Denise Vernay now has an alley that bears her name in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon. A tribute to the one who was a liaison agent during the Second World War, sister of Simone Veil. A life of courage and trials.
Miarka, the underground in Lyon
“Talking about my mother, remembering her journey is always very moving, tears come to my eyes“, smiles Laurent Vernay.”It’s not really a matter of pride, but it’s to remember a little … Not everyone has been a collaborator.“
In 1943, Denise Vernay joined the Resistance as the roundups intensified. She is not twenty years old. Established in contact with the Franc-Tireur movement, she became a liaison agent within the Lyon movement under the code name of Miarka. She travels around Lyon by bicycle, distributing mail clandestinely.
In March 1944, his family was deported because they were Jewish. Denise Vernay was arrested a few months later. Tortured at the Gestapo headquarters on Place Bellecour, she gave no information on her network. And thus saved the lives of several of his teammates. Imprisoned, she was in turn deported to the Ravensbrück camp. She will come out alive, like her two sisters Simone and Madeleine. His brother and his parents will not come back.
Sharing a painful story
Denise Vernay did not want us to talk about her as a “heroin“, specifies her son. Throughout her life after the war, she will participate in perpetuating the memory of the Resistance, in discretion and modesty. Until her death in 2013, at the age of 88.
“Sometimes it takes decades to tell what happened, often skipping a generation. But in our family, it was too strong, we had to share it with us“, he underlines finally.
“The names of streets, esplanades, public spaces in general, in our city, still all too rarely refer to the women who have participated in our collective history. Like men, however, they played their role with calm, courage, merit and passion when the circumstances called for them.“, greeted the mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet in his speech. “That the example of Denise Vernay Jacob can inspire every passer-by when he or she reads his or her name on this plaque is a big and pretty thing.“
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