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A Ballerina Who Stabbed an SS Guard With a Stiletto and Other Historic Rebels

Khalid Elhassan August 10, 2020 34 min

37. A Ballerina Takes on the SS

Franceska Mann’s uprising. The First News

In the most popular version of Franceska Mann’s heroic stand – although a version that has never been verified – she reportedly performed a striptease for the SS guards. Ogling the beauty before them, the SS guards let their guard down. That was when Franceska struck.

SS guard Josef Shillinger, killed by Franceska Mann. The First News

Whether she had or had not performed a striptease, what is known is that Franceska took off a high heel shoe, and used the heel to stab an SS guard named Walter Quakernack in the face. As Quakernack clutched at his face, Franceska seized his pistol, and opened fire on the SS. She shot two guards, Josef Shillinger, and Wilhelm Emmerich. Shillinger died of his wounds a few hours later, while Emmerich was left with a permanent limp.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.