brings happiness to other men".
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After a few months of incarceration in Mons, Bervoets and Detournay were deported to Germany for their fates to be decided by the Volksgericht (People's Court) of Leer.[3] Bervoets' trial was held on the same day as that of resistance fighter Fernande Volral. Both Bervoets and Volral were sentenced to death, and Detournay to 8 years of forced labour.[5]
Death
Marguerite Bervoets and Fernande Volral were executed by "fallbeil" (German guillotine) on 7 August 1944 in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Cécile Detournay was liberated by US forces on 24 April 1945.[6] Bervoets' family did not learn she had died until July 1945. She is buried in Mons communal cemetery.[3]
