Dorothy Janine. “Even today people try to impose on us the image of a submissive, gentle, silent woman”

Their names are Henriette, Renee, Marie. They are between 16 and 21 years old. In 1947, they were incarcerated in Fresnes prison, where they were crammed into unheated cells, dressed in ugly leather robes, and passed the time between bullying guards, mediocre meals and sewing work. Insolence, disobedience or even simple small words between them land them in jail. Some loved each other. Others have given birth and sometimes seen their babies die in prison. All this to steal trinkets, run away or flirt with boys. But on May 6, they revolted. They break down doors, abuse their guards, spill wine and chocolate looted from the commissary, and end up on the roof. 120 policemen will be needed to evict them.

At the time, the event caused a scandal, as quickly as it was forgotten. In his third novel. Rebellion of the Lost Girls (selected for the first list of the Goncourt Prize), a hybrid text between highly researched documents and fiction driven by a beating heart, Dorothe Janin gives them life, body and memory. During their shared history, the author traces the fate of each of these young women through injustice, violence, and love and thirst for freedom. A desire that is precisely because they are closed.

Witches

Madame Figaro: How did you get it? “meeting» these lost girls.
Dorothy Janin: I was reading a book about women’s crime. bad girls, where I came across a press headline, “Fresnes Prison. Drunk with blood and ether, they stone the guards.’ Obviously that got me. I had never heard of this rebellion. Nothing on the Internet. But at BNF I came across tons of old papers and slowly 1947. In May I found myself living a little. Then, researching in the administration archives, I found the entire investigation and everyone’s files. rebellious young girls. I also discovered the notebooks kept by the director of the institution. day by day, hour by hour, he wrote all the observations there, what they did, when they sent him to the cell. I started to find out their names, contact them. Then, when I went to look for their personal stories in the departmental archives, I was completely captivated.

Do you think this story has been forgotten or intentionally made invisible?
We wanted to silence these young girls. They were taken to the court on a sly basis, we made it so that the journalists were not there… They had the image of bad girls, and that’s why we considered their rebellion not legitimate, but a kind of deviation. There is a whole vocabulary in the press about this rebellion, which is witchcraft; we are talking about “sabbath”, “sarabands”. We labeled them, and this label prevented us from observing them.

Provocation as a weapon of rebellion

This label is due to their gender, the fact that they were women. But also their sexuality and the way they express it…
These young women were minors, locked away because they were thought to be deviant. Some had committed petty crimes, such as stealing a bicycle or a blouse from their boss. But for others, it was simply due to the love of hanging out with boys and going to balls or dance halls. Even before they were closed, they were heavily stigmatized. In prison, they formed very intense bonds of love and friendship, as well as physical bonds; there was homosexuality in the institution and it was disgusting. That’s why they were sent to prison, and the administration called them “perverts” all the time. At first I didn’t understand what this word meant, but we always talk about homosexuality. As I plunged into time, it hit me in the face. this terrible social judgment was placed on young girls who had a sexuality or were suspected of having a sexuality that did not conform to society’s vision.

They used this sexuality as a weapon in their rebellion, singing lewd songs or provoking the police and firemen. For what?
It is interesting to see the extent to which they used provocation, turning everything they were accused of into a weapon of rebellion and defiance. For example, they were not allowed to wear makeup in prison. But they scraped the walls to make powder, which they spread over their faces. As they scaled the walls, the roof, and firefighters arrived to pull them out with fire hoses, they stripped down and shouted, “Aim carefully!” It also reflects their humor. And this also means that instead of containing and enduring contempt, they deflected it.

Women have a really intimate battle to fight, and it has to take a collective form as well

Dorothy Janney

How does this story resonate with our times?
I find that we all deal with the problem of shame. We are all subject to the gaze of others, also the social gaze, our past, our feelings, our intimacy and especially young girls, because all this goes through the body, through sexuality. I think that women have a really intimate battle to fight, and that it also needs to take a collective form. We try to impose on ourselves the image of a “proper”, gentle, quiet woman. These young ladies made a fuss.

The issue of origins

The story unfolds through the characters of genealogist Elvir Horta, who is doing research for lawyer Serge Valery, whose mother was one of the rebels. Why did you introduce this artistic dimension?
I am a writer, I wanted to write fiction. I traveled to these young women. therefore I created characters that are in the same situation. Serge Waller, as his young son suffers from depression, is forced to investigate his background and discovers that his mother was one of the rioters. But he does so reluctantly because, as an abandoned child, he is completely self-sufficient and unwilling to look back on the past. These young women often came from broken families. it was after the war, they came from working class backgrounds, often very poor, with domestic violence, sexual abuse, absent fathers. Like him, these are characters who had to make themselves. He succeeded because he became a great lawyer. But if their path was different, they have the same freedom that comes from their solitude. Elviri, on the other hand, pursues the question of origins. His father died before he was born, this is my story that I used. At the age of 40, she realizes that she will not be able to be a mother and that her desire to pass on will not be through real genealogy. Through these young women, he discovers another genealogy. As well as through the rebellion and fight they waged for their own dignity as women.

These young women often came from broken families. it was after the war, they were working class, with domestic violence, sexual abuse, absent fathers.

Serge Valery’s portrayal of a ladies’ man and genius lawyer was inspired by real lawyers.
No, but, it is true, I have always been attracted by justice, the world of trials, its extremely strong dramaturgy. Great criminal lawyers are often figures. The interesting thing is that they have to have a different relationship with morality, in order to protect it, one must necessarily suspend one’s own judgment. So these are often characters who display great freedom of spirit. Serge Valer is a fictional being, especially with his personality. But I have read autobiographies of many lawyers, such as those of Emile Pollack, Roland Dumas, or Henri Torres, who was a great lawyer in the 1930s, a friend of Joseph Kessel.

You have done an impressive research job following the character of Elvir. Have you visited the Fresnes Building?
I saw it from outside, but I didn’t visit it. I didn’t even ask permission. It was still necessary to involve a little imagination. if I went too far in the documentation, the book would be 1,000 pages long, reality would completely invade and dominate the fiction, while I was really trying to strike a balance between the two. . But all historical facts are fully respected.

Your book is about rebellion. And you, what’s upsetting you?
Compliance and submission to others. This is what these girls were talking to me about, that there was some kind of message in their rebellion.