Marie Claude Vaillant-Couturier

Born Nov. 3, 1912, in Paris. Figure in the French and international democratic women’s movement. Was married to P. Vaillant-Couturier. Member of democratic organizations of France since the early 1930’s.

During the German fascist occupation of France (1940-44), Vaillant-Couturier was an active participant in the Resistance Movement. In 1942 she was arrested by the police of Pétain’s profascist government and turned over to the Gestapo. She was in concentration camps until the end of World War II: first in Oświęcim, later in Ravensbrook. In 1945 she became a candidate member, and in 1947, a member, of the Central Committee of the French Communist Party. She has been a deputy to the National Assembly of France from 1945 to 1958 and since 1962. From 1945 to 1954 she was general secretary, and from 1954 vicepresident, of the Women’s International Democratic Federation.