Jeannie rousseau biography

French spy in World War II (1919–2017)

Jeannie Yvonne Ghislaine Rousseau, married name Jeannie de Clarens, (1 April 1919 – 23 August 2017) was an Allied intelligence agent in occupied France during World War II, a member of the "Druids" network led by Georges Lamarque [fr].

Codenamed Amniarix, she evaded Gestapo agents while gathering crucial information on the Germans' emerging rocket weapons programs from behind enemy lines. Her intelligence reports, forwarded to London, led directly to the British raid on Peenemünde and to delays and disruptions in the V-1 and V-2 programs, saving many thousands of lives in the West. Rousseau was captured twice and spent time in three concentration camps. After the war, she worked as a freelance interpreter.

Early life

Born on 1 April 1919 in Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor, Jeannie Yvonne Ghislaine Rousseau was the daughter of Jean Rousseau, a World War I veteran and a French foreign ministry official, and his wife Marie, née Le Charpentier. A brilliant linguist, she graduated in languages from Sciences Po in 1939. After the outbreak of World War II, she moved with her family to Dinard, in Ille-et-Vilaine, where the mayor, a friend of her parents, asked her to work as an interpreter to facilitate negotiations between the local services and the German authorities.

Wartime work

Rousseau began gathering intelligence on German operations even before she made contact with Allied intelligence. She took a job at the French national chamber of commerce as a translator and soon became the organization's top staffer, meeting regularly with the German military commander's staff. She was a frequent visitor with the Germans, discussing commercial issues, such as complaints about Nazi commandeering or offers to sell them goods, such as steel and rubber. "I was storing my nuts, but I had no way to pass them on." Sh

Jeannie Yvonne Ghislaine Rousseau was born on 1 April 1919 in Saint-Brieuc. A brilliant linguist, she graduated in languages from Sciences Po in 1939. When the Nazis invaded France she joined her family in Dinard where she became an interpreter for the occupiers. However, as she interpreted she also gathered intelligence.

Jeannie’s intelligence gathering included secrets of commercial deals and details of the steel and rubber industries. She said later,  “I was storing my nuts, but I had no way to pass them on.”

The Gestapo arrested Jeannie in January 1941, but they released her with the proviso that she did not visit the coast. Later that year, she moved to Paris where she gathered more intelligence from a Parisian company that supplied materials to the Nazis.

Jeannie’s formal career as a spy began in 1941 when she met Georges Lamarque on the Paris-Vichy night train. Lamarque remembered Jeannie, and her talent for languages, from the University of Paris. He invited her to work for him and she agreed immediately.

During 1943, Jeannie filed her most remarkable reports – details of the missile and rocket development at Peenemünde. These reports alerted R.V. Jones, the Assistant Director of British Intelligence (Science), to the V1 and V2 rocket threat and in so doing saved thousands of lives.

When R.V. Jones received Jeannie’s reports he enquired about their source and was told that they came from “one of the most remarkable young women of her generation.”

Thanks to R.V. Jones’ persuasive nature, the Allies bombed Peenemünde. Initially, he met with departmental resistance before convincing Churchill about the importance of the mission. Because the raid would take place in August, partly in daylight, it carried great risk. Also, it involved a great number of Allied bombers, diverting them from other targets. The mission was successful, although the Allies did lose a large number of planes and aircrew during the daylight

Jeannie Rousseau (Viscomtesse de Clarens) (d. 1 Nisan 1919 – ö. 25 Ağustos 2017),II. Dünya Savaşı sırasında işgal altındaki Fransa'da Müttefik istihbarat ajanıydı. Georges Lamarque'nin "Druids" ağının üyesiydi.

AMNIARIX'ü kodladı, Gestapo ajanlarından kaçındı ve Almanların düşman hatlarının ardındaki roket silah programlarıyla ilgili önemli bilgiler topladı. Londra'ya gönderdiği istihbarat raporları, doğrudan Peenemünde Ordu Araştırma Merkezi'ndeki İngiliz baskınına ve V-1 ve V-2 programlarındaki gecikmelere ve aksamalara yol açarak Batı'da binlerce insanın yaşamını kurtarıyordu.

Rousseau iki kez yakalanmış ve üç defa toplama kampında gözlem altında bulunmuştur. II. Dünya Savaşı'nın şahitlerinden kadın ajan Jeannie Rousseau 25 Ağustos 2017'de 98 yaşında ölmüştür.

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Kaynakça

After graduating at the top of her class in July 1940, Jeannie de Clarens, née Rousseau, set out on an extraordinary career in the world of interpretation and espionage. At 23 years old, she was to hand Allied Forces one of the Second World War’s most precious pieces of intelligence. In memory of de Clarens, a true heroine of the French Resistance, Sciences Po now pays homage by giving her name to a lecture hall.

It can often be from the blandest of backgrounds that history begins to unfold. Yet few reading the report card of Sciences Po student Jeannie Rousseau today would fail to be moved. As brilliant as it is completely banal, this report produced in Autumn 1940 reminds its reader that “due to current events, you have not been able to sit the entirety of the exams necessary for the awarding of your degree”. In the neutral language of bureaucracy, no elaboration follows as to what these “events” might be. Nor that these pages, which did not ultimately prevent Jeannie from graduating first of her class in 1940, had as their subject one of the most distinguished female spies of the Second World War. A heroine at the centre of scenes like those immortalised in Jean-Pierre Melville’s iconic film Army of Shadows, Jeannie more recently caught the attention of journalists at the New York Times. The American newspaper published in August 2017 an obituary that pays homage to the spy’s “heroic and momentous achievements” on behalf of the French Resistance. French journalists have yet to produce an equivalent.

Student in Finance at 18, spy and interpreter at 21

Out of the monotony of a flawless academic record emerged the thrilling career of Jeannie Rousseau: enrolled at 18 in Sciences Po’s Finance course, by 21 the young graduate was working underground in occupied Paris. How did it happen that a young girl fresh from university would come to outwit the German military, collecting information on a secret weapons project