At the Château d’Assas, the memory of Simone, a committed woman

Simone Demangel a été une figure de la Résistance.

Marie-Claire Demangel's mother was a heroine of the Resistance. She lived in the castle until her death in 1995.

In this anniversary of the Liberation, the memory of Simone-Thérèse Demangel could be more highlighted. She was one of the first female municipal councilors of Montpellier and a great resistance fighter. When the war broke out, she was alone with her three daughters since her husband Robert was director of the French School of Athens. A nurse, she also studied medicine, which she abandoned to go underground under the name Pauline. She hid refugees, STO draft dodgers, Jews, and made false papers. At night, at the Montpellier train station, she would distribute food to the poor souls crammed into the carriages. Wanted by the Gestapo at the end of 1943, she sent her daughters to Paris and went underground near Lodève. She took great risks by becoming a liaison agent, by bicycle, between Clermont l'Hérault and Montpellier.

Simone would receive the Legion of Honor and the War Cross. Her social and charitable commitment would never cease. In 1985, Midi Libre devoted a portrait to the lady of Assas, a widow since 1952. She declared: “I don't care about comfort! My home is beautiful and I love it. I would like it to remain the rallying point for all my successors.” A wish fulfilled.

I subscribe to read the rest