Yvette Pierpaoli

Lore & Background

Pierpaoli was born the fifth child of an Italian father and a French mother. She left school at fifteen and worked as an office clerk, during which time she became interested in amateur radio and was one of the first French amateur radio operators. After a confrontation with her father in 1958, she left home for Paris. There she had a love affair with a Kampuchean medical student and gave birth to a daughter. In 1967 she traveled to Cambodia with her baby daughter. In Phnom Penh she became a businesswoman selling small planes, tractors, chemicals, and trading rice. By 1974, as refugees poured into Phnom Penh fleeing the Khmer Rouge, she devoted much time to helping refugee children, adopting one and supporting many others. She became head of Continental Air Services, Inc in Cambodia, which flew between Phnom Penh and Bangkok on behalf of the U.S. Embassy and other organizations. A journalist described her as 'an adventurer with a big heart, works for the CIA,' though Pierpaoli denied working for the CIA, although the CIA was a source of funding for Continental. In 1974 she met author John le Carré in Phnom Penh. After the Khmer Rouge victory in April 1975, she moved to Bangkok and began visiting refugee camps on the Thai border, bringing food and medicine and taking refugees into her house. In 1979, when the Thai government forcibly repatriated thousands of Cambodian refugees, she and American Lionel Rosenblatt rescued as many as possible, especially at Preah Vihear where 40,000 Cambodians were pushed off a cliff into a minefield. In 1985 she returned to France and later founded a charity to help a village in Guatemala emerging from civil war. She became European Representative of Refugees International in 1992. On April 18, 1999, while on a mission to assist refugees from Kosovo, she was killed in an automobile accident traveling from Tirana to Kukës, Albania.

Reader's Guide

Pierpaoli's significance lies in her direct, hands-on approach to humanitarian work, often operating outside large organizational frameworks. She demonstrated that a single person could sometimes achieve what large organizations could not, as seen in her work in Guatemala where she rebuilt houses, dug wells, and returned land to cultivation. Her method was to act first rather than plan all elements in advance. Her work with Cambodian refugees during and after the Khmer Rouge period, including rescuing refugees from forced repatriation at Preah Vihear, highlighted the urgency of individual action in crisis situations. John le Carré dedicated his novel 'The Constant Gardener' to her, reflecting the impact of her life and work. Her legacy is that of a resourceful and frequently shameless businesswoman who used her skills to get food, money, medicine, and shelter to those in need, as described by le Carré. Her autobiography 'Woman of a Thousand Children' (1992) and her role as European Representative of Refugees International until her death in 1999 cemented her place in humanitarian history.

Did You Know?

• She was killed in an automobile accident in Albania while on a mission to assist Kosovo refugees.
• In 1979 she helped rescue Cambodian refugees at Preah Vihear where 40,000 were pushed off a cliff into a minefield.