"Josephine Baker: World War II’s Most Unlikely Spy" Topic

At the outset of World War II, Baker was recruited by French intelligence. She was so popular in World War II Europe that even the Nazis wouldn't harm her as she moved to perform and perform her secret trade – spycraft. She used her star power to gain access to high-level events, gather information at Axis embassies and take secret photos of Nazi bases…

From Military: link

Unlikely indeed.
Let's just say that the possibility of any steely eyed intelligence agency recruiting her as a serious agent is slim.
When the most reliable source for this is her adoring son's biography, it reminds me of the Betsy Ross legend. That legend was first pushed by her family.
I give the story a dubious smirk, but it's not a hill I'm willing to die in. Maybe it's true, more likely it's not.

Actually it appears to be true. There are several apparently reliable footnotes attesting to her resistance participation in the Wiki article on her: link

And from the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans: link

The recruitment of agents both sides in WW2 is amazing for the number of seemingly unreliable and outlandish personalities, many of whom became accomplished agents, especially for the Allies.

Jim

Hi John,
If the following passage is factual -

For her wartime contribution, she was awarded ​​ the Croix de Guerre, the Rosette de la Résistance and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by Gen. Charles de Gaulle himself.

- it bears asking why DeGaulle would have bestowed such honors upon her.

Just saying.

BTW – if you have not already run across this gentleman, Eugene Bullard, his true life story relates to Josephine Baker and reads like something that even a bad novelist would fear to set to paper.

B

+1 Colonel.

B

For her and her bravery …

A powerful woman.

Also troubled in many ways, but who could possibly blame her?