Marthe Cohn (1920–2025)

I just read this book and I didn't believe a word of it. The octogenarian spy wrote it with the help of another author, [[Wendy Holden]], and it comes across as an adventure story, not a nonfiction account. If it's true, and I have to think it is because I looked at Wikipedia, and she really did win all the honors she says she did, I'm as bad as all the sexist army officers she encountered who didn't believe she was a spy because she was a tiny (94 pound) little blonde girl. I'm not looking show more at her and still can't believe it. What an amazing life of adventure she lead, and she seemed to get out of all sorts of situations because of her imperious voice. How does that work? show less

A beautiful book about an ugly time. A book not about the war, but about a French Jewish girl and her family, in a time of war.

Early in the book the author (Marthe) talks about a neighbor girl calling her a "dirty Jew". Her response was to tell her that she bathed every day and then when the girl repeated her insult she smashed the bag of eggs she was carrying on her head. The author of this memoir was a young blonde girl at the start of WWII who lived in Northern France with her Jewish show more family. As the war began and German attack seemed imminent the Family moved away from the border.

It's interesting that the author talks about how she believed the diplomats would all work things out. That they wouldn't really let things get so bad that France would have to fight after how terrible the last great war had been. This was not to be, despite all the good intentions of diplomats of many nations it only took one to make their work of no effect.

The author talks about how some French citizens bent over backwards to treat their fellow citizens that happened to be Jews as well or better than others because of the way the German occupiers treated the Jews. Some, however, believed along with the official German policy that Jews were inherently bad and didn't mind taking advantage of German laws that allowed them to take the Jews belongings and treat them as lesser human beings. It was a time of fear. You never knew when the Germans might come barging into your home for an "inspection". If any little thing was out of line, and the rules changed all the time, they would arrest people and take them to jail.

One of the author's siblings, her sister she loved dearly, who was just getting over being ill, was arrested on suspicion of helping someone escape the area without permission. She did not cooperate with authorities. Her father was also arrested and then released and he told the family that they had her standing at attention, yelling at her for hours. And whenever she would slump or put her hands on the desk to rest some of her body weight they would go ballistic. She would not break and was interred in a local camp. After being moved a couple times she disappeared into Germany. The family searched for months after the war before finding that she was sent to Auschwitz. Only a few were preserved off the train she came in on, most were marched right to the gas chambers. Since she never regained her health it was likely she was not one of the few sent to work.

The family escaped to southern France where the Germans had less influence. A local official forged identity papers without the Jewish designation aiding their escape. The author started nursing school. The French ladies did not want her there but the head lady told them they would allow her to study and work or they would be fired. The author fell in love with a French boy who was caught up in trying to kidnap a collaborator to frighten him. However, the person they tried to kidnap ended up pulling out a gun and shooting and they hit him over the head and stabbed him ending his life. The four kidnappers were arrested and tried. At trial the defense attorney successfully argued that they did not intend to kill the victim. That they were confused young men trying to be patriots and the death was accidental. They were sentenced to long jail sentences. Then the Germans took them from the French authorities and shot them.

Marthe was devastated. She finished her schooling. After Paris was liberated she tried to join the Resistance. She was turned down until the mother of her deceased beau vouched for her. She enlisted in the Free French forces and ended up working as a spy since she could speak perfect German and French. She ended up doing multiple mission into Germany and reporting troop concentrations and movements back to the allies earning several medals for valor. She participated in the occupation force for some time and eventually decided she wanted out of the spy business and went to Vietnam as a nurse for several years.

She relays her adventures and life after the war and ties up the stories of her family members giving the story a good sense of closure.

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This true story of a French Jewish woman who not just survives World War Two but becomes a spy in the latter months of the war is remarkable. She has such courage and faces so many perilous situations with ingenuity I was in awe.

A very interesting memoir of a Jewish woman who suffered through WW II in France while the Germans took away their town, their home, their businesses, their food, and their families. Meanwhile she is growing and deciding how she wants to serve humanity. After training as a nurse, the actions of the Nazi's push her to become a spy even though she is only 4' 11" tall. Convincing the allies to use her is yet another hurdle she must cross. Recommended.