Teacher, resistance fighter and humanist, Noëlla Rouget died Sunday, November 22 in Geneva at the age of 100.
As she entered her twenties, Noëlla, née Peaudeau, became an activist for freedom and against the spirit of hatred and vengeance - fights she fought until her death.
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Born on December 25, 1919 in Saumur in Maine-et-Loire, Noëlla Rouget was raised in a fervent Catholic faith that her parents instilled in her.
Aged 20 when France fell under the Nazi Occupation, Noëlla Rouget, a teacher, joined the resistance in Angers.
In the bags of her bicycle, the young woman of the time carries illegal leaflets that she took care to print and distribute.
Very quickly, she began to forward messages, parcels but also weapons for the Gaullist movement “Honor and Fatherland” as well as for a British spy service network.
Active for the liberation of her country, Noëlla Rouget ends up falling in love with Adrien Tigeot, also a teacher and resistance fighter.
June 1943, when summer is on its way and the couple has just published their wedding banns, Noëlla Rouget and Adrien Tigeot were denounced and arrested by the Gestapo.
While she knew the hell of the deportees at the Ravensbrück camp, Adrien Tigeot was, for his part, tortured and shot shortly after his arrest.
A great lady with generous forgiveness
On her return from concentration camp, Noëlla Rouget is skeletal and goes to a Swiss sanatorium to be treated for tuberculosis.
At the time, she met André Rouget, whose name she took in 1947 after their union.
As she rebuilds her life, the past resurfaces 17 years later.
This is Jacques Vasseur, the man responsible for his arrest, his deportation and the death of Adrien Tigeot.
French, member of the Gestapo, Jacques Vasseur is responsible for 310 deportations and 230 deaths.
At his trial, the sentence is irrevocable: Jacques Vasseur receives the death penalty.
But Noëlla Rouget, fervent believer, humanist and against the death penalty, calls for this decision to be communicated to prison.
Misunderstood by her comrades in the Resistance, she manages to obtain the presidential pardon from General de Gaulle.
While serving his prison sentence, Noëlla Rouget begins to maintain correspondence with Jacques Vasseur in order to obtain his repentance.
A redemption that she will never obtain from her executioner but which did not prevent Noëlla Rouget from believing in human nature until her death.
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