Marie Depage

Marie Depage

Marie Depage , née Marie Pauline Picard (born September 23, 1872 in Ixelles , Belgium ; † May 7, 1915 in the Atlantic ) was a Belgian diplomat who campaigned for humanitarian aid to war victims during the First World War .

Beginnings

Marie Depage was one of four children of the engineer Désiré Émile Picard and his wife Julie Marie Victorine (née Héger). On August 8, 1893, she married Antoine Depage (1862–1925), the surgeon for King Albert of Belgium and chairman of the Belgian Red Cross . Together they had three sons, Pierre, Lucien and Henri.

Even as a young woman, Marie Depage felt the desire to help sick people and those in need of care and therefore trained as a nurse. On October 1, 1907, Depage founded Belgium's first medical school, the "L'École Belgian d'Infirmières Diplômées" in Brussels. She chose the English nurse Edith Cavell as director, and she took over the administration of the finances herself. In 1912 Antoine Depage sent medical assistance to the Balkans . Dr. Depage himself traveled to Turkey and was accompanied by his dedicated wife and their eldest son. Marie took over the management of the Tach Kicha hospital, where 1200 wounded were cared for.

In war

When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the Belgian royal family realized that Belgium did not have adequate means of providing Belgian soldiers with adequate medical care in an emergency. This task was entrusted to Antoine Depage, who immediately set about converting the plush Ocean Hotel in the Belgian city of La Panne into a hospital that quickly enjoyed a good reputation.

Antoine Depage went to Le Havre , France with King Albert in late 1914 , where his wife followed him two months later. Appointed special ambassador by the Belgian Queen Elisabeth , Marie Depage went on a lecture tour to the United States in the spring of 1915 , where she visited cities such as Washington, DC , San Francisco and Pittsburgh and spoke about her honorable tasks in Belgium - in the hope of financial support. Gradually, she raised over $ 100,000 in donations. Everywhere Marie went, she met with a lot of sympathy with her charming, warm manner, her altruism and her sense of humor.

On the Lusitania

While working in America, Marie learned that her 17-year-old son Lucien was to be sent to his brothers at the front. She made the fastest route to New York to take the next ship to Europe - the RMS Lusitania . On May 1, 1915, Marie Depage went on board the luxury liner, which was supposed to arrive in Liverpool on May 8 . She occupied the first-class cabin E-61. On board she met the American doctor Dr. James T. Houghton, whom she was able to get enthusiastic about in no time at all. On May 7, the Lusitania near Kinsale , southern Ireland , was torpedoed by the German submarine U 20 and began to sink. Marie Depage and James Houghton tried to calm frightened children and their sometimes hysterical mothers, but they didn't have much time. They jumped together from the port side of the heeling ship, which rose about 20 meters due to the heavy list.

Both were caught in the ship's suction and nearly drowned, but managed to get to the surface. They quickly lost sight of each other in the chaos. The last Houghton saw of Depage was get tangled in ropes and disappear. Her body was found, identified by her husband and buried in De Panne .

Posthumously

Edith Cavell and Marie Depage Monument in Ukkel .

When the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania heard of the violent death of the diplomat who had recently visited the city, Marie Depage was made an honorary citizen. The Lusitania survivor Theodate Pope later praised Marie's fearless demeanor during the sinking ( "The look in her eyes showed dismay, but also courage." ). On October 12, 1915, Marie's friend Edith Cavell was brought before a German firing squad and executed for smuggling Allied soldiers into the neutral Netherlands . Antoine Depage continued to work as President of the Red Cross, became a promotional face for the Belgian National League Against Cancer and was ultimately elected Senator . He died in 1925.

To this day, Antoine and Marie Depage, like Edith Cavell, are regarded as national heroes in Belgium.

Web links

Commons : Marie Depage  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Mrs Antoine Depage (Marie Picard) , The Lusitania Resource