Josette Duval

Josette Duval died peacefully in her sleep on March 17, 2003, at the age of 78. Her funeral was attended by over a thousand people—including the Mayor of Sainte-Mère-Église, a representative from the German embassy (to whom the village priest had to explain that Josette had requested “no flags, no uniforms, just flowers”), and five women in their seventies who each claimed that Josette had saved their lives, either as infants or as refugees.

Josette Duval's extensive body of work features a diverse array of pieces, each one showcasing her profound talent. Among her most remarkable works is "The Blue Room," a poignant painting that exudes a sense of serenity and solitude. This piece has been the subject of much debate among art historians and critics, who often see it as a reflection of the artist's own inner turmoil. josette duval

In the small, windswept village of Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, there is a stone house at the end of Rue des Rosiers that locals still call La Maison des Revenants —The House of the Returned. For forty years, it was the home of , a woman whose life was a testament to survival, secrecy, and stubborn grace. To the outside world, she was the village midwife and herbalist. To those who knew her story, she was a living scar from the Second World War, a woman who had crawled out of a mass grave and dared to build a garden on top of it. Josette Duval died peacefully in her sleep on

Today, La Maison des Revenants is a small museum dedicated to civilian resistance in WWII. The herb garden still grows. And every June 6th, someone places a single white rose on the mass grave outside town—not for the dead, who have enough flowers, but for the living who crawled out. Among her most remarkable works is "The Blue