GÉGÉ ON NOIRMONTIER
Gégé’s family owned a house on the Île de Noirmontier in the Atlantic just off the coast of France near St. Nazaire where the Nazi submarine base was located.
She spent one summer there during the German occupation with her sister. She and her sister would often take a small canoe into the surf and out into the ocean in front of their house. (more…)
HUNGER
Gégé lived with her parents in a fashionable district of Paris and employed a full time cook throughout the German occupation. The cook was a short, thin middle aged lady who was very dependable and did all to provide meals for the family of Gégé, her parents, a brother and two sisters.
She would go to the markets and shops with all the family’s ration cards very early in the morning to be sure that she could get something of whatever was available. The rationed goods often were sold out early in the day and were unavailable even with ration cards.
They trusted this woman completely, but one day, after two years into the occupation, Gégé’s mother found small amounts of food hidden in the back of the oven. The cook had taken tiny portions from each amount she was able to purchase to take to her own family.
Gégé’s mother was incensed and wanted to fire the cook. But Gégé’s father calmed her down. “This is what hunger can do to a person. She is a good woman was providing a little extra for her family. We must forgive her.”
They kept their cook who stayed with them until long after the Germans were gone.
FRENCH POWs RETURN TO PARIS
At the end of WW 2, in June and July of 1945, the French soldiers held by the Germans as prisoners of war for four years were sent to their hometowns in France.
Gégé Smith volunteered to help get them ready to return to their families and civilian life. She was a tiny, nineteen-year-old, and not afraid of anything. Otherwise she would have refused the job she was assigned to.
In Paris, a large building was set up to process them. The men were made to discard all clothing and take a shower. Gégé was given the task of standing just outside the group shower door as the men came through for the next station where they would get new clothing.
As each completely naked soldier went by her, she made them put powder on their head and genitals. She assumed this was to kill any lice remaining in their hair.
She must have seen more naked men than any woman in France. But after two months, she asked to be transferred to a new job. She had seen enough.
Gégé Smith lived with her Aunt in southern France near Bordeaux during the second year of German occupation.
French men who became 21 years old would be subject to a German draft to be taken to Germany to work in a factory or in a French coal mine.
Gégé was recruited to go to a nearby village, outside Bergerac, to pick up some forged IDs for some of the local boys. These papers showed a later birthdate so they could avoid being drafted.
As she rode her bicycle back to her Aunt’s villa, she had to pass check points and German soldiers. She looked much younger than her age of sixteen because she was short and very thin. So the Germans didn’t even ask for her papers and waved her through.
If they had searched her and found the forged documents, she would have been tortured, and forced to tell where she got the false papers. Then they would have shot her or at best sent her to a concentration camp.
When she returned to Paris to her parents, she and her sister took the train. The train was packed with travelers standing in every spot, even in the toilets. It was so packed that some of the train doors couldn’t be closed. It should have been a three hour trip, but because of the war and Allied bombing, the train trip took two days.
There was no food, so they all went hungry and slept standing up. Worst of all, the passengers relieved themselves in their clothes. The smell was overwhelming.
This wasn’t even German cruelty, just the fortunes of war.
This is the second story about Genevieve, "Gégé", Smith. She was thirteen years old and living in Paris when the Nazis invaded France. She endured German repression and cruelty for the next four years. Gégé is about 4 ft. 6 inches tall, weighs about ninety pounds and is very lively, in fact feisty. She now lives in Fort Worth and has shared many stories with me for my book about the French Resistance during WW II. The Germans imposed rationing on everything including food. The allowed amounts were meager to begin with and were reduced as the occupation dragged on. Even the basics like bread sometimes ran out at the bakery, so getting in line early was a way to get what supplies were available. Meat was practically unavailable.
Gégé's mother took her out to a restaurant to see if they could get a meal with meat. The available dish was CAT. They ordered servings and did their best to eat it. They didn't go back again. I asked Gégé if she thought her small stature was caused by inadequate nutrition caused by the Germans. She didn't think so, but I think the rationing must have contributed to this. But it didn't dampen her spirit!
Genevieve, Gégé, Smith was thirteen years old and living in Paris when the Nazis invaded France. She endured German repression and cruelty for the next four years. Gégé is about 4 ft. 6 inches tall, weighs about ninety pounds and is very lively, in fact feisty. She now lives in Fort Worth and has shared many stories with me for my book about the French Resistance during WW II.
All food was severely rationed with various classes of ration cards. Young people and children received special treatment and sometimes special foods. Her brother was given a ration for one banana. They rushed to the market early to be sure that all the bananas weren’t passed out. Even though a person had a an allocation on their ration card, that didn’t mean that they would get it.
He got his banana! At home, he took it into the bedroom After a half hour he came out.
Gégé asked, “May I have the banana peel?”
He had an ashamed look on his face. “I ate it.”
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