Louisa Gould Explained

Louisa Mary Gould (7 October 1891 – 13 February 1945)[1] was a Jersey shopkeeper and a member of the resistance in the Channel Islands during World War II. From 1942 until her arrest in 1944, Gould sheltered an escaped Soviet forced labourer known as on the island of Jersey. Following a trial, she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp where she was killed in 1945.

Gould was posthumously named a British Hero of the Holocaust in 2010.

Life

Gould was born Louisa Eva Le Druillenec in St Ouen, Jersey, on 7 October 1891.[2] [3] [4] She was one of nine children of the seaman Vincent Le Druillenec.[5] For most of her life she ran a grocery store at La Fontaine, Millais in St Ouen.[6] [7]

Gould had two sons, Ralph and Edward, both of whom enlisted in the British armed forces during World War II.[8] Edward, an officer in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, was killed in action on HMS Bonaventure in March 1941.

Resistance

During World War II and the German occupation of the Channel Islands, the Nazis used captured Soviet servicemen as forced labour.[9]

Both Louisa Gould and her sister Ivy Forster sheltered escaped Soviet forced labourers. Beginning in late 1942, Gould hid an escaped forced labourer,, a pilot captured after his aircraft had been shot down.[10] Aware of the severe penalties for harbouring enemies of the Germans, Gould said simply, "I have to do something for another mother's son."[11] Gould hid Buriy inside her St Ouen home for 18 months.

Arrest, trial and death

In 1944 a letter informing the Germans about Gould sheltering a Russian was intercepted. Buriy, whom she called 'Bill',[12] was moved to the house of her sister Ivy Forster. In June 1944, the German Geheime Feldpolizei searched her house and found evidence of his stay at Gould's home. They found a scrap of paper that had been used as a Christmas gift tag, addressed to Buriy, and a Russian-English dictionary that he had used for practising his English.[13] [14] Louisa was arrested on 25 May and Ivy a week later. Buriy managed to avoid capture until the liberation of Jersey.[15] Their brother Harold Le Druillenec was later arrested as he had been seen visiting Louisa. All three were convicted. Gould was sentenced to two years in prison for harbouring Buriy, and for the possession of a radio which she had kept despite regulations requiring her to hand it in.[16] Louisa Gould and her brother Harold were initially jailed in France then sent to Nazi concentration camps. Ivy Forster was spared deportation on health grounds after a doctor pretended that she was suffering from tuberculosis; she instead served her prison sentence of five months and fifteen days in Jersey.[17] [18]

Gould was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Louisa Gould was murdered in the gas chamber at Ravensbrück on 13 February 1945,[1] two months before the camp's liberation.[19]

Harold Le Druillenec was one of only two British survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.[20]

Recognition

In 1995[21] a memorial plaque was unveiled in St Ouen, Jersey; Buriy, the former forced labourer from what had been the USSR, as well as Gould's son, Ralph, attended its unveiling. It was at this event that the two met for the first time.[22]

On 9 March 2010 the award of British Hero of the Holocaust was made to 25 individuals posthumously, including four Jerseymen, by the United Kingdom government in recognition of UK citizens who assisted in rescuing victims of the Holocaust. The Jersey recipients were Gould, Ivy Forster, Harold Le Druillenec and Albert Bedane.[23] [24] [25] It was, according to historian Freddie Cohen, the first time that the UK Government recognised the heroism of Jersey islanders during the German occupation.[26]

Film

Gould's story is depicted in the 2017 film Another Mother's Son, based on a script by Jenny Lecoat, Gould's great-niece. Gould was portrayed by Jenny Seagrove.[27]

Notes and References

  1. In Another Mother's Son, between the end of the story and the start of the cast list, there are a few frames with photos and details of the main characters and what happened to them after the point at which the story in the film ends. The details for Louisa Gould give her precise date of death: 13 February 1945. (Viewed on DVD, where there was time to note this.)
  2. Web site: The true story of Louisa Gould. 14 March 2017. Jersey Tourist Information Centre. 17 March 2017.
  3. Book: Paul Sanders. The ultimate sacrifice: the Jersey Twenty and their "offenses against the occupying authorities", 1940–1945. 1998. Jersey Museums Service.
  4. Book: Société jersiaise. Annual bulletin. 1999.
  5. Paul Sanders (2004) The ultimate sacrifice: The Jersey islanders who died in German prisons and concentration camps during the Occupation 1940–1945, pp65–71
  6. Book: Barry Turner. Outpost of Occupation: The Nazi Occupation of the Channel Islands 1940–45. 25 April 2011. Aurum Press. 978-1-84513-724-3. 165–.
  7. Web site: Archives and collections online. Jerseyheritage.org. 17 March 2017.
  8. Web site: Mourning her own son, the mother who hid a Russian PoW from Nazi occupiers, and made the ultimate sacrifice. India. Sturgis. 19 March 2017. 22 November 2017. Telegraph.co.uk.
  9. Web site: John Nettles: 'Telling the truth about Channel Islands cost me my friends'. Julie. Carpenter. 5 November 2012. Express.co.uk. 17 March 2017.
  10. Web site: People of the Occupation – Jersey War Tunnels. 17 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170902010530/https://www.jerseywartunnels.com/explore-history/people-of-the-occupation/. 2 September 2017. dead.
  11. Book: Glynis Cooper. Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Jersey. 2008. Casemate Publishers. 978-1-84563-068-3. 161–.
  12. Book: Paul Sanders. The British Channel Islands Under German Occupation, 1940–1945. 2005. Paul Sanders. 978-0-9538858-3-1. 130–.
  13. Book: Madeline Bunting. The Model Occupation: The Channel Islands Under German Rule, 1940–1945. 24 July 2014. Random House. 978-1-4735-2130-8. 209–.
  14. Book: Peter Tabb. A Peculiar Occupation: New Perspectives on Hitler's Channel Islands. 2005. Ian Allan. 978-0-7110-3113-5.
  15. Book: Gilly Carr. Paul Sanders. Louise Willmot. Protest, Defiance and Resistance in the Channel Islands: German Occupation, 1940–45. 19 June 2014. Bloomsbury Publishing. 978-1-4725-0813-3. 195–.
  16. Book: Lyn Smith. Heroes of the Holocaust: Ordinary Britons who risked their lives to make a difference. registration. 5 January 2012. Ebury Publishing. 978-1-4481-1812-0. 103–.
  17. https://www.frankfallaarchive.org/people/louisa-mary-gould/ Louisa Mary Gould née Le Druillenec
  18. Web site: Louisa Gould . 2023-09-26 . Jersey War Tours . en.
  19. News: Major film to tell the story of Jersey heroine's bravery. Jersey Evening Post. 17 March 2017. 17 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170317235031/http://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2015/11/14/major-film-to-tell-the-story-of-jersey-heroines-bravery/. dead.
  20. News: Stars bring story of Jersey heroine gassed by Nazis to big screen. The Times. 17 March 2017. Bruxelles. Simon de.
  21. Web site: Archives and collections online. Catalogue.jerseyheritage.org. 17 March 2017.
  22. Book: David W. Moore. The Other British Isles: A History of Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, Isle of Man, Anglesey, Scilly, Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands. 8 November 2005. McFarland. 978-0-7864-8924-4. 239–.
  23. Web site: Blake . Heidi . The remarkable stories of Britain's Heroes of the Holocaust . https://web.archive.org/web/20161201081442/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/britain-at-war/7406043/The-remarkable-stories-of-Britains-Heroes-of-the-Holocaust.html . dead . 1 December 2016 . 10 March 2010 . 17 March 2017.
  24. Web site: Gordon Brown honours British Holocaust heroes. Thejc.com. 3 November 2021.
  25. News: Courage of four Island heroes. Jersey Evening Post. 17 March 2017. 17 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170317144128/http://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2010/03/09/courage-of-four-island-heroes/. dead.
  26. Senator is a driving force behind move for international recognition, Jersey Evening Post, 9 March 2010
  27. Web site: Date set for Occupation-based film premiere. Bailiwickexpress.com. 17 March 2017.

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