Denise Meunier

Denise Meunier
Born	(1918-01-06)6 January 1918 1st arrondissement of Paris, France
Died	16 December 2022(2022-12-16) (aged 104) Moirans, France
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Schoolteacher Resistance fighter
Political party	PCF

Denise Meunier (6 January 1918^[1] – 16 December 2022) was a French schoolteacher and resistant.^[2]

Biography

Meunier was born in the 1st arrondissement of Paris on 6 January 1918 to a sommelier father and a café cashier mother. Her parents settled in Rouen after her birth.^[3] In 1935, she began training as a teacher and graduated in 1938. She began teaching in a small village before moving back to Rouen.

At the start of the 1940 school year, Meunier was sent to Dieppe in the midst of the German occupation. There, she met Valentin Feldman and Marie-Thérèse Lefèvre, with whom she published underground at L'Avenir normand [fr]. After Feldman's death, she joined Francs-Tireurs et Partisans as a liaison agent for Roland Leroy.^[4]

After World War II ended, Meunier was briefly in charge of the Jeunesses communistes, replacing Roland Leroy, before returning to her job as a schoolteacher in Canteleu and later in Grenoble.^[5] In Isère, she joined the Association nationale des anciens combattants et ami(e)s de la Résistance [fr] alongside Pierre Fugain [fr], where she became departmental president in 2010.

Meunier died in Moirans on 16 December 2022, at the age of 104.^[6]

Distinctions

• Knight of the Legion of Honour (2014)^[7][8]
• Medal of the city of Dieppe (2013)^[6]
• Medal of the city of Moirans (2021)^[9]

References

1. "Denise Meunier, une figure de la Résistance, n'est plus". 18 December 2022.
2. "Dieppe: une résistante a fêté ses 100 ans". Paris-Normandie (in French). Dieppe. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
3. "" Je veux vous aider. "". Cairn.info (in French).
4. Pueyo, Véronique; Demagny, Victor (29 April 2015). "Denise Meunier, Iséroise, 97 ans, a voté pour la première fois en 1945". France Bleu (in French). Retrieved 24 December 2022.
5. "La résistante Denise Meunier se souvient..." Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). 29 May 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
6. Potier, Loïc (21 December 2022). "L'ancienne résistante dieppoise Denise Meunier est décédée". Paris-Normandie (in French). Dieppe. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
7. Weber, Veronique (8 January 2014). "Denise Meunier promue Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur". Actu.fr (in French). Dieppe. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
8. David, Annie (27 June 2014). "Denise MEUNIER résistante, honorée". Communist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist group (in French). Retrieved 24 December 2022.
9. "Résistante et prisonnière de guerre, Denise Meunier a reçu la Médaille de la Ville". Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). Moirans. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2022.