Marguerite Bervoets (6March 19147August 1944) was a Belgian poet, teacher and member of the Belgian Resistance during World War II. She was arrested while carrying out resistance work and executed in Wolfenbüttel prison, in Germany.
Marguerite Bervoets was born in La Louvière. She was a graduate in philosophy and literature, and a poet. At the time of the German invasion of Belgium she was working as a teacher in Tournai. After the fall of Belgium to Nazi Germany, Bervoets began publishing the underground resistance paper "La Deliverance". She helped transfer intelligence to the Allied Powers.
On 8 August 1942 Bervoets and another resistance member, Cécile Detournay, went to the edge of Chièvres Airfield for the purpose of photographing newly installed anti-aircraft guns. They were both carrying a shopping bag and a camera, once they reached the edge of the airfield they began to take pictures. A few minutes later a German sentry caught them by surprise and escorted them both to an officer nearby. They both showed their shopping bags and claimed that they were going to a nearby farm to get some food and take pictures of the fields. Unfortunately the German lieutenant ordered an investigation. A woman, a prosecution witness, provided evidence that led to the indictment of Bervoets and the leaders of the group to which she belonged. At Bervoets's house they discovered weapons. She sensed her fate, and in high school she would often quote Maeterlinck, saying; "It is beautiful to when one sacrifices oneself, that sacrifice brings happiness to other men".
After a few months of incarceration in Mons, Bervoets and Detournay were deported to Germany for their fates to be decided by the Volksgericht (People's Court) of Leer. Bervoets' trial was held on the same day as that of resistance fighter Fernande Volral. Both Bervoets and Volral were sentenced to death, and Detournay to 8 years of forced labour.
Marguerite Bervoets and Fernande Volral were executed by "fallbeil" (German guillotine) on 7 August 1944 in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Cécile Detournay was liberated by US forces on 24 April 1945. Bervoets' family did not learn she had died until July 1945. She is buried in Mons communal cemetery.