Virginia Hall, WW2 Spy in Nazi-Occupied France - Most Decorated Female Civilian: Women's Hist. Month
- Women's History Month, 'The Most Dangerous Spy.' Ed. The most decorated female spy during World War II was Virginia Hall (1906-1982). Born to a wealthy Baltimore, Md. family, she could have followed a traditional path. Instead, after college stints at Radcliffe and Barnard, and time spent in Paris, Hall set her sights on becoming an ambassador. The State Dept. rejected her application several times and would not name the first female ambassador until 1949.
In 1933, Hall suffered a hunting accident that resulted in gangrene and a wooden leg prosthesis. Later she joined British intelligence and was sent into Nazi-occupied France in 1941. Posing as a reporter for the NY Post, Hall slipped notice of the Gestapo, who likely could not believe that a limping woman could be dangerous. A gifted spy, Hall organized French resistance fighters and found them safe houses and supplies. Ultimately, the infamous Nazi, Klaus Barbie, "Butcher of Lyon," was onto "the limping lady." Hall eventually left France for Spain, walking 50 miles with a wooden leg over the Pyrenees Mountains...
https://news.uark.edu/articles/63664/women-s-history-month-the-most-dangerous-spy
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Nikolaus Barbie (25 Oct. 1913 25 Sept.1991) was a German officer of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisonersprimarily Jews and members of the French Resistanceas the head of the Gestapo in Lyon...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie
- Retired female spies ask for Virginia Hall to get Medal of Honor. Scripps News, Feb. 2023.
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- 'A Woman of No Importance Finally Gets Her Due,' NPR, April 18, 2019. Ed. Now, more than 70 years after Virginia Hall's wartime exploits in France, and almost 40 years after her death - Hall is having a moment. Three books have just come out. Two movies are in the works... https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/711356336/a-woman-of-no-importance-finally-gets-her-due
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- Wiki, Virginia Hall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Hall
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SISTERHOOD OF Spies exhibit, International Spy Museum, Virginia Hall, Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Mata Hari, Harriet Tubman, Julia Child, more.
https://www.spymuseum.org/exhibition-experiences/sisterhood-of-spies/
niyad
(113,095 posts)cross-posting it in Women's Rights And Issues? Thanks in advance.
appalachiablue
(41,105 posts)niyad
(113,095 posts)appalachiablue
(41,105 posts)- Butcher of Lyon, the Hunt for the Notorious Gestapo Chief.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie
- Nazi Hunters, Serge and Beata Klarsfeld
Serge Klarsfeld (born 17 Sept. 1935) is a Romanian-born French activist and Nazi hunter known for documenting the Holocaust in order to establish the record and to enable the prosecution of war criminals. Since the 1960s, he has made notable efforts to commemorate the Jewish victims of German-occupied France and has been a supporter of Israel...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Klarsfeld
LearnedHand
(3,387 posts)It was an excellent telling of her story. I highly recommend it.
appalachiablue
(41,105 posts)Aristus
(66,294 posts)Excellent account of an extraordinary women.
The passage about her ordeal through the Pyrenees with an injured leg is nothing short of astonishing.
Dulcinea
(6,604 posts)I can't wait to start it. I love spy stories!