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Concept
Virginia d'Albert-Lake
Summary
Virginia d'Albert-Lake (born 4 June 1910, Dayton, Ohio – died 20 September 1997, Dinard, France) was a member of the anti-Nazi French Resistance during World War II. She worked with the Comet Escape Line. She and her husband Philippe helped 67 British and American airmen evade German capture. She was arrested on June 12, 1944 and imprisoned by the Germans in Ravensbrück concentration camp and other camps for the remainder of the war.
Virginia Roush was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. On May 1, 1937, she married Philippe d'Albert-Lake, whom she had met in France a year earlier. Philippe had a French father and a British mother. Virginia retained her American citizenship although the couple resided in France. Philippe was in the French army when World War II began in 1939. After France surrendered to Germany in 1940, Philippe was demobilized. Virginia chose to remain in France with Philippe. The couple could not live in the family chateau near Dinard in Brittany because the Germans occupied it. They moved to Paris.
The d'Albert-Lakes had a country house at Nesles-la-Vallée, north of Paris. In fall 1943 a baker named Marcel Renard from Nesles came to their home and told them that he was sheltering three American airmen who had been shot down over Europe. Renard needed an English speaker to communicate with the airmen. The d'Albert-Lakes assisted the airmen and became associated with the Comet Line escape network.
In December 1943, Philippe met with Jean de Blommaert, a Belgian working for the British intelligence agency MI9, and became his second-in-command of the Paris sector of the Comet Line. Philippe soon became chief of the Paris Sector which had at the time 29 members (usually called helpers), of whom 21 were women. Virginia became a keeper of safe houses for escaping airmen and a guide. The Comet Line was in crisis in early 1944 due to arrests by the Germans and Virginia was at special risk of being arrested as she spoke French with an American accent and her identity papers showed her birthplace as the United States.
Official source
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