Fernande Volral, a name you may pass by on your journey, without knowing the story behind it. Yet it pays tribute to a young woman who, at just 23, chose to risk her own life to defend freedom. 

Born in 1920, Fernande Volral moves to Jette at the beginning of the Second World War. A milliner by trade, but she quickly joins the Resistance. She starts out as a liaison agent, carrying messages, then weapons, before taking parts in acts of sabotage with the Armed Partisans. 

In February 1943, she is arrested after being betrayed. When the Gestapo comes to arrest her at her home, she fights back. Armed, she wounds a German agent before being overpowered. She is imprisoned in Saint-Gilles, then deported to Germany and sentenced to death. 

On 7 August 1944, she writes her mother to tell her about her sentence. She asks her to be brave and to look after her young brother. “Soon the world will be free”, she writes. Fernande is executed that same day, alongside Marguerite Bervoets. 

For years, her story remains largely unknown. Her brother Claude devotes much of his life to making sure her role in the Resistance is recognised. Today, a street in Jette and this bus stop keep her memory alive. 

Next time you pass by, remember this young woman who turned her youth into a fight for a free world.