Danielle Mitterrand

Danielle Émilienne Isabelle Mitterrand (née Gouze; 29 October 1924 – 22 November 2011) was the wife of French President François Mitterrand, and president of the . Life Danielle Émilienne Isabelle Gouze was born on 29 October 1924 in Verdun, in the Meuse. Her father, Antoine Gouze (1885–1958), was a college principal. Her mother, born Renée Flachot (1890–1971), was a teacher. Her parents were secularists, Republicans and French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) activists. In 1940, Antoine Gouze refused to list the Jewish students and teachers at his college and was dismissed by the Vichy government. He then moved to Cluny where he gave private lessons. From 1940–1942, her family regularly housed members in hiding of the Resistance Combat network, including its leader, Henri Frenay. Her family aided the French Resistance and helped lodge members of the Maquis. Following her sister Christine, she joined the French Resistance when she was seventeen; she was later awarded the Resistance Medal. She also became a liaison officer in the Resistance. She met François Mitterrand there and married him on 28 October 1944, three months after the Liberation. Mitterrand had three sons: Pascal (b. 1945; died aged two months), Jean-Christophe (b. 1946) and Gilbert Mitterrand (b. 1949).