Lucie Aubrac

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Lucie Samuel née Bernard (June 29, 1912 – March 14, 2007), better known as Lucie Aubrac, was a French history teacher and member of the French Resistance.

In 1939 Lucie Bernard, the daughter of a wine grower, married Raymond Samuel (born 1914) whom she met in Strasbourg. Raymond Samuel would be known during and after the war as Raymond Aubrac, having changed his Jewish surname due to the open anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews at the time.

After the fall of France, Lucie joined the Libération-sud resistance group in Lyon after its formation by her husband. Later, she followed him to the group of Charles Delestraint. In 1941 they joined forces with Emmanuel d'Astier to run the underground newspaper, Libération.

On June 21, 1943, the Gestapo captured Raymond alongside high-ranking Resistance member Jean Moulin and he was taken to Montluc prison. Lucie and her comrades released Raymond and thirteen other resistance members on October 21, 1943. Because their cover had been blown, in February 1944 Lucie, Raymond and their first child escaped to London. The Aubrac name was the last alias they had used in France before their flight to the United Kingdom and the one they kept afterwards.

After the war, Lucie Aubrac served on the consultative committees of the French Republic Provisional Government (GPRF). Her degree to teach history was also restored and she eventually returned to teaching. She also campaigned for human rights.

In 1984 Lucie Aubrac published her memoirs under the title Ils partiront dans l'ivresse (best translated as "They will leave with elation"). The French title refers to the code phrase the Aubracs listened for on the radio to know it was safe for them to leave for London. The book was translated into English as Outwitting the Gestapo). The movie Lucie Aubrac is loosely based on the events surrounding her husband's escape.

Lucie Aubrac died in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, on March 14, 2007.

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