Hélène Leune

Hélène Vitivilia Leune (Constantinople – 18 May 1940, Vitry-le-François), also known by the pen name Lène Candilly, was a French writer of Greek origin, traveler, war correspondent, and decorated Red Cross nurse. Hélène Vitivilia was a Greek from Constantinople. She studied in the faculty of history at the Sorbonne in Paris and graduated in 1909. It was likely there that she met her future husband, Jean Victor Charles Edmond Leune, who graduated from the same faculty in 1912. On 7 February 1911, Vitivilia married Leune in Paris, at the townhall of the 16e arrondissement in Paris. Leune was an intrepid traveler throughout her life. For example, she visited Athens and Kérassunde (Giresun), Turkey in 1911. Jean and Hélène Leune travelled to the Balkans where he was sent as a journalist (grand reporter) for the Parisian newspaper L'Illustration during the First Balkan War in 1912–1913. Hélène was also a correspondent for l'Illustration and le Figaro. She was cited in articles and books until 1919 as "Mrs. Leune," "Mrs. Jean Leune", or "Mrs. Hélène Leune." The couple arrived in Greece in mid-October 1912 to cover the imminent war. After temporarily residing in Athens, they left that city on 27 October for Larissa to follow the Greek Army. After the Greek Army took Thessaloniki, Hélène and her husband travelled to Preveza to follow the Army of Epirus. The Leunes arrived in Preveza on 24 November 1912. They accompanied the Greek Army in the field in different campaigns, and their many articles and photographs provide a vivid testament to the valor, horrors and hardship of that war from the perspective of both combatants and civilians. The Leunes both contributed chapters to the book Dans les Balkans, 1912–1913 : récits et visions de guerre, that describe their wartime experiences. Leune was a friend and compatriot of Eleftherios Venizelos. Leune served as a volunteer nurse with the Red Cross in France during World War I. She arrived in Cambrai at the French front on 6 August 1914, where she worked at the hospital on rue Léon-Gambetta.