Romania joined WWII in the
\nsummer of 1941 upon a triple annexation of its territories a year before. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In June 1940, the Soviet Union
\nannexed the Romanian territories between the rivers Prut and Dniester also
\nknown as Bessarabia and North Bukovina. In August 1940 Hungary annexed another
\npart of the Romanian territory, northern Transylvania and Maramures, while in
\nSeptember that year Bulgaria occupied southern Dobrogea. The political crisis
\nthat followed led to the abdication of king Carol 2nd and the coming
\nto power of a dictatorship led by marshal Ion Antonescu. The new regime forced Romania
\ninto an alliance led by Nazi Germany, at war with the USA, Great Britain and the
\nSoviet Union. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The peace
\ntreaties at the end of the First World War collapsed shortly after the fall of
\nFrance in June 1940. The occupation of France actually threw the continent into
\nthe bloodiest and most destructive war by that time, with millions of deaths
\nand huge material damage. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Europe found
\nitself under the grip of the Nazi Germany and it took almost five years of
\nsustained military efforts to get rid of it.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
But even in
\nthose difficult years many people refused to give up entirely. Although resistance
\nto such a powerful enemy seemed to be futile, those people proved that even small
\nactions can count in the fight of a well-functioning war machine. In the
\nfollowing minutes, Oana Demetriade from the National Council for the Study of
\nthe Securitate Archives will be telling us the story of three brave French
\nresidents in Romania who decided to spy for the Allies in the days of WWII.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Sound bite: There was a group of French nationals residing in Romania who decided
\nto spy for the Free France or for Britain. One of these is a French lady, named
\nHenriette S\u00fcmpt, who got Romanian
\ncitizenship after two successive marriages and settled in this country in
\n1928. She decided it was high time she
\ndid something for her country which had already signed a truce with Germany.
\nShe established a connection with Special Operations Executive based in
\nIstanbul and started to send intelligence to the British agents there without
\nknowing that the aforementioned connection was being keenly monitored by the
\nRomanian Intelligence Service.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Back in the
\nday Henriette S\u00fcmpt used to be a secretary
\nfor the Bucharest branch of the famous French news agency Havas. Around 1940
\nbefore the war had broken out she was using the agency’s database to provide
\nintelligence to both France and Britain. She started by giving information
\nabout the movement of the German troops around Romania, military insignia,
\nregistration numbers of the military vehicles, the type of weapons they were
\ncarrying, the routes used by the military convoys etc. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
During her
\nstrolls through the Floreasca district, Henriette S\u00fcmpt could easily monitor the German planes taking
\noff and landing on the Baneasa airport in the north of the capital city. She
\nalso travelled to other cities like Galati, Ramnicu Sarat, Focsani, Bacau, Iasi
\nand Botosani, all situated at Romania’s eastern border. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Here’s again
\nat the microphone Oana Demetriade. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Oana Demetriade: Together with French journalist, Maurice N\u00e9gre, she managed to put together a small espionage
\nnetwork and send some sketches to the allies. The drawings she sent were quite common
\nand even funny as they pictured only leaves, deer, dogs or a snake. However,
\nthose were actually symbols for the German military units deployed to Romania,
\nwhich were soon going to see action in the Balkans or the USSR.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
However,
\nthe group’s activity didn’t remain unnoticed for long. Henriette S\u00fcmpt was arrested soon but eventually granted
\nclemency. Oana Demetriade:<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Oana Demetriade: The entire network was discovered and its
\nmembers arrested upon a German intervention. Henriette was to be arrested first.
\nShe was frisked and compromising documents were found on her. According to the
\nSSI agent who was interrogating her, she was a pretty lady, very intelligent
\nwith extraordinary powers of observation and very good at drawing. She managed
\nto remain self-possessed while being apprehended by our agents. Upon the quick
\ntrial that followed, Maurice Negre was released in a couple of months upon the intervention
\nof the French state while Henriette remained in custody. She would later pass
\nthrough several prisons, including the women’s penitentiary in Mislea. Her two
\nex-husbands in Romania, who were still very fond of her, assisted the woman in
\npetitioning the state authorities and even the country’s king, Mihai, in order
\nto get her pardoned. Her previous sentence of 10-year forced labour was
\ncommuted to one-year in prison and she was released on August 22nd.
\nHer release had nothing to do with Romania’s leaving the Axis a day later,
\naugust 23rd. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Henriette S\u00fcmpt’s
\nstory also continued after the war. She got involved in charity and worked as a
\nmassager in recovery centers for athletes. She was monitored by the communist
\nSecuritate after the war and reports about her were positive. In 1959, upon the
\nintervention of her third Romanian husband who had successfully left for France
\nand of her relatives there, she received a French passport and got repatriated.
\nTogether with Henriette S\u00fcmpt and Maurice
\nN\u00e9gre, Jean Paul Lenseigne, is the third French
\njournalist part of the brave group that got involved in actions meant to help
\ntheir country in times of war on the Romanian territory.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The true story of three French nationals who spied for their country while in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":90486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42898,29026,42897,42606,36582,35436],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-demetriade","tag-france","tag-negre","tag-resistance","tag-war","tag-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n