Ashley Valanzola, *When She Remembered: Seven Women Who Transformed French Holocaust Memory*. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2026.

Send us Fan MailThis monograph presents a connected group of seven prominent women, ranging from notable figures such as Simone Veil to memory activist Sabine Zlatin, who have played a crucial role in shaping Holocaust memory in France from 1945 to the present. Most of these women initiated their memory work immediately after the war by offering testimonies at trials of perpetrators and during the establishment of memorials.Over the following decades, their endeavors transformed from individual memory projects into extensive, politically significant initiatives. Through their long-term engagement with Holocaust memory, these seven individuals ensured that the experiences of Jewish women were integrated into the larger narrative of wartime history. In doing so, they purposefully shifted the French discourse on the Holocaust from a concentration on victimhood and resistance to highlighting female agency in the struggle for survival during Nazi occupation.Together with other activists, these women emerged as political figures, urging the state to address the legacy of French complicity in the deportation of Jews. By utilizing a variety of archival materials, as well as cultural artifacts and oral histories, this study effectively demonstrates why the themes of gender, resistance, and memory remain profoundly relevant in French history.