I am Herbert Stolpmann and created my own Blog as I was unable to get a satifactory answer from others as to the fate of of Andre Borrel., she was no doubt French of humble background and worked in a Bakery in Paris were she joined the Resistance, was bertayed and fled via Spain and Portugal to England where she was after sceening trained as a SOE Agent and sent back to France and cought by the Gestapo.This must have been in 1943/44. Assuming that there was insufficient evidence against her and the Gestapo was after the actual working cell, she was sent to Dachau and lived with the Bielmeier Family who had a Bakery there, where she worked. She was very popular not only with the men, but with the entire family.Her entire profile fits.
As usually when all was known, she was taken away and executed. but no one knows for certain if it took place in Dachau or in Natzweiler. Other records show this was the case, but this is doubtful.
As I am married to Edith Bielmeier at that time 12 years old as well as other living Bielmeiers, the subject of her fate comes always up. All of them seem to think the execution took place in Dachau. In fact the Gestapo did not record all Women Agents that were eliminated either by the bullet or the rope.. Whoever took part in her last hour are certainly dead by now,however, if anyone knows more about her I would like to hear from him or her.
As for myself I lived in Camp Dachau Hse 52B for almost 10 years, prior to my migration to New Zealand
What exactly is your wife's family's story concerning this woman called Andre (Andrée?) Borrel? What precisely did they know about her? Because as far as I know, there is no evidence of the SOE agent Andrée Borrel having been at Dachau.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's family had a bakery in Dachau,which was also used by KZ Inmates to bake their bread during night-shifts. When Andree Borrel arrived I do not know, but there is evidence that a Wachmann took 4 foreign women from the train station into the camp.It was normal practice for business people to request help from the KZ. I can only guess Andree was on "probation" until sufficient evidence was gathered until her sentence was carried out. Dachau KZ as a rule did NOT keep women and she lived in a second story room of the Bielmeier house. She was engaged to an SS-man, for which he would have had permission to marry an "Agent" unless he was a "plant". Members of the SOE or Resistance to be executed by the Gestapo were not necessarily registered in any records,there is sufficient evidence of that. If she had survived towards the end of the war, we believe she would have made contact. Neither do we accept the official version she was killed at Natzweiler.
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