Ravensbrück Rose Planted in St Peter ’s Square

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To honour resistance fighter and long-time resident Selma van de Perre

Selma van de Perre. Picture: SPRA

June 15, 2026

A new planting in St Peter ’s Square, Hammersmith, will bloom as a living memorial to Selma van de Perre, the Dutch resistance fighter and Ravensbrück concentration camp survivor who lived for more than fifty years in Black Lion Lane. The Ravensbrück Rose, a symbol of remembrance and resilience, was planted this June to mark her extraordinary life and legacy following her death in October 2025 at the age of 103.

Selma van de Perre was one of the founder members of the St Peter ’s Residents Association (SPRA) and a familiar figure in the local community. Born in Amsterdam in 1922, she joined the Dutch resistance after her family was arrested during the Nazi occupation, working under false names as a courier carrying newsletters, food stamps and forged identity papers. Betrayed and captured in 1944, she was deported to Ravensbr ück concentration camp, where she endured brutal conditions before liberation in 1945. After the war, she settled in London, studied at the London School of Economics, and worked as a teacher at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic girls school in Hammersmith and journalist for the BBC and Dutch media. Her autobiography My Name is Selma was published in 2020, and she was later honoured with the Resistance Memorial Cross and the Order of Orange-Nassau.

The rose planted in her memory carries its own remarkable history. The Ravensbrück Rose, formally known as Rosa ‘R ésurrection ’, was created in 1973 by French rose breeder Michel Kriloff at the request of Ravensbrück survivors, including Marcelle Dudach-Roset. It was conceived as a living tribute to those who risked their lives for freedom. “To create a rose is to give time to time,” Kriloff said in 1975, describing the flower as a symbol of renewal and remembrance.

The rose’s lineage traces back to an earlier act of international solidarity. In 1955, a “Garden of Peace and Friendship ” was opened in Lidice, a Czech village destroyed by Nazi forces in 1942. The garden was the result of a global campaign led by British MP Sir Barnett Stross, who launched “Lidice Shall Live ” to rebuild the village and fill its memorial garden with roses sent from 32 countries. Three years later, former Czech prisoners brought 150 roses from Lidice to Ravensbr ück, planting them on the camp ’s mass grave to mark the anniversary of liberation. The Ravensbr ück Rose grew from that gesture of hope and remembrance.

Since its creation, the Résurrection rose has been planted at memorial sites across Europe — in Paris, Lidice, Norway and Germany — as a symbol of peace and endurance. Its arrival in St Peter ’s Square connects Hammersmith to that wider network of remembrance, honouring both Selma van de Perre ’s courage and the international legacy of those who resisted tyranny.

The planting was organised by members of SPRA and local residents who wished to commemorate Selma’s life in the neighbourhood she loved.

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