Cécile Cerf Cécile Cerf ( 12 January 1916 – 29 December 1973 ) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II . During World War II , Cerf played an active role in the Main - d ' œuvre immigrée groups under the aegis of the FTP - MOI resistance movement . In the post - war period , she co - founded the " Commission centrale de l ’ enfance " devoted to taking care of orphans from the Holocaust . Biography . Cécile Cerf was born in the city of Vilna . At that time in Russia , the city was renamed Wilno on passing to Polish hands , and became Vilnius after the Second World War . Vilna was a major Jewish cultural centre : traditionalism and modernism , mysticism and marxism , Zionism and anti - Zionism co - existed . It was in this effervescent intellectual and artistic climate that Cécile Cerf performed her tumultuous studies . Elder daughter of Moshe Shalit , Cécile Cerf spoke several languages , and at the age of 14 , without fear of the violent repression , she joined the student revolutionary action against the Polish military dictatorship . 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 . 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 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 . 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 . Cécile Cerf performed her missions on a bicycle , specifically transporting the templates for underground tracts to the departments which she visited . During the same period , she performed missions in the Saône et Loire , organising the resistance among women by aiding the Maquis . After the war , Cécile Cerf co - founded the " Commission Centrale de l ’ Enfance " along with six other resistance members from the " Union des juifs pour la Résistance et l ' Entraide " ( UJRE ) associated with the MNCR . Children ' s houses and fosters for teenagers were set up to receive the orphans who had escaped the genocide . Pedagogues , educators , leaders and inspectors were trained to deal with accepting the children . Cécile Cerf was the first administrator of the newspaper " Droit et Liberté " . Named editorial secretary of the progressive Yiddish daily " Naie Presse " ( New Press ) , her goal was clear : the preservation of a language and culture , and the defense of republican freedoms . As manager of the " Renouveau " bookshop , she regularly held meeting of writers from all backgrounds to animate her encounters with the readership . 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 . Cécile Cerf strove for dialogue between cultures , for an independent Algeria , against the wars in Indochina and Vietnam , and for the defense of the oppressed , wherever they were .