Chosen by the Loire department, in central France, to carry the flame for the Olympic Games on June 22, this shadowy woman will be, for the duration of a stage, the center of attention. An Austrian anti-fascist activist since adolescence, she is a figure of the French Resistance. She is also the grandmother of gymnast Emilie Volle, who participated in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
3 mins
Mélanie Berger-Volle has no intention of walking away. And even if the weight of the torch worries her a little due to a fragile shoulder, she intends, on the occasion of these 2024 Olympics in Paris, to reiterate her attachment to the values she has always held: peace. , freedom and friendship between peoples. Mélanie Berger-Volle, as her name does not indicate, is Austrian, who became a French citizen in 1947. In 1938, this young 16-year-old far-left activist left her native country, Austria, annexed by the Nazi Germany. She passes through Belgium and arrives in France, disguised as a boy, hair cut short while mingling with border workers. His goal: to free Europe from Hitler.
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Resist
But in Paris, the atmosphere is noxious: Austrians, even refugees, are seen as enemies and the authorities put her on a train heading to a camp in the southwest of the country. At Clermont-Ferrand station, she jumps from the carriage; the other girls don’t dare follow her. “ They weren’t political, they didn’t know what a camp was “. The young activist knows, on the contrary, that “ When you have a chance, don’t let it pass you by. “.
From 1940 to 1942, in Montauban, she entered into resistance by distributing leaflets in German intended to undermine the morale of the soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Arrested in 42 by the French police, subjected to interrogations, she was the victim of acts of torture about which she remained very modest. Imprisoned in Toulouse, then at Baumettes in Marseille, she escaped, with the outside help of fellow resistance fighters. A soldier in Wehrmacht uniform who wanted to desert takes part in the action. With false Gestapo papers, they come to take her for interrogation. This means that it takes a lot to impress Mélanie Berger-Volle who continued her resistance action in France until the Liberation under false identities.
Activist still and always
After the war, she married Lucien Volle, also a resistance fighter. Both are dedicated to memory work. Mélanie Berger-Volle tells middle and high school students about her fight against Nazism as soon as she is invited. Under amazed gazes, she details how she risked her life to change the world: “ I did not do much “, she believes, “ But I said no » to Nazism.
At 101 years old, with her incredible optimism, she continues to speak out against injustice, racism and for women’s rights. “ I have always loved sports “, she explains. By carrying the Olympic flame on June 22, she wants to be a symbol for women “ who fought to play sports like men “.
Also listen:France in resistance, episode 1: what to do against the German occupier?