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2 unusual facts about Fresnes Prison


Fleury-Mérogis Prison

Fleury-Mérogis is one of the three main prisons of the Paris area, the Fresnes Prison (the second largest in France) and the La Santé Prison (located in the centre of Paris) being the other two.

Frank Pickersgill

In March 1944, Pickersgill tried to escape the Parisian Fresnes Prison where they were being held, attacking a guard with a nearby bottle, and throwing himself out the second-storey window.


Corinne Luchaire

After World War II, Corinne attempted suicide then escaped to Sigmaringen, Germany and Merano, Italy, but she and her father were arrested in May 1945 and imprisoned at Fresnes.

Nacht und Nebel

The prisoners were often moved apparently at random from prison to prison such as Fresnes Prison in Paris, Waldheim near Dresden, Leipzig, Potsdam, Lübeck and Stettin.

Odette Hallowes

Churchill's operation in France was infiltrated by Hugo Bleicher, an Abwehr counter-intelligence officer, who arrested Odette and Churchill at the Hotel de la Poste in Saint-Jorioz on 16 April 1943 and they were then sent to Fresnes Prison.

The Starr Affair

Subsequently captured, tortured and imprisoned in Fresnes prison, at 84 Avenue Foch and in Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen concentration camps.


see also