20. Josephine Baker Was Recruited by French Military Intelligence
Josephine Baker was recruited by French military intelligence when WWII began. 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. Taking advantage of the Nazi occupiers’ trust, she risked her life on clandestine work for the Allies. Her celebrity and fame opened doors, and rubbing shoulders with high-ranking Axis personnel, she charmed officials she met in social gatherings to collect information.
As an international entertainer, Baker had an excuse to travel, and she did, within Nazi-occupied Europe, to neutral Portugal, and to South America. She transported coded messages between the French Resistance and the Allies, written in invisible ink on her music sheets. They contained information about German troop concentrations, airfields, harbors, and defenses, all of which Baker smuggled beneath the Nazis’ noses. She also hid fugitives in her home, supplying them with forged identification papers and visas obtained through her contacts.
