ANOTHER TALE OF ESPIONAGE AND DERRING-DO
Since it’s the last week of March and Women’s History Month, I wanted to add another to our record of spy stories.
In 2002 Marthe Cohn, a holocaust survivor and French Jewish spy during World War II , published the story of her exploits and feats of bravery in her book, “Behind Enemy Lines.” Written with assistance from Wendy Holden, Ms. Cohn recounts her spine-tingling adventures as she traveled in and out of Germany gathering information for the French First Army Fighters and others.
In 1920 Ms. Cohn was born and reared in Metz, a metropolis in northeast France. This region along the French/German border is known as “Alsace,” and is a strip of land that has gone back and forth between the two countries for many, many years. Thus, Marthe was fluent in German and her native French. Her proficiency made it very easy for her to pass as a German nurse in a heartbreaking search for her fiance. Or, so it seemed to the German soldiers but, her story was merely a ruse to gather intelligence for French First Army fighters and the Allied Troops. In fact, in the information that she imparted was crucial to the Allies’ ability to break through the Siegfried Line in 1945 and enter German territory. The Siegfried Line was a line of fortifications built along the western border of Germany, opposite the Maginot Line. It stretched from Kleve, on the the border of the Netherlands to Weil am Rhein on the Swiss border. Piercing these fortifications was a major breakthrough that led to the War’s end in June, 1945.
Occupation by the Germans galvanized the fighting spirit of the French people. Marthe, like so many of her compatriots, fought in myriad ways including a failed attempt to rescue her sister Stephanie. Unfortunately, Stephanie eventually died at Auschwitz. Ms. Cohn credits having a nearly photographic memory for names, dates, places and languages and a real ability to “read” people in being able to gather information successfully and survive.
She has been highly decorated by her native land! Marthe Cohn received the Croix de Guerre in 1945 and more recently the Medaille Militaire, the Medallaire of the Reconnaisance de la Nacion and the title Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur.
Hers is truly inspiring, a remarkable story of the triumph of bravery and intelligence!
