Solange Sanfourche | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 July 1922 Carsac-Aillac (Dordogne), France |
| Died | 12 June 2013 (aged 90) Sarlat-la-Canéda (Dordogne) |
| Other name | Marie-Claude |
| Occupation | WWII Resistance operative |
| Spouse | Édouard Valéry (1924–2010) |
Solange Sanfourche (18 July 1922 – 12 June 2013), alias Marie-Claude, was a French Resistance fighter in Dordogne during World War II.
She was born in Carsac-Aillac (Dordogne), France.
In December 1945, Sanfourche married in Périgueux, Édouard Valéry (1924–2010), commissioner of operations in the Dordogne region for the resistance movement during World War II.
Known by the code name Marie-Claude, she worked as a typist, secretary, mail carrier and liaison officer. During the German occupation, the Sanfourche family hid and housed dozens of clandestine freedom fighters in Périgueux who were wanted by occupying forces and the Gestapo. The militia of the occupied-French government called Vichy France was led by marshal Philippe Pétain under the orders of Victor Denoix from 1943.
Beginning in August 1943, fascist officer Michaël Hambrecht took under his command the unsavory North African phalanx around Périgueux, which would become notorious for its countless atrocities and massacres including those at Brantôme en Périgord, Mussidan, Sainte-Marie-de-Chignac, Saint-Germain-du-Salembre and Cornille. It was on 15 August 1944, that the German troops started their offensive, followed by Operation Dragoon. Périgueux was liberated on 19 August 1944.
Sanfourche died at 90 on 12 June 2013, in Sarlat-la-Canéda (Dordogne).