By the age of 16, Dominique Darbois joined the French Resistance through the Cincinnati network. After being interned as a Jew at the Drancy camp from 1942 to 1944, she took part in the liberation of Paris, with weapons in her hands, as soon as the camp was reopened. In October 1944, she joined the regular army and took part in the liberation of France and was later sent to Vietnam. Once demobilized, she returned to Paris and became the assistant of French photographer Pierre Jahan (1946-1947) with whom she made the last photo report on André Gide. After the Tumuc-Humac expedition in French Guiana (1951-1952), she published « Les Indiens » and « Parana le petit Indien », the first of a 20-book series named “Les Enfants du monde”. She also made photo reports travelling over 50 countries, bringing back dozens of books about archaeological sites, rock paintings, popular arts and traditions. In 1958-1960 she jointed the Jeanson network which supported the National Liberation Front (FLN) during the Algerian War. In 1960, she was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison and went into hiding and lived in exile until 1966. Upon the request of the Algerian provisional government, she made a report in Tunisia presenting the training of FLN soldiers and published « Les Algériens en guerre » in 1961, a book that was banned in France. In Belgium from 1960 to 1962 she led what remained of the Jeanson network. Amnestied, she kept on reporting until the 1980s and produced a rich documentation about Algeria. In 1986, she became parliamentary secretary to Yvette Roudy, former Minister for women's rights and took an active role in the defense of these rights. She also set up women's Masonic lodges all around the world.
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