{{Short description|French decorator, journalist and resistance fighter}} [[File:Suzanne Bertillon dans l'Union nationale des femmes du 1er juin 1945.png|thumb|Suzanne Bertillon (''l'Union nationale des femmes'', 1 June 1945)]] '''Suzanne Bertillon''' (23 June 1891 – 8 October 1980) was a prominent French figure before and during World War II, whose various roles included decorator, journalist, lecturer, and resistance fighter. She was a laureate of the Resistance Medal, the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945, the Cross of the Legion of Honour, and the Medal of Freedom with bronze palm.
==Early life== Suzanne Marguerite Bertillon was born in Paris, 23 June 1891.<ref name="openarchieven">{{cite web |author1=Coret Genealogie |title=Death Suzanne Marguerite Bertillon on October 8, 1980 in Montgeron, Essonne, Île-de-France (France) |url=https://www.openarchieven.nl/ins:d396026c-4f1f-6945-4c0a-fab41903687d/en |website=Open Archives |access-date=28 October 2023 |language=en}}</ref> She was the granddaughter of Louis Bertillon, physician and statistician. She was one of two daughters of Dr. Jacques Bertillon,<ref name="1:frwp">{{cite book |last1=Bertillon |first1=Suzanne |title=Vie d'Alphonse Bertillon : inventeur de l'anthropométrie / Suzanne Bertillon |trans-title=Life of Alphonse Bertillon: inventor of anthropometry / Suzanne Bertillon|year=1941 |publisher=Gallimard |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k33553327/f13.item |access-date=28 October 2023 |language=fr}}</ref> also head of the municipal statistics department of Paris, and his wife, also a physician.<ref name="2:frwp">{{cite web |title=Recherche |trans-title=Research |url=https://www.retronews.fr/search#allTerms=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22&sort=date-desc&publishedBounds=from&indexedBounds=from&page=14&searchIn=all |website=RetroNews - Le site de presse de la BnF |access-date=28 October 2023 |language=fr}}</ref>
==Career== From 1919 onwards, she exhibited her painted and decorated fabrics (clothing and upholstery) in Paris.<ref name="3a:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-humanite/3-decembre-1919/40/1695457/2?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D10%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=232 ''L’Humanité'', 3 December 1919] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref name="3b:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-action-francaise/25-janvier-1922/4/499541/2?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D15%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=352 'L'exposition de Mlle Suzanne Bertillon'] (The exhibition of Miss Suzanne Bertillon), ''L'Action française'', 25 January 1922 {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref name="3c:frwp">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7652807h/f3.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom ''Comoedia''], gallica.bnf.fr, 20 April 1925 {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref name="3d:frwp">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3054590b/f275.item.r=%22Mlle%20Bertillon%22.zoom ''L'Art vivant''], gallica.bnf.fr, 1925 {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref name="4:frwp">[https://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/fr/oeuvre/dalmatique-suzanne-bertillon "Dalmatique, Suzanne Bertillon"] palaisgalliera.paris.fr {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
In 1924, along with her sister Jacqueline, a lawyer, Suzanne appeared on an electoral list led by a woman of letters, Mme. Aurel, at a time when women were not yet entitled to vote.<ref name="5a:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/paris-soir/7-mai-1924/131/97347/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D14%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=332 ''Paris-soir'', 7 May 1924] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref name="5b:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-figaro-1854-/7-mai-1924/104/621647/3?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D9%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=215 ''Le Figaro'', 7 May 1924] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
In the company of young men and women from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts,<ref name="6:frwp">{{cite book |author1=Société bretonne de géographie |title=Bulletin |date=1 October 1932 |page=8 |volume=114 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k122085v/f12.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=1416316;0 |access-date=28 October 2023 |language=fr}}</ref> she traveled to the Soviet Union in the early 1930s, and later recounted her impressions at conferences in France and Switzerland,{{efn|S. Bertillon gave a conference in Nantes and also spoke to the Ukrainian Studies Association.<ref name="7:frwp">Sophie Cœuré, ''La grande lueur à l'Est : les Français et l'Union soviétique (1917-1939)'', Seuil</ref>}}<ref name="8a:frwp">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6247546/f7.item.r=%22Mlle%20Bertillon%22.zoom ''L'Ouest-Eclair'', 18 March 1932] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref name="8b:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-figaro-1854-/21-janvier-1932/104/624773/4?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D8%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=174 ''Le Figaro'', 21 January 1932] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref name="8c:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-debats-politiques-et-litteraires/1-juillet-1932/134/819383/4?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D7%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=155 ''Journal des débats'', 1 July 1932] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> as well as in the right-wing daily ''Le Matin'', in articles published in 1932 entitled "Anticommunistes du monde entier, unissez-vous!"<ref name="9:frwp">{{cite news |title=Le Matin : derniers télégrammes de la nuit |trans-title=Le Matin: last telegrams of the night |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5775442/f1.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom |access-date=28 October 2023 |work=Gallica |date=2 March 1932 |language=fr}}</ref> At the time, she was close to Henri Bourgoin's xenophobic and anti-communist "Association des travailleurs français", opposed to class struggle and Marxism, and spoke at several of its meetings between 1932 and 1934, mentioning in particular her stay in the USSR.<ref name="10:frwp">{{cite news |title=La France ouvrière : organe de défense des travailleurs français |trans-title=Working class France : French workers' defense body |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k980525w/f1.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom |access-date=28 October 2023 |work=Gallica |date=20 January 1933 |language=fr}}</ref> In 1932, she made a violent attack on Léon Blum in the association's periodical, in the name of defending France's security against German pretensions.<ref name="11:frwp">{{cite news |title=La France ouvrière : organe de défense des travailleurs français |trans-title=Working class France : French workers' defense body |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9805234/f1.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom |access-date=28 October 2023 |work=Gallica |date=November 1932 |language=fr}}</ref> The short-lived association was renamed the "Confédération générale des travailleurs français" in 1934, and Bertillon briefly served as its general secretary.<ref name="12:frwp">{{cite news |title=La France ouvrière : organe de défense des travailleurs français |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k980530b/f4.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom |access-date=28 October 2023 |work=Gallica |date=5 August 1934 |language=fr}}</ref>
She traveled to Germany in January and February 1933, when Hitler came to power on January 30, and brought back alarmist impressions and reflections, published in ''Le Matin''. She also gave lectures on her trip.<ref>Frédéric Sallée, ''Sur les chemins de terre brune. Voyages dans l'Allemagne nazie 1933-1939'', Fayard, 2017, pp.|81, 161, 258 {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |language=fr |first=Suzanne |last=Bertillon |title=Allemagne 1933, Une française à la maison brune de Hitler |trans-title=Germany 1933, A French woman at Hitler's brown house |work=Le Matin |date=24 January 1933 |pages=1–2 |url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5778728/f1.item.zoom}} </ref><ref>{{cite news |language=fr |first=Suzanne |last=Bertillon |title=Allemagne 1933, Le Musée allemand |trans-title=Germany 1933, The German Museum |work=Le Matin |date=25 January 1933 |pages=1–2 |url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k577873n/f0.item}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |language=fr |first=Suzanne |last=Bertillon |title=Allemagne 1933, Opulence et chômage à Francfort |trans-title=Germany 1933, Opulence and unemployment in Frankfurt |work=Le Matin |date=27 January 1933 |page=7 |url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k577875d/f7.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=257512;0}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |language=fr |first=Suzanne |last=Bertillon |title=Allemagne 1933, Au cœur de l'ancien royaume de Wurtemberg |trans-title=Germany 1933, In the heart of the former kingdom of Württemberg |work=Le Matin |date=28 January 1933 |pages= |url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k577876s/f7.image.r=%22Suzanne%20Bertillon%22?rk=107296;4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |language=fr |first=Suzanne |last=Bertillon |title=Allemagne 1933, Comment on 'noyaute' l'armée |trans-title=Germany 1933, How the Army is 'Drained' |work=Le Matin |date=5 February 1933 |page=7 |url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k577884c/f1.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=278971;2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |language=fr |first=Suzanne |last=Bertillon |title=Hitler et la politique du sol |trans-title=Hitler and the Land Policy |work=Le Matin |date=3 May 1933 |pages= |url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5779716/f6.item.r=%22Suzanne%20Bertillon%22.zoom}}</ref><ref>[https://www.cairn.info/revue-vingtieme-siecle-revue-d-histoire-2017-1-page-83.htm Saintin (Alexandre), "Des intellectuels français à la rencontre du Duce et du Führer", in ''Vingtième siècle, revue d'histoire'', 2017/1, no. 133] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
Bertillon's two August 1933 articles in ''Le Matin'' on the plight of the famine-stricken Ukrainian people were the first in France to alert readers to the scale of the famine in this Soviet territory.<ref>[https://www.garethjones.org/ukraine2005/Etienne%20Thevenin.pdf Etienne Thévenin, ''France, Allemagne et Autriche face à la famine de 1932-1933 en Ukraine'', conférence of 29 June 2005] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-petit-marseillais/21-mars-1935/437/2663215/7?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D3%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=65 ''Le Petit Marseillais'', 20 March 1935] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-matin/30-aout-1933/66/150129/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D9%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=197 ''Le Matin'', 30 August 1933] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>Marie-Pierre Rey, ''Edouard Herriot et l'Union soviétique'', dans Bruno Benoit (dir.), ''Édouard Herriot en quatre portraits : le Lyonnais, l'humaniste, le politique et l'Européen'', Villeneuve-d'Ascq, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, coll. « Histoire et civilisations », 2020, p. 222 {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>[https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/receo_0338-0599_1999_num_30_1_2954.pdf Peretz (Pauline), ''La Grande Famine ukrainienne de 1932-1933 : essai d'interprétation'', ''Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest'', 1999, 30-1, p. 38] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> She gave lectures on the USSR for the Jeunesses Patriotes in the French provinces.<ref>[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-petit-marseillais/21-mars-1935/437/2663215/7?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D3%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=65 ''Le Petit Marseillais'', 20 March 1935] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
In December 1935 and January 1936, she was the special correspondent in Berlin for another right-wing daily, {{ill|Léon Bailby|fr}}{{'s}} ''Le Jour''.<ref name="26:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/24-decembre-1935/1125/2842633/1 ''Le Jour'', 24 December 1935], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/28-decembre-1935/1125/2842623/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D7%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=155 Ibid., 28 December 1935], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/31-decembre-1935/1125/2842617/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D7%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=153 Ibid., 31 December 1935], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/3-janvier-1936/1125/2842741/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D7%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=151 Ibid., 3 January 1936], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/8-janvier-1936/1125/2842727/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D7%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=149 Ibid., 8 January 1936], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/12-janvier-1936/1125/2842713/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D7%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=147 Ibid., 12 January 1936], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/18-janvier-1936/1125/2842691/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D7%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=144 Ibid., 18 January 1936], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/25-janvier-1936/1125/2842677/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D6%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=141 Ibid., 25 January 1936]</ref> ''Le Matin'' sent Bertillon to Spain after the Popular Front's electoral victory in February 1936. Her anti-communist report was entitled "Spain under the reign of fear".<ref name="27:frwp">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k585217x/f1.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom Bertillon (Suzanne), « L'Espagne sous le règne de la peur », ''Le Matin'', 25 April 1936], [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k585220m/f1.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=622320;4 ''Le Matin'', 28 April 1936], [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5852210/f1.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=386268;0 Ibid., 29 April 1936], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-matin/2-mai-1936/66/185685/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D6%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=124 Ibid., 2 May 1936]</ref><ref name="28:frwp">Dominique Pinsolle, ''Le Matin (1884-1944) - Une presse d'argent et de chantage'', Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2019, p. 244 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> In 1937, she published her reports on Nazi Germany in ''La Revue hebdomadaire''.<ref name="29:frwp">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6560386m/f30.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22 Bertillon (Suzanne), « Les miracles du docteur Schacht», ''La Revue hebdomadaire'', 30 January 1937], [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5733886q/f52.item.r=bertillon Bertillon (Suzanne), « Les prodiges du général Goering », ''La Revue hebdomadaire'', 20 February 1937], [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5732106z/f70.item.r=bertillon Bertillon (Suzanne), « La Tchécoslovaquie, clef de voûte de l'édifice européen», ''La Revue hebdomadaire'', 20 March 1937] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
In 1936, Bertillon received a 15-day suspended prison sentence for incitement to murder, following violent remarks made against members of the government at a conference in Meurthe-et-Moselle.<ref name="30frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-debats-politiques-et-litteraires/9-octobre-1936/134/813205/4?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D5%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=97 ''Journal des débats politiques et littéraires'', 9 October 1936], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/28-novembre-1936/1125/2843235/5?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D4%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=92 ''Le Jour'', 28 November 1936] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> The following year, on appeal, she received a one-month suspended prison sentence for threatening to kill two Popular Front figures, radical-socialist Édouard Herriot and socialist Joseph Paul-Boncour, during a political conference of the Parti National Populaire (the new name for the JP) in Nice in 1936.<ref name="31:frwp">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5856607/f2.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom ''Le Matin'', 14 July 1937], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-action-francaise/13-avril-1937/4/508979/1?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D3%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=57 ''L'Action française'', 13 April 1937], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/13-avril-1937/1125/2843611/5?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D3%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=64 ''Le Jour'', 13 April 1937] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> A member of the French Popular Party (PPF), she took responsibility for her words, and in the party's periodical, accused the Communists and Léon Blum's government of being responsible for her conviction.<ref name="32:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-emancipation-nationale/1-mai-1937/3316/5017636/2?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D3%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=52 ''L'Émancipation nationale'', 1 May 1937] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> She then gave lectures for the PPF,<ref name="33:frwp">{{cite news |language=fr |title=Vie des sections |trans-title=Life of the sections |work= L'Émancipation nationale|date=13 August 1937 |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-emancipation-nationale/13-aout-1937/3316/5017516/6?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D2%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=46 }}</ref><ref name="34:frwp"> {{cite news |language=fr |title=Vie des sections |trans-title=Life of the sections |work= L'Émancipation nationale|date=23 September 1938 |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-emancipation-nationale/23-septembre-1938/3316/5018242/6?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D1%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=9 }}</ref> and for royalist circles in France and Switzerland.<ref name="35:frwp">{{cite news |title= Le congrès des jeunes filles royalistes |trans-title=The Congress of Royalist Young Girls|work=L'Action française |date=2 March 1937 |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-action-francaise/2-mars-1937/4/489537/2?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D4%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=76 }}</ref><ref name="36:frwp">{{cite news |title=La vraie France célèbrée à Genève |trans-title=The real France celebrated in Geneva |work=L'Action française |date=2 November 1937 |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-action-francaise/2-novembre-1937/4/509041/3?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D2%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=43 }}</ref><ref name="37:frwp">{{cite news |title= Au cercle Geneviève Lecomte |trans-title=At the Geneviève Lecomte circle |work=L'Action française |date=22 May 1938 |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-action-francaise/22-mai-1938/4/489777/5?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D2%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=35 }}</ref> In June 1938, this nationalist called for firmness against Germany over the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia question.<ref name="38:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-jour-1933-1944/5-juin-1938/1125/2994801/3?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522suzanne%2520bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D2%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D361&index=34 ''Le Jour'', 5 June 1938] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
===World War II=== In 1941, Bertillon wrote the biography of her uncle, the criminologist, Alphonse Bertillon. In that same year, under the Occupation, Bertillon headed the foreign newspaper censorship department at the Ministry of Information,<ref name="39:frwp">Sonia Purnell, ''La femme de l'ombre'', Alisio, 2021 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> with the support of her uncle René Gillouin.<ref name="40:frwp">{{cite news |title=Suzanne Bertillon; Une résistante méconnue à Vichy entre 1941 et 1944 |trans-title=Suzanne Bertillon; A little-known resistance fighter in Vichy between 1941 and 1944 |work=Bulletin de liaison du Centre International d’Etudes et de Recherches de Vichy |date=January 2021 |language=fr }}</ref> It was in this context that she came into contact with Swiss and American journalists. In particular, she was in contact with Virginia Hall, who, under cover of her status as Vichy correspondent for the ''New York Post'', worked for the British and then American secret services.<ref name="40:frwp" /> In 1943, she founded and ran the Hi-Hi resistance network<ref name="41:frwp">Alain Guérin, ''Chronique de la résistance'', 2010, p. 1640 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> with Louis Marin, a friend of her uncle Alphonse. In the Bouches-du-Rhône region, she turned to her cousins and a friend to organize and recruit in two areas, Marseille and the Rhône delta.<ref name="42:frwp">[https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02364022/file/2018_ANDREO_diff.pdf Marilyne Andréo, ''Sociologie de la Résistance dans le Gard, le Vaucluse et les Bouches-du-Rhône'', doctorate dissertation, Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier III, 2018, p. 548-49] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Her network was also present in Auvergne (Puy-de-Dôme, Allier, and Haute-Loire) and Var.<ref name="43:frwp">Victor Masson, ''La résistance dans le Var, 1940-1944'', 1983, p. 60 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> She came into contact with Edmond Locard, who provided her with information between March and October 1943.{{efn|Frappa Amos, Edmond Locard, and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, 2020:—{{quote|text= « Après avoir rédigé une recension des plus favorables de la biographie de Bertillon, Locard rencontre de nouveau Suzanne pour un tout autre projet : rejoindre le réseau de résistance Hi-Hi. Alors qu’elle travaillait au ministère de l’Information à Vichy, s’occupant de la presse étrangère, la nièce de Bertillon s’était liée d’amitié avec Virginia Hall, la correspondante du New York Post œuvrant en fait pour le S.O.E. britannique. Dès l’invasion de la zone sud, Suzanne avait tenté d’intégrer les services secrets américains. De fil en aiguille, elle s’était ainsi rapprochée de l’ancien sous-préfet Pierre Truc, fondateur du réseau Nouquette en juillet 1940. La chaîne Hi-Hi avait émergé à partir de ce réseau en janvier 1943 avec Suzanne à sa tête. D’ampleur modeste et subordonnée à l’O.S.S. de Barcelone, ses ramifications s’étendaient jusqu’à Toulon. Favorable aux Alliés, Locard accepte donc de fournir des renseignements entre mars et octobre 1943, livrant par exemple des détails sur la flotte furtive allemande naviguant sur le Rhône et la Saône. Se sachant étroitement surveillé par la Gestapo, il conseille à son amie – aux multiples pseudonymes tels que Camille, Oncle Sébastien, Claude Montsoreau ou encore Christine – de cesser ses visites au laboratoire de police, consigne qu’elle respectera jusqu’à la Libération. »
(After writing a most favorable review of Bertillon's biography, Locard meets Suzanne again for a completely different project: joining the Hi-Hi resistance network. While working at the Ministry of Information in Vichy, handling the foreign press, Bertillon's niece had become friends with Virginia Hall, the New York Post correspondent actually working for the S.O.E. British. As soon as the southern zone was invaded, Suzanne tried to join the American secret services. One thing led to another and she became closer to the former sub-prefect Pierre Truc, founder of the Nouquette network in July 1940. The Hi-Hi channel had emerged from this network in January 1943 with Suzanne at its head. Modest in scale and subordinate to the O.S.S. from Barcelona, its ramifications extended as far as Toulon. Favorable to the Allies, Locard therefore agreed to provide information between March and October 1943, providing for example details on the German stealth fleet sailing on the Rhône and the Saône. Knowing he was being closely monitored by the Gestapo, he advised his friend – with multiple pseudonyms such as Camille, Uncle Sébastien, Claude Montsoreau and Christine – to stop her visits to the police laboratory, an instruction that she respected until the Liberation.)}} }}
===Post-war=== After World War II, she collaborated with ''L'Union nationale des femmes''.<ref name="50:frwp">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k45514781/f5.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=42918;4 ''Union nationale des femmes'', July-September 1947] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> She continued to give conferences, for example, in 1950, in favor of the Marshall Plan.<ref name="52:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/la-bourgogne-republicaine/26-juin-1950/1681/3851139/5?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D1%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=0 ''La Bourgogne républicaine'', 26 June 1950], [https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-reveil-economique/15-avril-1950/2247/3317587/2?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D1%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=3 ''Le Réveil économique'', 15 April 1950] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
==Death== Suzanne Bertillon died 8 October 1980, in Montgeron.<ref name="openarchieven" />
==Awards and honours== After the war, she received the Resistance Medal, the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 and the Cross of the Legion of Honour.<ref name="45:frwp">{{cite news |language= fr|title=Récompenses de guerre aux femmes |trans-title=War Rewards for Women |work=Union nationale des femmes |date=November 1945 |via=gallica.bnf |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k45514640/f4.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=107296;4 }}</ref><ref name="46:frwp">{{cite news |language= fr|title=Nos amies à l'honneur |work=Union nationale des femmes |date=January 1946 |via=gallica.bnf |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4551466t/f2.item.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22.zoom }} </ref> In May 1947, like other resistance fighters, she received the Medal of Freedom with bronze palm, awarded by the United States, for exceptional services rendered to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), April 1943 to July 1944.<ref name="47:frwp">{{cite news |language= fr|title=Le général Tate remet la Medal of Freedom à Suzanne Bertillon |trans-title=General Tate presents the Medal of Freedom to Suzanne Bertillon |work=Union nationale des femmes |date=July 1947 |via=gallica.bnf |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k45514781/f5.image.r=%22suzanne%20bertillon%22?rk=42918;4 }}.</ref><ref name="48:frwp">[https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-aube/17-mai-1947/721/2071455/4?from=%2Fsearch%23allTerms%3D%2522Mlle%2520Bertillon%2522%26sort%3Ddate-desc%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26page%3D1%26searchIn%3Dall%26total%3D270&index=5 ''L'Aube'', 17 May 1947 (photograph)]</ref><ref name="49:frwp">[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/45673466.pdf Sylvie Chaperon, ''Le creux de la vague, Mouvements féminins et féminismes 1945-1970'', Thesis, Florence, 1996, pp. 55, 125] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertillon, Suzanne}} Category:1891 births Category:1980 deaths Category:People from Paris Category:French Resistance members Category:20th-century French journalists Category:French women journalists Category:French anti-communists Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Category:Female recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour