Cormier, Manon

LAWYER, FEMINIST, AUTHOR (FRANCE)
BORN 27 Aug 1896, Bordeaux, Gironde - DIED 25 May 1945, Paris: Hôpital Boucicaut
BIRTH NAME Cormier, Madeleine
GRAVE LOCATION Bordeaux, Gironde: Cimetière Protestant de la rue Judaïque, rue Judaïque

Daughter of Jules Cormier, who was mayor of Bassen, Gironde from 1922 to 1925. Her brother Henri Cormier died for France in the First World War on 27 Aug 1914. Manon was among the first French women to study law in Bordeaux and she obtained her law degree when she was 20 years old.

In 1921 she was eleced as Secretary to the assosiation of young lawyers. She was involved in the Mouvement de libération des femmes and the founder of the Soroptimist club in Bordeaux. In 1932 she defended her thesis "Les Actions à vote plural en France et à l'étrange". In 1932 she was appointed attaché to the cabinet of Louis Marin, who was Minister of Pensions.

In 1934 she published "Madame Juliette Adam ou l’aurore de la Troisième République", a tribute to republican feminists. She accepted the post of Deputy Director at the ministère du ravitaillement in Paris. She was active in the resistance and in 1943 she was arrested at her ministry by the Gestapo.

She was imprisoned in Ravensbruck and at the end of the war she was transported to Mauthausen. From there she was repatriated by the Red Cross in April 1945. She returned to Paris but she was so weakened that she died at the Hôpital Boucicaut on 25 May 1945.

Images

The grave of Manon Cormier at the Cimetière Protestant de la rue Judaïque, Bordeaux.
Picture by Androom (12 May 2017)

 

Sources
Manon Cormier - Wikipédia (FR)


Cornelius, Peter

Published: 12 Nov 2017
Last update: 25 Apr 2022