Éveline Geneviève Anna Garnier was born on 6 May 1904 in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.[2] Her mother was Jeanne Julie Gabrielle (née Maritain) (1875-1955)[3] and her father was Charles Marie Georges Garnier (1869-1956), professor of English literature and language at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, Inspector General of Public Education and a writer.[4] Her maternal grandmother, Geneviève Maritain (née Favre) (1855-1943), was a feminist and pacifist, the daughter of philosopher and educator Julie Favre and statesman and lawyer Jules Favre. Her maternal uncle was the philosopher Jacques Maritain, who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism in 1906[5] and later designated her as his principal legatee.[6]
Her parents, both Protestants, divorced shortly before the First World War.[7]
Éveline Garnier was the partner of another member of the French Resistance, Andrée Jacob, whom she met in the Christian circles around her uncle Jacques Maritain.[8][9]
She worked in close collaboration with Claude Bourdet within the Combat movement, working across intelligence, recruitment, organisation, and direct action. She also worked with Father Foussard, within the Comet Line, which rescued and repatriated Allied airmen that were shot down on French soil.[6][10]
Garnier became deputy secretary general of the Noyautage des administrations publiques (NAP) network in September 1943, working with her partner Andrée Jacob, (code name Danielle). From March 1944 Garnier was head of the NAP network.[10] She also helped to save Jews by making false papers for them.
