Elisabeth Maxwell

Elisabeth Jenny Jeanne "Betty" Maxwell (née Meynard; 11 March 1921 – 7 August 2013) was a French-born researcher on the Holocaust who established the journal Holocaust and Genocide Studies in 1987.[1] She was married to publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell from 1945 until his death in 1991 when the family soon came under scrutiny for his business dealings, especially his responsibility for the Mirror Group pension scandal.[2][3] Later in life, she was recognized for her work as a proponent of Interfaith dialogue and received several awards including an honorary fellowship from the Woolf Institute at Cambridge.[4]

Elisabeth Maxwell
Born
Elisabeth Jenny Jeanne Meynard

(1921-04-11)11 April 1921
La Grive, France
Died(2013-08-07)7 August 2013 (aged 92)
Dordogne, France
NationalityFrench
British
EducationOxford University, 1981
OccupationHolocaust researcher, proponent of interfaith dialogue
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1945; died 1991)​
Children9, including Christine, Isabel, Ian, Kevin and Ghislaine

Early life

Maxwell was born Elisabeth Jenny Jeanne Meynard in La Grive, near Saint-Alban-de-Roche, France, to Louis "Paul" Meynard and Colombe (née Petel) Meynard.[1][5] Paul Meynard was a Protestant descendant of the Huguenot upper class and Colombe Meynard was a Roman Catholic (whose marriage to a Protestant resulted in her excommunication).[6] Her father Paul owned a silk-weaving factory and was the mayor of the village.[7][8][9] She had one sibling, an older sister, Yvonne.[5] Her parents sent her to England at age nine to attend the convent of Our Lady of Compassion at Acocks Green in Birmingham.[6] In 1932, she returned to France. Meynard studied law at the Sorbonne.

Family

In September 1944, after the Liberation of Paris, she met Czechoslovakian-born British Army Captain Robert Maxwell, while working as an interpreter for the 'Welcome Committee', which introduced French people to allied officers; they married on 15 March 1945.[1] She then worked as his secretary and assistant in London as he established his publishing empire.[1] The Maxwells had nine children: Michael, Philip, Ann, Christine, Isabel, Karine, Ian, Kevin and Ghislaine. All of Maxwell's children were delivered by her sister Yvonne, a gynecologist, in Maisons-Laffitte, France.[6] Two of the children died in childhood: daughter Karine died in 1957, at age three, from leukemia, and son Michael entered a coma following a car crash in 1961; he died six years later without regaining consciousness.[10] At first, the family lived on a budget, but later moved into a mansion at Broomfield, Esher.[1] Starting in 1960, the family lived at Headington Hill Hall where the offices to Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press were also located.[11][6]

Education and career

In her forties, Maxwell worked in public relations for her husband's company and campaigned for him in the general election of 1964; he was elected as the Labour MP for Buckingham. She then earned a BA degree in modern languages at St Hugh's College, Oxford.

In 1981, at the age of 60, Maxwell was awarded a PhD in French Literature from the University of Oxford for her thesis on The art of Letter Writing in France, 1789-1830.[12][13] Her thesis work focused on researching a Protestant circle in Lyons.[14]

Maxwell researched her husband's Jewish relatives who perished under Nazi rule, and discovered they amounted in total to over 300 of his immediate and extended family.[12][15][16]

In 1988, Maxwell organized a conference in both Oxford and London, titled "Remembering for the Future".[6] That same year, she received the Sir Sigmund Sternberg award for furthering Christian-Jewish relations.[1] Maxwell authored a book on antisemitism titled Silence or Speaking Out, published in 1990 by Southampton University.[17]

Maxwell's husband, Robert, was found dead, floating in the waters of the Canary Islands near his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in November 1991. Following his mysterious death, evidence emerged that Robert Maxwell had plundered his employees' pension funds from the Mirror Group.[2][3][18] Her sons, Ian and Kevin, were arrested on fraud charges in June 1992[19] and later acquitted in January 1996.[18]

It is believed she knew nothing about the missing pension funds; she was left financially severely depleted after his death.[12] Yehuda Bauer, a fellow Holocaust historian, stated that after Robert Maxwell's death "Elisabeth lost her pension, all her property, and only her children continued to support her. She was a wonderful person, kind and supportive, quite contrary to her husband, whom she loved despite everything."[20]

Following the pension scandal, Maxwell reportedly left the UK and spent time at her chateau in France.[1] She returned to Britain after the Duke of Westminster "let her a four-bedroomed townhouse at a peppercorn rent".[1]

Maxwell's autobiography, entitled A Mind of My Own: My Life with Robert Maxwell, was published in November 1994.[21] In a 1995 interview with The New York Times, she reflected on her marriage stating "The worst years of my life were 1981 to 1991. I was at his beck and call with no kudos, nothing was right. What saved me was my work on the Holocaust."[22] In her seventies and early eighties, Maxwell traveled and lectured widely on Holocaust studies.[6]

Maxwell was an editor for the book Remembering for the Future: the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide, a comprehensive work including the contributions of nearly 200 scholars, published in 2001.[23][24] According to BBC News, Maxwell served as the executive chairman of the Remembering for the Future organization and was the opening speaker for the London conference Evil and Indifference: Is there an End to Genocide? held at Westminster Hall in July 2000.[25] She was on the Executive Committee of the International Council of Christians and Jews and founded the International Conference on the Holocaust.[23]

Maxwell was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Woolf Institute at Cambridge for her work to improved relations between Christians and Jews.[26][4] She was further recognized with an Honorary Fellowship at Tel Aviv University, and the Anne Frank Institute's Eternal Flame Award.[4]

Death

Later in life, Maxwell spent most of her time in France with her sister Yvonne.[6] She died on 7 August 2013 at the age of 92 in Dordogne, France.[1]

References
  1. The Times Elisabeth Maxwell Obituary 10 August 2013 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/elisabeth-maxwell-97fv8p9s6ht Retrieved 28 August 2019
  2. Greenslade, Roy (3 November 2011). "Pension plunderer Robert Maxwell remembered 20 years after his death". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  3. Cohen, Roger (20 December 1991). "Maxwell's Empire: How It Grew, How It Fell -- A Special Report.; Charming the Big Bankers Out of Billions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  4. Jacobs, Gerald (19 December 2013). "Celebrating fierce woman, Elisabeth Maxwell". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  5. APOTHÉLOZ, Christian. "Elisabeth Jeanne Meynard Betty: Family Tree". Geneanet. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  6. "Betty Maxwell Obituary". The Telegraph. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  7. Elisabeth Maxwell, Expert on Holocaust, Dies at 92
  8. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/maxwell-meynard-elisabeth-1921
  9. Martin, Douglas (8 August 2013). "Elisabeth Maxwell, Expert on Holocaust, Dies at 92". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  10. Rampton, James (28 April 2007). "Maxwell was a monster - but much more, too". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  11. Stevenson, Tom (29 May 1993). "Maxwell home sold - with tenant: Tycoon's widow may stay at Headington another six years". The Independent. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  12. Martyin Childs "Betty Maxwell: Widow of media tycoon who became a respected Holocaust scholar", The Independent, 11 August 2013
  13. Barwick, Sandra (25 October 1994). "The beast and his beauties: Robert Maxwell mesmerised and bullied women". The Independent. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  14. May, Alex (2014). "Obituaries 2013, Elisabeth Maxwell". Oxford Today. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  15. Friedman, Jeanette (4 September 2013). "Elisabeth Jenny Jeanne Meynard Maxwell". Jewish Link of New Jersey. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  16. Hourican, Emily (17 October 2016). "Robert Maxwell: legacy of 'The Bouncing Czech'". Independent. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  17. Maxwell, Elisabeth (1990). Silence Or Speaking Out. University of Southampton. ISBN 0854323929.
  18. "The way is still clear for a tyrant and a fraud". The Independent. 20 January 1996. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  19. MacAskill, Ewen (19 June 1992). "Maxwell's sons arrested on fraud, theft charges". Washington Post. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  20. Bauer, Yehuda (13 August 2013). "Remembering Elizabeth Maxwell". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  21. Diski, Jenny (26 January 1995). "Bob and Betty". London Review of Books. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  22. Witchel, Alex (15 February 1995). "At Lunch With: Elisabeth Maxwell; Questions Without Answers". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  23. "Holocaust expert Elisabeth Maxwell dies at 92", Times of Israel, 9 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013
  24. Roth, John K.; Maxwell, Elizabeth, eds. (2001). Remembering for the Future: the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-80486-5.
  25. "Causes of genocide probed". BBC News. 21 July 2000. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  26. "Woolf Institute Annual Report 2009-2010" (PDF). Woolf Institute, Cambridge, UK. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
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