17. The American Superstar Who Joined the French Resistance
Josephine Baker (1906 – 1975) is not usually associated with the antifascist resistance, but she was neck deep in it during WWII. A talented performer, racism in her native US put a cap on her career prospects. So she emigrated to France, where she became a global superstar. Baker took the City of Light by storm, as she remade herself into a glamorous Jazz Age cabaret star. Her signature stage act was quite risque, performed while clad only in high heels, a skirt made of artificial bananas, and a bra that revealed far more than it concealed. She sang and danced with a wild abandon and erotic frenzy that held the audience spellbound. Baker was often accompanied by her pet cheetah, Chiquita. Wearing a diamond collar, the feline would sometimes escape into the orchestra pit, which terrified the musicians and further enhanced the wildness of the moment.
When WWII began, Baker was recruited by French military intelligence. She had once expressed support for the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s. So when German forces defeated and occupied France, they assumed that Baker was friendly to the fascist cause. She was not. Instead, she took advantage of the Nazi occupiers’ trust, and risked her life on clandestine work on behalf of the Resistance and for the Allies. Her celebrity and fame opened doors, and allowed her to rub shoulders with prominent occupation personnel. She exploited that, and charmed Axis officials she met in social gatherings to collect information.
