Vicky

In the chapel and graves of young Russians who died for France during the 1939-1945 war, a memorial plaque commemorates Princess Vera Obolensky (Vicky in the French resistance). She is the daughter of the vice-governor of the city of Baku.

The family emigrated to Paris during the Russian Civil War in 1920. At nine years old, she received a Nansen passport. After her studies, she found work as a model in Russian fashion houses in Paris, then became a secretary. In 1937 she married Prince Nicholas Alexandrovitch Obolensky (1900-1979).

From the start of the occupation of France in June 1940, Princess Vera Obolensky joined a French resistance group “Civil and Military Organization”, the most important movement in the northern zone. This movement is responsible for intelligence and for evacuating British prisoners of war abroad. Quickly, Princess Obolensky, nicknamed Vicky, became general secretary of the organization and participated in coordination actions. From 1943, she also helped Soviet prisoners. She became part of the Free French Forces in the summer of 1943 and created the Union of Russian Patriots.

She was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1943, imprisoned, interrogated and tortured. After the Americans landed in Normandy, Vicky was transferred to Berlin. “I was born Russian, I spent my whole life in France, I do not want to betray my homeland, nor the one who gave me asylum. I am a Christian and a believer, that is why I cannot be anti-Semitic..." declared Princess Vera Obolensky during her interrogation at the Gestapo. Beheaded at Plotzensee prison (Berlin) on August 4, 1944. Her body was never found.

In 1958 she posthumously received the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre. In November 2000, President Putin paid tribute to her by placing a rose on her grave during his visit to the cemetery.