Women, who were teachers, students, chemists, singers, all kinds of women from 15 to 60 years old, put their life on the line and did what they could to resist Nazi Germany when France was occupied. Most paid for their courage with their lives. Caroline Moorehead gives the account of 230 women captured by the Gestapo and imprisoned first in a fort outside Paris, then on the only train sent with women out France to German concentration camps. This is their story, the women of Le Convoi des 3100. These women formed strong bonds of friendship. They worked hard to keep each other alive in Auschwitz-Birkenau, and in Ravensbruck. They had each other's back. They clung to each other to survive the savage treatment, shoddy living conditions, little food, abominable working conditions, rampant disease. That 42 survived is a testimony to their strong characters, their friendship and their continuous acts of courage in face of unbelievable acts of debauchery, cruelty, brutality. Moorehead continues their story as the few returned home.
Not an easy read. What makes this memorable is the care these women took of each other. How they hid the sickly members of their group, shared their meager rations equally, and how they kept their spirits up during their 3 years in prison.
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