Lise London (1916–2012)

Lise London was born Élisabeth Ricol in France to impoverished Spanish immigrant parents. While in her teens, she joined the French Communist Party and moved to Moscow at age 18. There she met and married Artur London, a Czech-born Jewish intellectual and Communist with whom she would have three children. In 1936, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the couple joined the International Brigades to fight for the Republican side. When the Republic was defeated, they went to Paris, and became leaders of the French Resistance during World War II. In 1942, she was arrested and deported to the Nazi concentrations camps of Ravensbrück and Buchenwald. She survived and after the war, was reunited with her husband and children. They moved to Czechoslovakia, where Artur London joined the Soviet-backed Czech government as deputy foreign minister. However, only a few years later, he fell out of political favor and during the Slánský show trial of 1952, was sentenced to life in prison. He was released in 1956 following Stalin's death and the family returned to Paris. Lise London continued to work for leftist causes and became a writer. With her husband, she wrote L'Aveu (1968; English translation The Confession), which was adapted into a 1970 French film. She also wrote two volumes of memoirs, Mégère de la rue Daguerre (The Shrew of the Rue Daguerre -- for her leading role in the 1942 food riots against the German Occupation), published in 1995, and and Le Printemps des comrades (The Spring of the Comrades, 1996). She was awarded the Legion d'honneur by the French government.