This House pays tribute to Wellington-based Special Operations Executive Agent, Odette Hallowes GC MBE Legion d’Honneur, 1912-1995, her sense of duty in infiltrating Nazi occupied France to support the Resistance, her integrity in leaving the sanctuary of Somerset for the country of her birth, her bravery in loyally enduring torture at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp and her resilience in outwitting Gestapo executioners; recognises Cllr Nancy Powell-Brace for promoting Odette’s memory in the town; congratulates Court Fields School and Headteacher Polly Matthews on the recent naming of Odette Hallowes Hall; thanks granddaughters Sophie Parker and Caroline Biddle for their support; and celebrates Odette’s conviction that she was an ordinary woman who despite experiencing brutality always believed in the potential nobility of the human spirit and who, in the face of Naziism, fought for justice, freedom and peace.
