For decades, people like us—along with our political representatives, beloved filmmakers, and celebrated writers and artists—cast women in passive roles: mothers, caregivers, and victims in a male-dominated war. But in recent years, that narrative has begun to shift. In 2005, Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the world most prominent tribute to them: the Monument to the Women of World War II next to Downing Street in London. Here are the women of this years edition in UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands I believe we should remember:
United Kingdom
Joan Clarke
Evelyn Dunbar
Mollie Evershed
Lillian Gutteridge
Dorothy Hodgkin
Noor Inayat Khan
Vera Lynn
Bobbie Tanner
Nancy Wake
Cecile Pearl Witherington
French
Lucie Aubrac
Josephine Baker
Andree Borrel
Lise de Baissac
Marie-Madeleine Fourcade
Violette Szabo
Violette Reine
Élise Rivet
Germaine Berthe Sablon
Simone Segouin
Belgium
Gilberte Borgers
Amelia Briers
Jeanne Daman
Andrée De Jongh
Maria De Raet
Andrée Geulen
Maria Govaerts
Maria Lubben
Octavie Van Gaever
Maria Van Hoeck
Netherlands
Femy Efftink, Hengelo
Berendina Grolleman, Hasselt
Kitty van der Have, Rotterdam
Marga Klompé
Caecilia Loots
Coba Pulkens, Tilburg
Helena Rietberg, Winterswijk
Hannie Schaft, Haarlem
Joukje Smits, Rotterdam
Jacoba van Tongeren, Tjimahi, West Java
Ida Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Hoofddorp
Submit
Please submit your Women In War if you miss someone in this list. Per country we will list max. 10 per women.