Renée Lévy

Her mother, Bertha Levy, was involved in promoting the École normale supérieure (teachers' training college) at Sèvres.

Renée Lévy attended the Lycée Victor Hugo, then went on to study at the Sorbonne, where she received her Agrégation (higher teacher's licence) in Classical Literature in 1932.

Renée Lévy was appointed a teacher at the girls' secondary school in Lille, and then was transferred to the Lycée Victor Duruy in Paris.

On 4 October 1940 the first anti-Jewish decree was promulgated prohibiting Jews from public office, and Renée Lévy was forced to leave the school.

Using a radio transmitter hidden in her home, Renée Lévy sent information about German equipment and troop movements to London.

[1] After the war Renée Lévy's remains were returned to France and buried at Fort Mont-Valérien in Suresnes during an impressive ceremony on 11 November 1945.

[1] The fifteen bodies, which had been kept at the Arc de Triomphe beside the grave of the Unknown Soldier, had great symbolic importance, representing the dead of the different battles.