German lozenge tin with contents

Small tin pill box painted in dark orange and green. The box contains a tiny wooden cotton reel with some white cotton attached, a black plastic button, still with some black thread attached; half a steel razor blade, a bent sewing needle and a tiny fragment of mirror. (Component parts: tin, cotton reel, fragment of razor blade, fragment of mirror, bent needle and button)

This small tin, with its contents, was given to Mrs Odette Hallowes GC MBE L d'H, by a German woman in Karlsruthe Prison when Odette was on her way to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. This was Odette's sole possession during her last year of captivity in Ravensbruck. Mrs Odette Marie Celine Hallowes (see Sansom) (28 Apr 1912-13 Mar 1995). Lieutenant Officer Odette Marie Celine Sansom (nee Brailly), Women's Transport Service (FANY)/Special Operations Executive (SOE, F Section), was born in France on 28 April 1912. In 1931, she married an Englishman and came to live in Britain. She was recruited by SOE in the spring of 1942 and, after training, was sent to Vichy France in October. In April 1943 she and her colleague Peter Churchill were arrested. Despite prolonged interrogation and torture, she refused to reveal any information. After a year in French prisons, including Fresnes Prison, Paris, Mrs Sansom was taken to Germany in July 1944 and interned in Ravensbruck concentration camp. There she was held in solitary confinement in a cell without light or heat but still refused to co-operate with her captors. Although she was sentenced to death, the Germans' belief that she was married to Peter Churchill and thereby related to Winston Churchill (Peter Churchill was not related to the Prime Minister), prevented them from carrying out the execution. On 3 May 1945, shortly before the German surrender, she was escorted across the Allied lines to safety. Odette Sansom, who later married Peter Churchill, was awarded the George Cross on 20 August 1946, the first woman so honoured. Later, as Mrs Geoffrey Hallowes, she became prominent in her old service, the WTS (FANY), and was on the Committee of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. Mrs Hallowes, a national figure in Britain and a living symbol of the French Resistance, died in Surrey on 13 March 1995.

(a) Gonosan-NAME GESETZLICH GESCHUTZT -J.D.Riedel-E.de Haen A.G. Berlin (b) Willy B Munchen (c) Gonosan enthalt 20% Resina Kawa-Kawa (0,06 g) und 80% Oleum Santali D.A.B. 6 (0,24 g) Dosis: Taglich 3-5 mal 2 Kapseln nach dem Essen zu nehmen. J.D. Riedel -E. de Haen A.-G. Berlin