Do You Know Who These Women Were?
As you know, I like to read books about women who were previously overlooked by historians. I have found three books, all non-fiction, that introduce us to seven women who made important contributions during and/or after World War II. Now, let’s see if you recognize any of them:
Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer, Hildegard Stucklen, Josephine Baker, Etta Shiber and Kitty Bonnefous
Uness you are or were a physicist or a spy, you may only know of Josephine Baker, and you may not know the extent of her sensational life. The book Fearless and Free: A Memoir has just been published in the United States even though it was written between 1926 and 1949. Many people only know about her outrageous performances, primarily an act where she wears only a short skirt made of artificial bananas and a large necklace. In reality, Baker was an important spy of the French Resistance and an active participant of the Civil Rights era. A brilliant and complicated woman, she lived most of her life in France where she was loved and respected.
The next four women–Kohn, Meitner, Soner and Stucklen–were brilliant physicists who realized they had to get out of Germany after Hitler took over. The book tells the true stories of how each escaped and took their expertise with them (one to Sweeden and the others to the United States)to continue their careers. One of the women Lise Meitner was asked to serve on the Manhatten Project but refused. She stated that she didn’t want to be a part of developing a bomb. She and her lab partner Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission, but only Hahn received the Nobel Prize for the discovery. The author of Sisters in Science is Olivia Campbell. She is an accomplished science writer and a regular contributor to National Geographic.
Paris Undercover by Matthew Goodman is a book that The Washington Post says is a “gripping account of how loyalty and betrayal can coincide in wartime and its aftermath.” Before World War II, Etta Shiber and Kitty Bonnefous were two ordinary women living a quiet life together in Paris. Somehow they both become involved in the French underground and manage to rescue an untold number of Allied soldiers from behind enemy lines. The book highlights their exciting escape ventures. Predictably, the Gestapo captures both of them and confines them in a Nazi prison. Shiber is released after 18 months and sent back to the United States. You will need to read the book to find out what happens next!
