Marguerite Bervoets (6 March 1914 – 7 August 1944)[1] was a Belgian poet, teacher and member of the Belgian Resistance during World War II.[2] She was arrested while carrying out resistance work and executed in Wolfenbüttel prison, in Germany.[3]
Marguerite Bervoets | |
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| Born | 6 March 1914 La Louvière, Belgium |
| Died | 7 August 1944 (aged 30) Wolfenbüttel, Germany |
| Occupation | Resistance Fighter |
| Years active | 1942–1944 |
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Biography
editMarguerite Bervoets was born in La Louvière. She was a graduate in philosophy and literature, and a poet. At the time of the German invasion of Belgium she was working as a teacher in Tournai.[4] After the fall of Belgium to Nazi Germany, Bervoets began publishing the underground resistance paper "La Deliverance".[3] She helped transfer intelligence to the Allied Powers.[5]
On 8 August 1942 Bervoets and another resistance member, Cécile Detournay, went to the edge of Chièvres Airfield for the purpose of photographing newly installed anti-aircraft guns.[3] They were both carrying a shopping bag and a camera, once they reached the edge of the airfield they began to take pictures. A few minutes later a German sentry caught them by surprise and escorted them both to an officer nearby. They both showed their shopping bags and claimed that they were going to a nearby farm to get some food and take pictures of the fields. Unfortunately the German lieutenant ordered an investigation. A woman, a prosecution witness, provided evidence that led to the indictment of Bervoets and the leaders of the group to which she belonged.[5] At Bervoets's house they discovered weapons. She sensed her fate, and in high school she would often quote Maeterlinck, saying; "It is beautiful to when one sacrifices oneself, that sacrifice brings happiness to other men".
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After a few months of incarceration in Mons, Bervoets and Detournay were deported to Germany for their fates to be decided by the Volksgericht (People's Court) of Leer.[3] Bervoets' trial was held on the same day as that of resistance fighter Fernande Volral. Both Bervoets and Volral were sentenced to death, and Detournay to 8 years of forced labour.[5]
Death
editMarguerite Bervoets and Fernande Volral were executed by "fallbeil" (German guillotine) on 7 August 1944 in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Cécile Detournay was liberated by US forces on 24 April 1945.[6] Bervoets' family did not learn she had died until July 1945. She is buried in Mons communal cemetery.[3]
Recognition
edit- In honor of Marguerite Bervoets, the Lycée de Mons, where she had her last three years of humanities and where her mother was director, bears her name; today it is the Athénée Royal Marguerite Bervoets.[7]
- On 17 November 1946, an inauguration in the courtyard of the École Moyenne de la rue de Bouvy in La Louvière, a monument dedicated to Marguerite Bervoets and Laurette Demaret, former students of this establishment.[8]
- A street of Mons also bears her name, as well as a street of Forest (in Brussels) and a street of Guyancourt (near Paris).[7]
- There are many monuments that pay tribute to her, both in Belgium (especially in La Louvière thanks to a monument and a commemorative plaque), and abroad (for example on the shores of Lake Como).[7]
- The 151st promotion of Social and Military Sciences at the Royal Military Academy was sponsored by Marguerite Bervoets.
- At the school she taught at, a plaque in tribute to Marguerite Bervoets is installed in the entrance.
- In July 2025, a temporary exhibition opened at the Mons Memorial Museum called 'L'esprit carcéral' which focussed on Marguerite Bervoets and her resistance colleague Cécile Detournay (as well their contemporary Fernand Dumont, a Belgian poet, lawyer and resistance writer, and the 19th century French poet Paul Verlaine; all four were imprisoned in the Mons prison).[9] It exhibited several of her personal artefacts, including her final letter to her parents.[10]
Bibliography
edit- Marguerite Bervoets, A Heroine, 1914–1944, L. Balasse-De Guide, The Renaissance of the Book, Brussels, 1958
- Marguerite Bervoets, E. Pequet, coll. The Notebooks of the Memory, HCD, 2014.
References
edit- ↑ "Monographie de la Louvière - ville de la Louvière". Archived from the original on 2010-01-15. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ↑ "Exposition consacrée à Marguerite Bervoets, poète et résistante - RTBF Actus". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 2025-07-26.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Grave of Marguerite Bervoets". www.liberationroute.com. Retrieved 2025-07-26.
- ↑ "Forest la plaque commémorative en l'honneur de la résistante a été inaugurée ce lundi matin : Forest rend hommage à Marguerite Bervoets".
- 1 2 3 Suzanne van Rokeghem, Jacqueline Aubenas, Jeanne Vercheval-Vervoort, Des femmes dans l'histoire en Belgique, depuis 1830, Luc Pire éditions, 2006, 303 p.
- ↑ Commission de l'historique de la résistance, Livre d'or de la résistance, éditions Leclercq, Bruxelles, 1949
- 1 2 3 "Marguerite Bervoets | Vrije Universiteit Brussel". www.vub.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2025-07-29.
- ↑ "Pages perso Orange – Créez facilement votre site web personnel". pages.perso.orange.fr. Archived from the original on 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ↑ "'L'esprit carcéral' au Mons Memorial Museum : des vies de résistance en prison - RTBF Actus". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 2025-07-29.
- ↑ "L'esprit carcéral". Pôle muséal Mons (in French). Retrieved 2025-07-26.