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.
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
Norway and Denmark were occupied by the Nazis in April 1940 (Sweden was a neutral country during the war). Almost immediately, the Germans began arresting targeted individuals and threw them into detention camps scattered throughout Norway. Soon, they would be deported to concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen. As more people were arrested, detained, and deported, various Scandinavian humanitarian organizations became active in gaining access to the prisoners, ensuring correspondence was reached by their families, as well as engaging directly with the Germans concerning their fates.
Towards the end of the war, one major attempt at obtaining the release of concentration camp inmates was successful. It liberated more than 15,000 prisoners of which half were Scandinavian. Believe it or not, the White Bus evacuations were approved by Heinrich Himmler.
Count Folke Bernadotte. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). USHMM, courtesy of National Archives, http://www.ushmm.org/. PD-70+. Wikimedia Commons.
Did You Know?
Rina Fried, then 16-years-old, was crammed into a cattle car with a hundred other women whose skin barely hung to their skeletons. They were all being transported from their concentration camp to an extermination camp to be murdered by the Nazis. The end of the war was closing in and the women knew they wouldn’t survive to see it.
However, the train stopped suddenly and the women were approached by people offering them food and drink. They told the women, “Vi aker till Sverige.” — “We are going to Sweden.”
“Your enslavement is over.”
One of the White Bus platoons rescued Rina and the other women.
Folke Bernadotte
Count Folke Bernadotte (1895−1948), Swedish diplomat, was the grandson of King Oscar II of Sweden and nephew of King Gustav V. Entering the military in 1915, Bernadotte eventually rose to the rank of major. By 1933, he was representing Sweden at various world events such as the New York World’s Fair in 1939. Bernadotte became director of the Swedish Boy Scout organization in 1937 and when World War II broke out, he helped train the boy scouts in defense (i.e., anti-aircraft guns) and as medical assistants. However, his greatest role during the war would be played as the vice chairman of the Swedish Red Cross.
Folke Bernadotte (right) in his role with the Swedish Boy Scouts. Photo by anonymous (24 June 1934). PD-70+. Wikimedia Commons.
Beginning in 1943, Count Bernadotte organized multiple prisoner exchanges with Germany (his first mission targeted disabled Scandinavian POWs). A total of approximately 11,000 Scandinavian POWs were repatriated as a result of these exchanges. He also personally led several rescue missions into Germany. Read More The White Buses
Stewart Ross’ book is full of interesting documents and research, it put you well on the tracks of Marie Antoinette, Danton, Robespierre and many more, whether in Paris or in Versailles, extremely interesting and easy to read!
Raphaelle Crevet | Certified Tour Guide, Paris, France
“Informative and entertaining, Stew Ross’ newest work evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters reminds us of the choices people made during those years.”
Cynthia Bisson, PhD, Professor of History, Belmont University, French Resistant Expert
