Seventy-five years ago, on a dark day at the end of January, Violette Szabo, the World War II heroine, was executed alongside fellow SOE agents, Denise Block and Lilian Rolfe. The exact date is unknown but Rosemary Rigby, the founder of the museum opened in Violette’s honour at Wormelow, Herefordshire, told the Ross Gazette that she will be saying a few silent prayers for the three woman, and for another agent, Cecily Lefort who also perished at Ravensbruck a short time after.

Norman Smart, a supporter of the museum who has attended many of the memorial gatherings and photographed the events for Rosemary, will also be paying a special tribute. He is planning to travel to Ravensbruck to lay four red roses on the lake where their ashes were dumped following the cremation of their bodies.

During this anniversary year Rosemary will continue her work at the museum and particularly in fundraising for the new extension to the museum which will be called Violette’s Reading Room. Rosemary is very grateful for a donation she recently received as a legacy from someone who visited the museum and was impressed by the work Rosemary has done to preserve the memory of this brave woman.

She hopes that the extension to the museum will enable visitors to study some of the material on display more closely.