The niece of the wartime French general Charles de Gaulle, at age 19 de Gaulle-Anthonioz joined the French Resistance against the Nazis. After three years, she was betrayed and arrested by the Nazis. She spent two years in the Ravensbruck concentration camp before being liberated by the Russians.
After the war, de Gaulle-Anthonioz helped establish the Association for Deported and Imprisoned Resistance Fighters, and was the first woman awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. “She symbolized the spirit of the Resistance,” said President Jacques Chirac when he heard of her death. She died February 14 in Paris at 81.