An American Star Who Aided the French Resistance 

 

Though Josephine Baker displayed her talent in vaudeville, dance routines, and film appearances, she displayed her bravery on the sly after her adopted country of France fell to Nazi forces. She turned to espionage, using her celebrity status to gain information for the French Resistance. An American expatriate turned French citizen, Baker had denounced racism in her native county before taking on the Nazis. 

 

Born Freda Josephine McDonald in East St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906, Baker started her entertainment career as a child when she performed for local kids. As a teen, she turned to dancing with vaudeville troupes. At the age of 15, she met William Howard Baker, and they eloped after a few weeks. 

 

At 19, Baker joined an all-black revue to run in Paris. Unlike the United States, France did not racially segregate public places on a large scale. When Baker and her fellow entertainers boarded a train in France, they were surprised to learn they could sit anywhere they liked. The costumes created for her to perform in shocked Baker; one consisted only of a bikini bottom covered in flamingo feathers. But Baker quickly took to erotic dancing, and her star rose until she became the most successful entertainer in France. She not only danced but appeared in films and sang opera. Some believe her work made her the wealthiest black woman alive.

 

In 1928, Baker began a European tour, with the first stop in Vienna. She had not known of the political unrest building in the region. By that point, Mein Kampf, had popularized the racist ideologies spreading throughout the region. Before she even arrived in Vienna, posters there denigrated her performance, calling her a “black devil.” As she rode in a carriage to her hotel, protesters lined the streets. She said the scene reminded her of the race riots in her home town when she was a child. 

 

The start of the war put Baker’s performances on hold. By that time, she had married her third husband, a French-Jewish sugar broker named Jean Lion. The couple later divorced in 1941, but in that time, Baker represented much of what Hitler despised: a successful black woman in an interracial marriage with a Jewish man, who was also openly bisexual, with multiple long-term, semipublic relationships with women. When the Germans began to advance on Paris in 1940, Baker, like millions of other Parisians, fled.

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She rented a chateau in the south of France, where she took in others fleeing the Nazis. She came into contact with Jacques Abtey, the head of French counter-military intelligence. Abtey recruited people to engage in espionage to help resistance efforts against the Nazi occupation. Perfect for the role, Baker’s celebrity allowed her to move easily between countries and offered her enhanced protection. When Abtey asked her if she would take the risk and join the resistance, she said, “France made me what I am. I will be grateful forever. The people of Paris have given me everything… I am ready, captain, to give them my life. You can use me as you wish.”

 

She housed resistance fighters at her chateau and supplied them with visas. She attended parties and diplomatic functions, including those at the Italian embassy, which put her contact with high-ranking Axis bureaucrats. She collected information on German troop movements and which harbors or airfields were in action. Confident that her celebrity and connections would protect her, she felt no one would suspect her of espionage. She wrote down intelligence on her hands and arms, pinning notes inside her underwear. She did so knowing she would never face a strip-search—and she was right.

 

Once the Nazis got wind of the resistance activity at Baker’s home, they visited the estate while she was hiding several resistance fighters. She successfully charmed them when they questioned her but decided it was time for her to leave France. Abtey contacted General Charles de Gaulle, who instructed both Abtey and Baker to travel to London through Lisbon, which was neutral. Between them, the pair carried more than 50 classified documents and secret intelligence. Baker carried hers by writing the information down in invisible ink on her sheet music.

 

After the liberation of Paris, Baker returned to her adopted city in a military uniform. She noted the terrible conditions many French people endured after the Nazi occupation. She sold pieces of jewelry and other valuables to raise money to buy food and coal for the citizens of Paris. Following Germany’s surrender in 1945, General de Gaulle awarded Baker the Croix de Guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance. He also named her a Chevalier de Légion d’honneur, the highest order of merit for military and civil action.