Madeleine Riffaud was a journalist and fighter with the French Resistance in World War II, refusing to bow to the Nazis despite capture and torture.
- Died: November 6, 2024 (Who else died on November 6?)
- Details of death: Died in Paris at the age of 100.
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Madeleine Riffaud’s legacy
Riffaud was 15 years old when World War II officially began. Two years later, after being kicked by a Nazi officer, she decided to go to Paris and fight with the French Resistance. Taking on the codename Rainer, she soon was taking part in special operations, helping acquire guns, recruit fellow Resistance members and capture German Wehrmacht soldiers.
In July 1944, Riffaud was turned in to the Gestapo after she shot a Nazi officer twice in the left temple, killing him instantly. Still a teenager, Riffaud was tortured with beatings and electric shock by the fascist forces, who hoped to get information from her about the Resistance. She did not give in, and weeks later, she was released in a prisoner exchange.
The end of WWII did not mean the end of her resistance. Riffaud became a journalist and war correspondent covering the Algerian War, and she covered France’s war efforts in Vietnam. She eventually settled in with the Viet Cong, for seven years chronicling their efforts to fight the South Vietnamese and U.S. forces from the inside.
When Riffaud finally returned from covering warfare, she worked as a nursing assistant in a French hospital, and she turned her attention to poetry. She chronicled her life and times in a number of books, including “In North Vietnam: Written Under the Bombs,” “Night Linens,” about her time in nursing; “On l’appelait Rainer,” about her time in the French Resistance; a three-part comic adaptation of her memoirs, “Madeleine, résistante,” and many books of poetry, one of them containing a sketch of her by Pablo Picasso.
She was awarded the French National Order of Merit in 2013 and other honors.
Notable quote
“When I’m underground, I’d like people to say that I’ve been a resistance fighter all my life. And a poet too! And that’s it. That’s all.” — 2023 interview
Tributes to Madeleine Riffaud
Full obituary: The Washington Post
