Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier

Overview

Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier (née Vogel) born Paris, France November 3, 1912 (d. 1996). French Communist politican; photojournalist; Resistance heroine; arrested 1942, survived Auschwitz, Ravenbrück; Secretary General pacifist Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) 1946; opposed Vietnam War 1949, Algerian War, Korean War; witness at Nüremberg Trials.

Quotations

“We know the anguish of American mothers who are losing their sons in this useless war. . . We ask you. . . to do everything possible to stop the war of extermination being conducted against the Korean people, while at the same time saving your own sons from destruction.” (Sept. 15, 1952 WIDF appeal; photo memoire vive)