1920-1944
Fernande Volral, originally from Charleroi, was a young couturier who, from 1941 onwards, was actively involved in the resistance. Through the communist resistance leader Raoul Baligand, she became a liaison officer for the Armed Partisans (Partisans Armés). In 1942, she joined a resistance group in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, located at 10 rue de la Perle and affiliated with the Independence Front. Towards the end of that year, she led several daring sabotage actions.
On 23 February 1943, Fernande was arrested at home, after betrayal. She tried to defend herself with a firearm and wounded one of the two Gestapo agents who came to pick her up, but was still overpowered. Via the prison of Saint-Gilles, she was deported to Germany on 11 September 1943. She ended up in the prison of Leer, where she awaited her trial before the Volksgerichtshof.
On 26 March 1944, she was sentenced to death – together with her fellow resistance fighter Marguerite Bervoets. Both were transferred to Wolfenbüttel prison, where they were beheaded with an axe on 7 August 1944.
In her last farewell letter to her mother, dated 7 August 1944, Fernande wrote: “My little mother, I have sad news to tell you, please be brave. I have been sentenced to death. I will probably be executed tonight. You must think of my brother and endure the ordeal well. As for my little brother, tell him to be a man. That is all I ask of him. Soon the world will be free and it is for him, my little Claude, that I will have fought.”
Claude Volral, her younger brother, honoured her memory throughout his life. Until shortly before his death in 2020, at the age of 92, he campaigned for public recognition of his sister. Finally, in August 2020, a street in Charleroi was named after Fernande Volral, just like there is one in Jette. In Brussels, there is also a bus stop that bears the name of Fernande Volral.
Sources:
â—Ź Sudinfo, 20 februari 2020
â—Ź Krant De Morgen, 14 december 2024
â—Ź Ledenmagazine Helden van het verzet, maart 2025