Honouring Violette Szabo GC - secret agent, courier and one of the bravest women of the Second World War. Discover her story, the museum that keeps her memory alive, and the agents who served alongside her.
About Violette Visit the MuseumA small museum in the Herefordshire countryside, built through years of fundraising to tell the story of Violette Szabo and the resistance workers who gave their lives for our freedom.
The Violette Szabo Museum opened its doors in June 2000 and was the brainchild of Rosemary Rigby MBE, Violette's aunt. Years of fundraising and collecting artefacts from those who knew or served with Violette came to fruition that day.
The life of Violette Szabo is much in evidence, alongside the stories of resistance workers and the history of Ravensbrück concentration camp.
Violette was born Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell in Levallois, Paris, on 26th June 1921, to an English father and a French mother.
Devastated by the death of her husband Etienne at El Alamein, Violette joined the Special Operations Executive as a field operative and courier, parachuting into occupied France.
R J Minney's book, and the acclaimed 1958 film starring Virginia McKenna, tell the true and moving story of Violette's bravery during the Second World War.
Both remain among the most powerful accounts of the women who served behind enemy lines.
The museum is located in Herefordshire in the grounds of a small house named Cartref, where Violette spent many happy childhood days and stayed between her missions to France during the war. It opens every Wednesday, April through September.
