Paulette Sarcey

Paulette Sarcey was born as Paula Szlifke on 11 April 1924 in Paris. Her family was of Polish Jewish origin. Her father, Froïm (Efrayam), was a leather worker and communist activist. Her mother, Jenta (Yentil) Przepiorka, worked in the clothing industry. The family fled antisemitism in Poland in 1923, arriving in France. They settled in Belleville, and Sarcey joined the communist circles in the area. She joined the Resistance in 1940 at the age of 16 alongside other communist youth, most notable Henri Krasucki.

She changed her name to Martine while in hiding, but was captured by police of the Vichy Regime on 23 March 1943 after a denunciation. Her final address was at 14 Rue de Vaucouleurs in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. She was taken to a small station of the Paris Police Prefecture, where she was harshly interrogated. Sarcey was first taken to Drancy internment camp, then to Auschwitz on 23 June 1943. Following the death marches, she was interned at Ravensbrück concentration camp, and shortly thereafter at Neustadt-Glewe, where she was liberated on 2 May 1945.

Back in France, Sarcey was reunited with her family, and began aiming at spreading awareness of the horrors of the camps. Her parents hid in their Parisian workshop, and her brother, Robert, was hidden in a Catholic family in Chahaignes. Her father died in 1972, her mother in 1981,[2] and her brother in 2019.

In 1947, Paulette married Max Swiczarczyk-Sarcey, who was also a former member of the French Resistance.[3][4] The couple had two children: Michèle and Claude. The family lived in Montreuil. Max died in 2003.

Paulette Sarcey died on 5 May 2020 at the age of 96.[5]

• Knight of the Legion of Honour
• Médaille militaire
• Croix de Guerre 1939–1945

• Paula, survivre obstinément (2015)[6]