Marie-France Cabeza-Marnet

born on November 19, 1948 in Puteaux (Seine), administrative officer, currently retired.

Daughter of Angèla Cabeza (Dezember 28, 1915 in Spain - December 21, 1992 á Fleury-Mérogis, France, deported to Ravensbrück for participating in the resistance against the German occupiers: May 1944, then Zwodau (Flossenbürg concentration camp) - May 8, 1945

Interview

Treasurer of the IRK

Marie-France Cabeza, Foto: privat
Marie-France Cabeza, Foto: privat

A curriculum vitae of my professional life can never capture my path, rich in human encounters and knowledge gained. As an atypical civil servant, as once referred to by a mayor, I have always preferred the human in my everyday professional life. Not only in my professional life, my family roots have made a decisive contribution to my active commitment to human rights, against war and discrimination since my youth. In addition to this professional part, my roots, my family have certainly forged my intuitive militancy since my youth, involved in various and diversified associations for the defense of rights, against war, against discrimination ...

I am the daughter of Angela CABEZA, who was deported to Ravensbrück, Flossenburg and Zwodau after several stays in prison. In 1948 she returned home and became a nursing assistant in the rehabilitation center "Jean Moulin" of the "Fédération Nationale des Déportés et Internés, Résistants et Patriotes" in Fleury-Mérogis. There she was involved in the care and reintegration of former deportees.

My father was Francisco MARTIN PRIETO, whose real name was Enrique SIERRA MARTIN, a Spanish republican and an underground fighter in the Ariège and Pyrenees who was granted asylum in France. Especially after the death of my mother, I began to deal more and more with the subject of deportation and became a member of the association in 1992.

Since 2000 I have been concentrating particularly on accompanying former deportees to events at schools, high schools and also in prisons. There they tell their story to children, adolescents and adults. It goes without saying that I consider it a privilege to visit various prisons and concentration camps and explain the history together with the young winners of the “National Resistance and Deportation Competition”. By exchanging ideas with the deportees or their children, we enable interesting encounters and strong emotional moments.

I would like to end my little presentation with my membership in the Ravensbrück association, to which I have been a member since 2008. Here I had the great privilege to take part in the project "Resurrection", the rose of Ravensbrück. This rose is unique. It is a symbol of peace, resistance, loyalty and vigilance. Values ​​that are mine and always have been. The “1000 rose bushes” initiative in 2015 and the encounter with German mayors who are proud to share this pacifist initiative were particularly successful. In 2014, Marie Jo wished to share the reins of the club. She proposed my candidacy to Congress. Since then, I have had the great honor of being the first co-president of the later generations since it was founded in 1945.

Our association is part of the International Committee, in which I have been responsible for financial management together with Françoise Marchelidon since 2018.

We are proud to be the successors of those unique women. We will stand up for peace and against racism with dignity. We oppose creeping fascism, revisionism and the deniers of the Holocaust. Our members - including survivors - stand by our side!