Date of birth:

August 5th, 1913 (Vaucresson, France)

Date of death:

January 26th, 1973 (Cretingham Woodbridge, Great Britain)

Nationality:

French

Ernest Gimpel was mobilised at the beginning of the war and took part in the Battle of France in Normandie, Loire, Dunkerque area. After the fall of France he began doing clandestine work in the Marseille area. He was arrested, escaped and continued his resistance activities in Grenoble but was arrested again. Once again he escaped and travelled to Gibraltar and arrived in London where he joined the Free French Forces and subsequently the BCRA (Bureau central de renseignement et d'action or French Secret Service). After training he was parachuted in November 1943 back to France where he worked in the Paris area under the pseudonyms Charles Beauchamps, Cercle and Doucet.
Arrested and tortured by the Gestapo he survived Buchenwald, Auschwitz and Flossenburg.

After the war he emigrated to the UK and began an art gallery 'Gimpel fils'.

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• - Ernest GIMPEL | L'Ordre de la Libération et son Musée
  - IWM Collections | Imperial War Museums