Alice Deschamps is known as the ‘Alice’ of the French Resistance and was a key player in the development of the French Resistance. She was a devoted fighter against the Nazis and throughout her life was to help save as many people as possible from the advancing German forces. It was her efforts that resulted in the formation of the resistance; as well as her bravery and loyalty to her fellow resistance members which ultimately resulted in her being named as a Resistance hero. She ended up becoming a very important member of the French resistance group and even played a crucial role in the resistance against the German occupation in Algeria.
Alice Deschamps worked hard throughout her adult life to maintain her beauty, her physique and her identity as an independent woman and it was this all encompassing work ethic which finally led to her choosing to be a writer. She achieved some measure of success in writing but was never really able to call herself a writer; she was, however, an avid reader who enjoyed reading literature of various nationalities. In fact, her love of literature was so great that when the war broke out in 1940, she literally packed her bags and left France for good. She went to live in America where she joined the Women’s Army Corps and served in the internment camp at Lackland Air Force Base, outside San Antonio. However, after the war she returned to France and became a writer.
It was on one occasion that she decided that enough was enough with her job as a writer and decided that she would like to try a different avenue in her work. This was not the usual route for a writer at the time; usually the path to a publisher or agent was often blocked by her physical appearance. This time it did work and Deschamps was asked to be a contributing editor to a literary magazine. This was a huge step forward in her career and set her on her path to become one of the most beloved and respected writers of our time. It was also at this point in her life that she met her future husband, Bernard Kalbag, whom she had been dating since they were both student students at the University of Paris studying art. The two married and four children were born to the couple.