Gabrielle Petit

British people have often heard of Edith Cavell, who has been commemorated in Britain as a national heroine of the war after she was executed by the Germans in 1915 for her role in running an escape network in Belgium for Allied Soldiers. But Cavell was only one individual amongst hundreds who resisted the authorities in occupied France and Belgium. Like Cavell, young Belgian woman Gabrielle Petit was remembered as a national heroine after her execution during the war. De Schaepdrijver’s book vividly brings her story to life, explaining how she was became involved in espionage, as well as showing… show more.

'There are graves that are alive’, the President of the Belgian League of Remembrance pronounced at Gabrielle Petit’s state funeral in 1919, three years after her execution for espionage. Petit, a young shop-girl, served her country both during the First World War, and as a national legend after her death. Yet a century later, she was all but forgotten. Sophie De Schaepdrijver’s fascinating study not only helps to restore Petit's memory, but also asks important questions about why we should remember, and how such commemoration serves us.