Cécile Cerf

In 1959, Cécile Cerf organised a soirée to honour the Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem at the Sorbonne, and a large-scale conference at UNESCO at the exhibition in honour of the Aleichem's centenary. Cécile Cerf translated many novels by both classical and modern Yiddish authors totally unknown to the French public for the Presse Nouvelle Hebdomadaire (PNH). She also translated poetic texts from popular melodies.

During the Second World War, Cécile Cerf's husband became a prisoner of war in Germany. Cécile Cerf was on her own bringing up a young child, born at the start of the war. Nonetheless in 1942 she joined the resistance against the Nazi occupation. In December 1942, she joined the ranks of the Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTPF), a grouping which subsumed the French Forces of the Interior, in the Paris region. From 1942 until the liberation, Cécile Cerf served the resistance continuously and doggedly, with growing and multiple responsibilities in French territory. At first she acted as a liaison agent. She participated in saving Jewish children, in finding lodging for the armed fighters of the FTPF, and in the supply of combat groups. She stood out particularly for her participation in the arms and supplies transports which allowed the realization of several operations, notably that of 17 January 1944 when a train carrying enemy troops was derailed near Bellay.

From May 1944, Cécile Cerf became the head of FTP-MOI in the zone Nord for the establishment of patriotic militias. She was specifically with the Paris region and the departments of l'Yonne and the Côte d'Or.

From August 1943 until May 1944, Cécile Cerf was recruited as part of the FTP-MOI management among the French resistance in the zone Nord. She was put in charge of developing women's resistance activity, including within immigrant communities (Polish, Italian, Spanish). During this period, she recruited many women who serves as liaison agents.

In late 1943, she set up an underground printing press at Châtenay-Malabry in the home of another woman resistance member. This press, of which she took leadership, ran until May 1944, editing and printing copies of many tracts and underground newspapers of the resistance Front national.

In 1932, Cécile Cerf pursued her schooling in Paris. After a brief time at the Lycée Victor-Duruy, her political convictions drove her to abandon her studies in order to live an authentic working-class life. She married Marcel Cerf in 1934, became French, and opposed the rioters of 6 February 1934.

Cécile Cerf (12 January 1916 – 29 December 1973) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II.