Sentenced to Death

(Compiled by Brian Cooper)

With her American friend, Etta Shiber, Kate Bonnefous sheltered and organised the escape from occupied France of evaders following the withdrawal of the British Army from France to the UK in 1940. Both were arrested and charged by a German military court with assisting the escape of British military personnel. Found guilty, they were both sentenced to death but both sentences were later reduced to life imprisonment.

Following intervention by the American Government, Etta Shiber was released as part of a prisoner exchange between the American and German governments. Mrs. Bonnefous however endured a pronged stay in various German prisons.

Liberated from prison at Jauer, now Jawor, by the Red Army February 1945. Repatriated via Odessa

[Source: UK National Archives Catalogue Reference AIR 46/25 Prisoners of war and escapes from enemy occupied territory].

In what follows inconsistencies reflect the written word in each document. The document from FO 371/50978 is transcribed from the original French using google translate with minor amendments to make the translations more logical when read in English.

1. FO 371/50978 GERMAN WAR CRIMINALS: CRIMES AGAINST JEWS: ATROCITIES IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES.

[Author’s notes: The document was forwarded to the British Foreign Office Prisoner of War Dept by the D.G.E.R.; The Direction Générale des Études et Recherches (English: General Directorate for Studies and Research), was a division of the Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action (BCRA), the intelligence agency of the Free French Forces, Charles de Gaulle’s French government-in-exile in London. Created in 1944, in April 1946 it became the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-espionnage (SDECE).
The document appears to have been typed in London using an English format, with a complete absence of French accent marks. The author wonders if the French text is the complete text recorded by the D.G.E.R.]

STATEMENT BY MADAME BONNEFOUS
I was arrested on November 30, 1940 in CASTILLION on Dordogne and I was immediately taken to Bordeaux prison to be interrogated. I was transferred to Paris on January 4.
On February 3 I found my son in prison; I still refused to speak, telling them that I would the day my son was free. I was covered in fleas, bedbugs and lice and condemned to eat almost nothing. My son was released and I was allowed to see him 5 minutes before my departure.
I was then questioned every day from January 10 until the middle of February. Depending on their mood, they brutalised me and offered me cigarettes.

I was at a Court Martial on March 7 and sentenced to death with confiscation of all my property in France; they told me that if I had not been of English origin, I would have been executed without trial.

During the following days, my lawyer took all possible steps with the Consulates of Sweden, Portugal and Switzerland, the Cardinal of Paris, Otto Ahetz [German ambassador to Vichy France] in order to obtain my pardon from the Fuhrer.

On a Wednesday morning, the Prison Commander called me and told me that my pardon had been refused by the Fuhrer and that I would be shot the following Saturday at dawn. I asked to see my lawyer so that I could write letters that would not be read by the guards. The next day, I saw my lawyer who told me that my pardon had once again been requested through the Pope.

On the day the execution was to take place, I heard nothing about it. On April 12, my son managed to send me a little note to say that the Fuhrer had kindly suspended my death sentence.

I stayed in Paris until June 18, the date of my departure for Germany. They handcuffed me and put me in the prison van around 8 o’clock in the evening; I stayed there until 11:30. I left for Trier where I stayed for 19 days.

From there, I was transferred to ZIEGANHEIM (July 17, 1941 to October 1942). This prison was not very harsh as a regime, but at the beginning it was quite painful for me because I was the only foreigner and at every moment, I was insulted by the German women.

I had a cell which was relatively good, given that the skylight was on the ground and not out of reach. On Friday, I started sawing my bars using a knife; after 19 days, I only had one left [unreadable] the day when I sawed my last rung, the inspection round was done in soft shoes and the supervisor, looking through the skylight, surprised me in my work.

As my foot hurt, they simply came to get me to be treated at the infirmary; when I wanted to return to my cell, I was told I had to enter the one next door.

It was only two days later that the prison director came to see me and took me to my first cell. He asked me “Who did this”? I told him that I had had enough of being insulted by the Germans and that I had indeed tried to escape. He then informed me that I was going to be punished: “You will be put in an underground dungeon and you will only have a small piece of bread every morning and evening for around fifteen days.

They took off all my clothes and forced me to walk all day, barefoot, on the cement. After 3 days, I couldn’t eat the piece of bread that was given to me. When I stopped walking, they hit my legs with leather thongs.

From that moment on – they found that I had a lot of guts and courage because I was no longer insulted.

In October 1942, I was taken to CASSEL where I spent 2 or 3 days. From there to HAMBURG, 8 to 10 days. From HAMBURG to HANOVER about ten days, from HANOVER to LOUBET.
In Loubet, I remained in seclusion for 18 months until, given the number of prisoners, they were forced to put 3 of us in a room that could only hold one person.

On May 18, 1944, I was transferred to the JAUER camp in SILESIA. In this camp, there were approximately 450 detainees. We were up at 4 a.m. in the morning and had to work until 6:30 in the evening in a war factory which was located in the prison itself. We manufactured precision parts. As I refused to work for the war, they took away my food and put me on pills.

Then they made us make parts supposedly intended for the telephone and the radio. I was then head welder. At the beginning, we had to do 5,000 per day, which was impossible, even with a lot of good will. The foreman was obliged to notice this and reduce the number of pieces to 3,000 or 3,500.

We were especially mistreated by women who looked for every opportunity to push us or hit us. One day, I was so badly treated that I couldn’t walk at all. It was an accident which prevented me from being evacuated at the same time as the other detainees who left in the direction of Saxe Coburg, at least 400 of them were shot.

Camp mortality was 4 to 5 per month (tuberculosis, acute phthisis, pulmonary congestion, septicemia).

We were liberated on February 12 by Russian shock troops (mostly Mongols). They arrived absolutely dead drunk and for 8 days, the elderly women were raped like the young ones. They told us to go to the city if we wanted to eat. The Germans having left we found quite a bit of food.
A few days later, we met a young Czech who spoke a little French. We told him what was going on and talking about that moment, a sentry was sent to the prison door.

Some women [were] pregnant; a report was made to the Moscow Embassy by Major Buist. It was signed by Madame Bonnefous and 3 other women.

On March 21, an officer came to ask us if we wanted to go home. If so, they had to be ready in 20 minutes. Most of the French women did not want to leave because they wanted to take their belongings with them. Three Belgians and 2 French women took the truck with me which took us 67 km. where we found free English prisoners. They lived in an apartment that had been given to them by the Russian Commander.

When the English had to leave the city, I went to see him accompanied by an interpreter (an Italian who spoke Russian very well and a little French). I explained my case and that of my companions. He told me that I couldn’t leave without having passed the interrogation and the medical examination, but he called the doctor straight away and made us go through the interrogation. So we left with the English; we stayed 5 days in a cattle car.

After 5 days, we arrived at a camp from which we left the next day to reach Odessa. We stayed on the train for 15 days and our only food was [uncooked] meat and black bread. Fortunately the English soldiers found some straw and drilled a hole in the roof of the wagon, through which we passed [a] pipe, which allowed us to cook our meat. When we arrived in Odessa, we found the English mission. We stayed in Odessa until we boarded for Marseilles 11 days later. The trip only lasts 5 ½ days.

2. FO 950/3106 NAZI PERSECUTION CLAIM: MRS KATE BONNEFOUS (NEE ROBINS).

A letter setting out the basis for a financial compensation claim.

50 Avenue de Wagram
Paris XVII, France
May 12th 1965.
The Foreign Office
London W1

Dear Sirs,
I herewith enclose my application form re the Nazi persecution indemnity with a few documents proving my declaration.
Should you need any further information perhaps you will kindly let me know.

Yours truly
Kate Bonnefous

Arrested at Lilbourne 2nd of December 1940 on my way back from Marseilles where I had been to verify if all the British I had sent there were getting away to England.

Imprisoned in the dungeon at Bordeaux then later taken to Paris prison, Cherche-Midi, for Court Martial, where I was sentenced to death with the confiscation of everything I owned in France. Death sentence was eventually suspended and I was taken to Germany handcuffed on June 4 1941.

I was deported to following prisons and concentration camps – Treves (Trier), Ziegenhein, Cassel, Hamburg, Hanover, Lubeck where I was sentenced to be shot after the publication of the book by my friend “Paris Underground” finally to Jauer (Silesia) where I was delivered by the Russians on March 3rd 1945. Then taken by them to Lignitz, Katowitz and Odessa five weeks in cattle trucks and practically no food.

In Odessa March 22nd 1945 I found British officers who put me on a Norwegian boat under British command, destination Marseilles, finally Paris April 27th 1945. The British officers had my name and very kindly cabled my family that I was alive.

It is useless I think to enumerate all the tortures I went through (illegible word) just a few of the worst. Petrol burnt in my hands to get information and because the Gestapo couldn’t get a word from me. Two attacks of appendicitis from being kicked operated as soon as I arrived in France. Displaced kidney and vertebrae and lumbar region always very painful also from kicks and being beaten. Broken instep bone after a beating with an iron rod. Chronic bronchitis and pulmonary troubles from sitting in a soaking wet cotton dress after 20 minutes’ walk in the courtyard in pouring rain etc etc. Teeth all battered out by their enormous prison keys. Ulcers (stomach) from punches.
I am still an ill woman today, was in London hospital Jan 1964 from bronchitis and pulmonary trouble and all the month of November 64 for my eyes ruined through working 15 hours a day and in winter with insufficient light. Have now been in Hospital here with renewed ulcer troubles.

These two officers will give you any information you need on my activities
Major General Derek Lang War Office

Colin Hunter (then a Captain), Radbrook Cottage, Binfiels Heath, nr Henley (Oxon). Hidden in my flat 5 weeks with others.

FO 950/3106 also includes the formal application forms as well as the result of the claim when Mrs. Bonnefous received £1,360. While Mrs Bonnefous had received confirmation of her claim and an interim money payment she died before the full amount was made available.

Lang and Hunter both served in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Captured at St Valery in June 1940. Both officers reported missing/POW but reported “now not Prisoner of War” in British Army Casualty Lists by the end of 1940. Their escape reports can be found at the UK National Archives in Catalogue Reference WO 3301.

3. WO 208/5452 AWARDS TO CIVILIAN HELPERS OF BRITISH SERVICE PERSONNEL: NOS 829-1051.
   RECOMMENDATION BY D.W.I. for AWARD of M.B.E. (Civil)
   Name in full; – Madame Kate BONNEFOUS
   Nationality: – French by marriage.
   Date and place
   of Birth: – 5 August 1886 – England.
   Occupation: – None.
   Grounds for
   recommendation: – Helped Allied evaders.
   Address: – 2 Rue Blany d’Avrincourt, Paris 17.

RECENT HISTORY

Madame BONNEFOUS did a great deal of excellent work for British escapers and evaders during the earlier party of the war. As a member of the Red Cross she was able to go into the unoccupied zone. In this way, she was able to collect evaders from various parts of the country and convey them to her home in Paris. Madame BONNEFOUS sheltered, fed and clothed the men, provided false papers and money from her own pocket, and did everything in her power to help them. In addition, she arranged for their conveying and safe passage into unoccupied France, thus ensuring their eventual freedom.

For her great service to the Allied Cause Madame BONNEFOUS was arrested in November 1940 and deported shortly afterwards; she has now been repatriated after spending over four years in Germany.

Madame BONNEFOUS showed, at all times, superb courage, loyalty and a very real devotion to the Allied Cause.

4. The DAILY MIRROR 3 JUNE 1942

Life gaol for English woman

Mrs Kate BONNEFOUS, an Englishwoman, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nazis for helping escapes from Occupied France.

The news was brought by Mrs. Etta Shiber, an American, who has been exchanged.
Mrs Bonnefous’s brother, Mr. Leonard A.C. Robins, of Linden House, Church-road, Hendon, an engineer, told the Daily Mirror last night:
“My sister is a woman of fine character and courage.”
“The Germans would not have caught her if she had not returned to Paris when she heard that her friend, Mrs. Shiber, was in the hands of the Nazis.”

Son in French Navy.
Mrs. Bonnefous married a French vineyard owner at the age of 20. She is now 51.
“She has lived in Paris most of the time since she was married” Mr. Robbins added. “She has a son who is now about 30. He was in the French Navy submarine service at the outbreak of the war and was in France when the Germans walked in, but I believe he managed to get away.”
“I visited my sister in Paris shortly before the war.”

5. The PEOPLE 4 NOVEMBER 1945

Tortured for Saving Airmen

BRITISH HEROINE OF 60 WHO DEFIED GESTRAPO

Scores of Allied Service men, including British airmen shot down in raids over France, owed their freedom to a sixty-years-old English-woman who, in spite of tortures at the hands of the Nazis, refused to disclose the secrets of the “escape organisation” of which she was the leader.
She was Mme. “Kitty” Bonnefous, grey-haired, English-born wife of a Parisian wine dealer whose brother lives at Linden House, Church-rd., Hendon.

Twice the Nazis court-martialled her and sentenced her to be shot, but the sentence was never carried out.

During one of her trials the president of the court, a German general, stood up and said:
“Madame, if I had a hat, I would salute such courage and indifference to fate.”

In November, 1940, the Gestapo captured her in Marseilles, where she had gone to make sure that Allied Servicemen her organisation had liberated were safely “passed on.”

PETROL ON HER HANDS

From then until her delivery by the Red Army on February 12, 1945, she endured Nazi brutality and Gestapo tortures in prison cells and concentration camps at Ziegenheim, Cassel, Hamburg Hanover, and Jauer, in Silesia.

The Gestapo poured petrol on her hands and ignited it and then broke the blisters. They ground-out burning cigarettes on the backs of her hands. They beat her, and for days gave her only a crust of black bread and one cup of water.

A combination of ingenuity, sangfroid and charm was responsible for many of Mme. Bonnefous’s personal coups.

Sometimes, wearing the uniform of an American volunteer driver, she went by car to hospitals and jails where there were English prisoners.

She smuggled Lieut. Colin Hunter, of the Cameron Highlanders, out of the military prison at Doullens while one of her friends chatted with the commandant.

She got five other Englishmen out of hospital in Doullens by placing her car over a coal hole in the courtyard so that they could scramble through and hide in the back of the car.

Once, when she had a wounded English corporal hidden under a rug in the back of the car, two German officers asked for a lift to Paris.

She replied that there was a fragile parcel in the back and asked them to crowd into the front seat with her. They did; she drove to Paris and the corporal got safely back to England.

MADE HOLE IN CELL

The commandant, a huge, Prussian-type Nazi, agreed when she asked to take chocolate, soap and “goodies” to the prisoners – and offered to get some chocolate and soap for his own men.
When she complained about the difficulty in obtaining petrol, he personally escorted her to the German dump where he obtained 50 litres of petrol for her from the army stocks.

Once she had access to the citadel, she brought the Englishmen towels in which money and other necessities were sewn.

She was rewarded when they whispered, “God bless you, Kitty. Don’t forget to come back.”
Even in prison, the courageous Englishwoman carried on her work.

Nearing some French workmen building a bathroom outside her cell, she scraped at the wall behind her plank bed with a penknife and spoon for 19 days until she made a hole big enough to squeeze trough.

When the German guard was at lunch, she pushed through into the room where the Frenchmen were and gave them messages for members of her organisation – and five Englishmen who had been hiding in Paris were able to make their way to freedom.

When the Germans discovered the hole, which they thought was an escape device, she was punished with 31 days in a dark cell on a diet of bread and water.

6. PARIS UNDERGROUND

[Wikipedia accessed January 2024]

Paris Underground is a memoir written by Etta Shiber in 1943. The book was later made into a film with the same name in 1945.

The book discusses Ms. Shiber’s experiences helping British pilots trapped behind enemy lines escape from Nazi Germany during World War II. In the book, Ms. Shiber refers to her French colleague who helped shelter British pilots as “Kitty Beaurepos” to hide her identity, since the war was ongoing at the time of publication. The real name of “Kitty Beaurepos” was “Catherine (Kate) Bonnefous (nee Robins).”

Both Shiber and Beaurepos (Bonnefous in real life) were captured by the Germans after their underground operation helping British pilots was discovered by the Germans. But in May 1942, Shiber was freed in a prisoner swap with the United States in exchange for Johanna Hofmann, a German who had been convicted of spying in the U.S. The book does not reveal whether “Beaurepos” (Bonnefous) actually survived the war or not, as the author did not know herself at the time of publication in 1943. In fact, Bonnefous actually survived the war after being captured by the Germans.

Shiber died in 1948.

The book Paris Underground is available at https://archive.org/details/parisunderground001966mbp/page/n19/mode/2up

[accessed January 2024}

[Author’s notes: The Service historique de la Défense, Caen holds a file relating to Kate BONNEFOUS, file reference number AC 21P 713027. This file concerns itself with her recognition as a Désportês Résistant by the French Ministère des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre.

The file lists her imprisonments as:
– Fresnes 19 June 1941 to 7 July 1941
– Ziegenheim 8 July 1941 to 15 October 1942
– Cassel [now Kassel], Hamburg, Hamburg 16 October 1942 to 12 November 1942
– Lübeck-Lauerhof women’s prison 17 November 1942 to 8 May 1944
– Jauer (Silesia) 12 May 1944 to February 1945

Her being sentenced to be held Nacht und Nebel. Nacht und Nebel , meaning Night and Fog, also known as the Night and Fog Decree, was a directive issued by Adolf Hitler on 7 December, 1941 targeting political activists and resistance “helpers” in the territories occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, who were to be imprisoned, murdered, or made to disappear, while the family and the population remained uncertain as to the fate or whereabouts of the alleged offender against the Nazi occupation power. Victims who disappeared in these clandestine actions were often never heard from again.
Her liberation by the Red Army on 15 February 1945.
her arrival at Marseilles on 23 April 1945.

Buist was part of the British liaison team in Odessa while liberated British prisoners of war arrived there. Amongst his tasks was conducting of interviews and the feeding of intelligence to The British Military Mission/Embassy in Moscow for onward transmission to London. His report on Mrs. Bonnefous has not been found in the UK National Archives FO and WO Series.
The Norwegian ship would be the Bergensfjord which departed Odessa 18 Apr 1945 and arrived at Marseilles 23 Apr 1945. The repatriated on-board consisted of 346 Belgian and 2011 French nationals.]

Read about some of the men she helped