Catherine Dior | |
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| Born | Ginette Dior 2 August 1917 Granville, Manche, France |
| Died | 17 June 2008 (aged 90) Callian, Var, France |
| Other names | Miss Dior |
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| Organization | F2 Network (1941–1944) |
| Known for | Acts of resistance against Nazi Germany during World War II |
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Ginette Dior (2 August 1917 – 17 June 2008), better known as Catherine Dior, was a French Resistance fighter during World War II. Involved with the Franco-Polish intelligence unit F2 from November 1941, she was arrested in Paris in July 1944 by the Gestapo, then tortured and deported to the Ravensbrück women concentration camp. Dior was subsequently forced to work in the Torgau military prison, in the Buchenwald's satellite camp of Abberode, and finally in a factory near Leipzig. After her release in April 1945, she was awarded several medals of honour for her acts in the Resistance, most notably the Croix de Guerre, the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom, and the Legion of Honour.
After the end of the war, Dior spent the remainder of her life working with flowers: first as a flower trader in Paris, then as a flower farmer in Provence for the production of fragrance. She was close to her brother, the well-known couturier Christian Dior. Launched in 1947, the perfume Miss Dior is often said to have been named after her by Christian.[1] Catherine Dior helped preserve her brother's legacy after his death in 1957, and she became the honorary president of the Christian-Dior Museum from 1999 until her death in 2008, aged 90.