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Auction: 4004 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 294

A Memento of Odette Hallowes GC A letter written in 1979 by Odette Hallowes to the current vendor; together with a signed coloured photograph of Mrs Hallowes wearing all her medals; a small wooden cotton-reel; and a copy of The Times obituary 17th March 1997 (4) Estimate £ 100-150 Note: In October 1942, Odette Hallowes (née Sansom) was infiltrated into occupied France, where she served until her arrest in April 1943. Under interrogation she managed by skilful lying to divert suspicion from her commanding officer, who had been arrested at the same time. Despite being subjected to every kind of humiliation and maltreatment by the Gestapo, she steadfastly refused to divulge information which would have led to the death of two other members of the Resistance. She spent more than two years in solitary confinement, and while in Ravensbruck concentration camp was kept in total darkness for over three months as a reprisal for the Allied landings in the south of France. In the letter which forms part of this lot, she explains that the cotton-reel was given to her by a woman prisoner in Karlsruhe prison, and adds that it seems extraordinary to think of the importance it had for her at the time.

Sold for
£150