An American Heroine in the French Resistance: The Diary and Memoir of Virginia D'Albert-Lake

Editor's Note

EDITOR’S NOTE The handwritten wartime diary of Virginia d’Albert-Lake did not survive, but fortunately, Philippe d’Albert-Lake typed out the diary after the war. The original typescript is in the possession of Virginia’s son, Patrick d’Albert-Lake. Occasionally, in order to enhance the diary’s readability, spelling and grammatical errors have been silently corrected. In a few instances, the diary entry dates were not correct and they, too, have been silently corrected. Given the difficult conditions under which Virginia wrote the diary, it is not surprising that spelling and grammatical errors, although rare, did occur. Likewise, it is understandable that Virginia occasionally misdated her diary entries. Immediately following Virginia’s reunion with Philippe in May 1945, she began writing a memoir of her last eleven months as a kind of letter to her mother, who had recently died. She completed her memoir in 1946. The original typescript is in the possession of Patrick d’Albert-Lake. Here, too, for the sake of readability, a few spelling and grammatical errors have been silently corrected. The chapter divisions for both the diary and memoir have been added and were not part of the original materials. Explanatory footnotes that provide historical context and identify key persons, places, and events have also been added to both. The documents in the appendixes are reproduced verbatim. ...