Tag: Heinrich Himmler

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The Naked Heroine

First of all, my apologies to Mr. Izbicki, author of The Naked Heroine (see recommended reading below). I racked my brain trying to come up with a catchy title for this blog and I always returned to the title of his 1963 book, The Naked Heroine. It’s sort of like one of my more popular blogs, Cyndi Lauper and the Naked Princess. (Click here to read the blog.) As you all know, sex sells.

One of my prior blogs was about Josephine Baker (An African American in Pre-WWII Paris, click here to read). Josephine was an entertainer and stripper in Paris during the interwar period (the years between the two World Wars) and she became an international celebrity in those twenty years. During the German occupation of France, Josephine worked for the French Resistance collecting sensitive Nazi information from the German officers with whom she hobnobbed. Today, you will meet a young lady like Josephine but who structured her career in somewhat the reverse order. Lydia was first a French résistant and then after the war, spent the rest of her life taking off her clothes at the Folies Bergère and other popular clubs around Europe.

Lydia de Korczak Lipski wears the Legion of Honor on her military uniform. Photo by anonymous (c. March 1960). Cleveland Plain Dealer. Author’s collection.
Lydia de Korczak Lipski wears the Legion of Honor on her military uniform. Photo by anonymous (c. March 1960). Cleveland Plain Dealer. Author’s collection.

Besides being strippers and résistants, Lydia and Josephine shared one other attribute: they were both highly decorated French war heroines. Read More The Naked Heroine

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Night and Fog

Five years ago, I wrote a blog by the same name. It was back in the days when I purposely limited my blogs to no more than five or six hundred words (my Millennial friends told me this was the “norm”). I’ve re-read some of those blogs and frankly, I’m embarrassed. First, my writing style has evolved (and hopefully, improved). Second, I could have added so much more interesting information had I not listened to my friends. Another difference between then and now is the number of images we used. Our blogs today use as many images as I can find that add value to the story. In the past, one or two images made it into the story. I guess this is what you call progress. So, I’ve decided to re-write some of the more popular blogs and expand both the story as well as images. I hope you enjoy this one (again).

Exterior view of Nuremberg prison and the wing that housed Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg trial. Note the covered walkway (white) leading from the prison wing to the Palace of Justice and courtroom. Prisoners walked through the covered path to and from the daily court proceedings. This wing was destroyed. Photo by anonymous (c. 1946).
Exterior view of Nuremberg prison and the wing that housed Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg trial. Note the covered walkway (white) leading from the prison wing to the Palace of Justice and courtroom. Prisoners walked through the covered path to and from the daily court proceedings. This wing was destroyed. Photo by anonymous (c. 1946).
The former prison wing that housed the Nuremberg defendants was destroyed and only white plaster is a reminder of the wing in a preserved part of the central prison building. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
The former prison wing that housed the Nuremberg defendants was destroyed and only white plaster is a reminder of the wing in a preserved part of the central prison building. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

Read More Night and Fog