Jeanne Brousse (French pronunciation: [ʒan bʁus]; née Maurier; 12 April 1921 – 19 October 2017), known as Jeannette, was born in Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille in the Savoie region of France. She was a member of the French Resistance during WWII and she is a member of the Righteous Among The Nations.
Christa Winsloe (23 December 1888 – 10 June 1944), formerly Baroness Christa von Hatvany-Deutsch, was a German-Hungarian novelist, playwright and sculptor, best known for her play Gestern und heute (known under several titles, see below), filmed in 1931 as Mädchen in Uniform and the 1958 remake. Winsloe was the first to write a play on female homosexuality in the Weimar Republic, yet without a "radical critique of the social discrimination of lesbian women."
Simone Segouin (French: [simɔn səɡwɛ̃]; 3 October 1925 – 21 February 2023), also known by her nom de guerre Nicole Minet (French: [nikɔl minɛ]), was a French Resistance fighter who served in the Francs-tireurs et partisans group during World War II. Among her first acts of resistance was stealing a bicycle from a German patrol, which she then used to help carry messages. She went on to take part in large-scale or otherwise dangerous missions, such as capturing German troops, derailing trains, and acts of sabotage.
Luise Wilhelmine Elisabeth Abegg (German: [eˈliːzabɛt ˈaːbɛk] ; 3 March 1882 – 8 August 1974) was a German educator and resistance fighter against Nazism. She provided shelter to around 80 Jews during the Holocaust and was consequently recognised as Righteous Among the Nations.
Merete Skavlan (25 July 1920 – 2 November 2018) was a Norwegian actress, theater instructor and director.
She was born in Kristiania as a daughter of newspaper editor and theatre director Einar Skavlan and music educator Margrethe Bartholdy. She was a granddaughter of literary historian Olaf Skavlan.She was involved in resistance work during World War II, and joined the unofficial "Stanislavskij Group" in 1943. The members of this group founded Studioteatret, and she made her debut at Studioteatret's first performance in 1945, in a translation of Wilder's play The Long Christmas Dinner. She continued to play for Studioteatret until 1950.Her acting career continued at Det Nye Teater, where she played from 1950 to 1952, at Folketeatret from 1952 to 1959, and at Oslo Nye Teater from 1959 to 1967. During the 1960s she also played for Fjernsynsteatret, with roles such as Angustias in an adaptation of García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, and as Missis Smith in Ionesco's The Bald Soprano.She started working as a theatre instructor, and has participated on productions at Riksteatret, the National Theatre, Det Norske Teatret and Fjernsynsteatret. Her debut as producer was an adaptation for television of Baroness Emma Orczy's novel The Scarlet Pimpernel, for Fjernsynsteatret in 1968. Her debut as stage producer was an adaptation of Bill Naughton's play Spring and Port Wine, for Det Norske Teatret in 1969. She also lectured at the Norwegian National Academy of Theatre.From 1984 to 1990 she was employed at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation as head of Radioteatret. She started the independent theatre group Intimteatret in 1991, together with Gerhard Knoop.Skavlan was also a board member of Dagbladet from 1960 to 1974, and subsequently sat on the supervisory council. She died in November 2018 at the age of 98.
Anne-Sofie Østvedt (later married Strømnæs) (2 January 1920 – 16 November 2009) was one of the leaders of the Norwegian intelligence organisation XU.
She started her resistance work by publishing underground newspapers, and in December 1941 XU recruited her. The Gestapo began hunting her in the autumn of 1942, and she had to live undercover for the rest of the war.
Despite her young age, she was vital to the organisation and was second in command, but her identity was a strict secret and almost none within the XU knew her. Since one of her cover names was "Aslak" - a male name in Norway - it was a huge surprise for many to meet her after the war was over.
After the end of the war she received a scholarship and from the summer of 1945 she studied chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, graduated with a master's degree and then returned to Norway in 1951. Studying with her in California was the leader of XU, Øistein Strømnæs, whom she married.
Henriette Bie Lorentzen (18 July 1911 – 23 August 2001), born Anna Henriette Wegner Haagaas, was a Norwegian journalist, humanist, peace activist, feminist, co-founder of the Nansen Academy, resistance member and concentration camp survivor during World War II, and publisher and editor-in-chief of the women's magazine Kvinnen og Tiden (1945–1955).
Antoinette Sasse (née Kohn, 18 June 1897 – 1986) was a French artist, and a prominent member of the French Resistance during World War II.
Alfhild Hovdan (née Olsen; 13 September 1904 – 20 February 1982) was a Norwegian journalist, and later tourist manager for the city of Oslo for more than forty years. She is known for initiating the tradition of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree, a present from the city of Oslo to the people of London, in recognition of their assistance during World War II.
Milly Elise "Lise" Børsum (18 September 1908 – 29 August 1985) was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II, survivor from the Ravensbrück concentration camp, and known for her writings and organizing work after the war.