Women of WWII
- Brianna Buller
- Aug 9, 2022
- 16 min read
Updated: Aug 22, 2022
Featuring: Marlene Dietrich, Jacqueline Cochran, Irena Sendler, Nancy Wake, Noor Inayat Khan, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Nadezhda Popova, and Veronica Foster
World War II continues to be a popular topic for historians and history lovers. For women, this war is a turning point for our autonomy from societal expectations. I first became interested in women's stories during the war after writing a research paper on the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) program during undergrad. This war spanned from 1939 to 1945, with combat spanning the ground (3 continents), ocean, and sky. It consumed life for so long that almost everyone had a story to tell about the war in the aftermath. Yet, most of the stories retold are about the same battles, commanders, and armory. I do not consider myself a military historian, but that does not mean I cannot cover a war topic. This theme aims to expand our knowledge of the women involved in the war effort for the Allies. If I ever continue with this topic, the women fighting for the Axis powers will be next.
The following women include singers, pilots, resistance fighters, spies, snipers, and homefront workers. Initially, I wanted only to do spies but quickly decided there were more stories to tell here than that. My research used a combination of online and book sources. I used the book 100 Nasty Women of History by Hannah Jewell and additionally used This is Herstory by Harriet Dyer. Dyer's book is a compilation of short summaries on women throughout history. However, her categories contain more of an assortment than other books with the same idea, such as explorers, revolutionaries, and pirates. I highly suggest this book to anyone looking to expand their literature on women. My online sources are a combination of articles from museums and established magazines. Once again, checking who is writing, producing, and publishing the work is essential when doing online research.
*All of the art is of my own creation, and there may be some inaccuracies in the images depicting real-life objects or people. You can think of it as me using my artistic license for the visuals in this project.
#1 Marlene Dietrich 1901 - 1992
Transcript: Marlene Dietrich was born December 27, 1901, in Berlin, Germany. Growing up, she originally wanted to be a violinist, but she injured her wrist as a teenager and had to refocus and picked a career on the stage. In 1930, she rose to stardom after starring in Blue Angel. Afterwards, she moved to Hollywood and would become one of the most popular German celebrities with her talents of singing and acting until her death at age 90. She gained American citizenship in 1937, but that didn’t stop the Nazis from trying to recruit her to star in some propaganda films, but she said no, which branded her a traitor. She instead joined the OSS when America joined the war and recorded anti-Nazi propaganda songs in German that were broadcasted to axis troops to try and demoralize their military. She helped to sell war bonds, and it is estimated that over a million dollars were raised for the war efforts because of her. She also toured and sang for ally troops to help build morale. Though she did not fight the axis powers with guns, her voice did plenty of damage.
Her image represents her career of using her voice, be that singing, acting, or promoting for the Allies. This is the type of microphone that she would have used most of the time during the 1940s.
The More You Know: While being openly bisexual, she kept her personal life out of the public eye. She had many lovers that were both male and female, throughout her life. Her sexual liberation developed in Germany during the period known as "divine decadence." She sometimes referred to her female lovers as her "sewing circle" and her male lovers as her "alumni association." Marlene is remembered for the duality of her characters, with her wearing men's clothing or being a femme fatale figure. Today, she is the inspiration for many artists such as Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Kylie Minogue.
Watchlist Recommendation: Morocco by Josef von Sternberg (1930)
Sources
Book - "The Little Book of Feminist Saints" by Julia Pierpont
Online - "Marlene Dietrich" by Dr. Kelly Spring, National Women's History Museum
Online - "Marlene Dietrich: The iconic bisexual leader of the liberating Hollywood 'Sewing Club" by Tom Taylor, Far Out Magazine https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/marlene-dietrich-bisexual-hollywood-icon/
#2 Jacqueline Cochran 1906 - 1980
Transcript: Bessie Pittman was born in 1906 in Florida and was the youngest of five children. She later found out that she was adopted, so she left and changed her name to Jacqueline Cochran and claimed to be an orphan. Her aviation career started in 1932 when she started taking flying lessons and received her license in just three weeks. From there, she took off, and by her death in 1980, she held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other male or female pilot in aviation history. Fun fact, in 1953, Jackie became the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound. During WWII, she pushed for the US military to allow female pilots to fill in the roles left vacant by the defect of male pilots. From 1943 to 1944, she led the Women Air Force Service Pilots or WASP, which trained over 1000 civilian female pilots who played a necessary role in helping the war effort. Jackie worked hard, as did her trainees, and faced a lot of discrimination toward being a pilot. This discrimination toward women started to change in 1976 when the air force officially started to let women into the pilot training program because of the legacy left by the WASPs.
Her image is my depiction of the wings the WASP women received at graduation from the academy. The real thing would be all silver, but for this image, I added blue because it is the main color for the Air Force.
The More You Know: There is a controversy over the situation as to what exactly led to the WASPs being disbanded. One camp believes in what the Air Force says that the decision was made because the women were no longer needed as a surge of male pilots returned from the war front. The other camp believes that the reason for the disbandment is layered in sexism and misogyny from not only government officials but also the Air Force and its pilots. There were indeed more male pilots returning, but the jobs the WASPs covered were jobs that the male pilots didn't want to do normally. Angered male pilots led a massive lobbying campaign against the Bill in congress that would have allowed the WASPs to go from a civilian group to an official military entity. The WASPs were the only women auxiliary group still considered civilian status. The Army and Navy both integrated their women groups. It's a fascinating conversation. I wrote a whole paper on the subject if anyone is interested in this subject!
Watchlist recommendation: Flying Dreams: Women Airforce Pilots of WWII by Bill Suchy, PBS (2020)
Sources
Online -"Meet Jacqueline Cochran" by Dorothy Cochrane and P. Ramirez, National Air and Space Museum https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/meet-jacqueline-cochran
Online - "Wings to Beauty: Aviation Pioneer Jacqueline Cochran" by Kali Martin, National World War II Museum https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/aviation-pioneer-jacqueline-cochran
Book - "Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II" by Molly Merryman
#3 Irena Sendler 1910 - 2008
Transcript: Irena Sendler was born in 1910 in Poland and is considered the female Schindler for her efforts during WWII. She worked as a social worker for the polish government and used her connections to help the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto until it was sealed off in 1940. She then devised a plan to enter the ghetto as an infection-control nurse and started setting up connections to smuggle Jews out. From 1942 to 43, she knocked on doors in the ghetto, asking for children. Each child was given a new Polish name and hidden in foster homes, orphanages, or con vents. Irena insisted that lists of the children be kept, documenting their Jewish and Polish names so that after the war, they would know their original identities. She hid the lists in milk jars that were buried in the backyard of one of her co-conspirators. It is estimated that she saved over 2500 children. After the war, Poland’s new government persecuted members of the Polish resistance, so she and others who rescued Jews during the war kept silent. Their efforts were almost completely forgotten until three history students from Kansas found her story over 60 years later and finally brought her heroic efforts to light.
Her image represents the undercover story she used to get access to the Warsaw Ghetto as an Infectious disease nurse. She is wearing a hat like this in one of the most popular photos of Irena during the war.
The More You Know: Excerpt from the Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project, "In the fall of 1999, a rural Kansas teacher encouraged three students to work on a year-long National History Day project which would, among other things, extend the boundaries of the classroom to families in the community, contribute to history learning, teach respect and tolerance, and meet their classroom motto, “He who changes one person, changes the world entire.” Two ninth graders, Megan Stewart, Elizabeth Cambers, and an eleventh grader, Sabrina Coons, accepted the challenge and decided to enter their project in the National History Day program. The teacher showed them a short clipping from a March 1994 issue of News and World Report, which said, “Irena Sendler saved many children and adults from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942.” Her network saved from the Ghetto, plus providing hiding locations for over 2,000 children. The teacher, Mr. Conard, told the girls the article might be a typographical error, since he had not heard of this woman or story. The students began their research and looked for primary and secondary sources throughout the year. The students began to search for the final resting place of Irena and discovered she was still alive and living in Warsaw, Poland. Irena’s story was unknown world-wide, even though she had received esteemed recognition from Yad Vashem in 1965 and support from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous in New York City. Forty-five years of communism had buried her story, even in her own country. They wrote Irena and she wrote dozens of deeply meaningful letters to them, with such comments as, “my emotion is being shadowed by the fact that my co-workers have all passed on, and these honors fall to me. I can’t find words to thank you, for my own country and the world to know of the bravery of rescuers. Before the day you had written Life in a Jar, the world did not know our story; your performance and work is continuing the effort I started over fifty years ago. You are my dearly beloved ones.”"
Watchlist Recommendation:
Documentary - The Story of Irena Sendler by Andrzej Wolf (2016)
Movie - The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler by John Kent Harrison (2009)
Sources
Book - "100 Nasty Women of History" by Hannah Jewell
Online - "Women of Valor: Irena Sendler," Yad Vashem
Online - "Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project" https://irenasendler.org/
#4 Nancy Wake 1912 - 2011
Transcript: Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand in 1912, but two years later, her family moved to Australia. While in her teens, she ran away and became a nurse at the age of 16, and after receiving money from her aunt, she traveled to France and England and changed her career to journalism. She eventually settled in France with her very wealthy husband in 1936. When the Nazis invaded France, her high social status helped her remain safe, which she used to help resistance groups. She became a courier and transporter of people fleeing the country. She purchased an ambulance and used it as a cover to move people across the border into Spain. She even helped organize escape routes out of France for Allied soldiers. In 1943, she finally became the Gestapo’s #1 most wanted individual; however, she always evaded their capture, giving her the name of the white mouse. Fleeing, She moved to England and joined their special operations program to become a real spy. She was sent back into France to help prepare for D-Day. It is thanks to her that the invasion was so successful, and after the war, she became the most decorated woman and spy for her efforts that saved thousands of allied lives.
Her image refers to her nickname of "The White Mouse," which the Germans gave her during the war. The mousetrap in the background is in the color of the Nazi flag. in my head, if you looked down at the trap, the metal parts would be in the shape of a swastika.
The More You Know: She is one of the fiercest women I have ever heard of, and each time I learn something new about her, I'm just stunned. Her fellow Resistance officer Henri Tardivat stated, "She is the most feminine woman I know until the fighting starts. Then, she is like five men." Her skills and competency are unmatched in her time with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war. Trained in hand-to-hand combat, espionage, and sabotage, her training officers noted that she was a quick learner, a good shot, and could "put the men to shame." By 1942, the Gestapo had put her at the top of their most wanted list, offering a reward of five million francs for her capture, dead or alive. Her number one tactic for evading arrest? Flirting with the soldiers as she walked past them at the checkpoints, they were too preoccupied leering to search her bags. She led several attacks on the Gestapo in Montluçon, personally offering to kill a German spy when her men refused. She even killed a german guard with her bare hands at one point when her cover was at risk of being blown. In preparation for D-Day in 1944, she rode 380 miles round trip around France on a bicycle through German checkpoints to transfer a message from her resistance group to another, all within 72 hours.
Watchlist Recommendation: How Nancy Wake Saved Countless Lives by Mike Smith, Timeline (2018)
Sources
Book - "100 Nasty Women of History" by Hannah Jewell
Book - "This is Herstory" by Harriet Dyer
Online - "Nancy Grace Augusta Wake," Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P332
Online - "Nancy Wake," Jewish Virtual Library
#5 Noor Inayat Khan 1914 - 1944
Transcript: Noor Inayat Khan was born on January 1st, 1914, in Moscow, to an Indian father and an American mother. She was a direct descendant of the Tippoo Sultan, an 18th-century Muslim ruler, making her a princess. It is because of her father’s job as a musician and teacher that the family settled in France. When the war broke out, she moved to England and joined the WAAF in 1940. Two years later, she was recruited to join the special operations program as a radio operator. Then in 1943, She was the first operator to be placed in occupied France and was successful in sending intelligence back to England. In October, she was betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo. In November, they sent her to prison in Germany, where she was kept in chains and solitary confinement. Yet, she refused to reveal any information despite torture. A year later, she and others were transferred to Dachau concentration camp, and she was executed at the age of 30. The memory of her sacrifice was not forgotten, and she was awarded the George cross in 1949 and has a statue in London that was dedicated to her in 2012.
Her image represents her war career in radio intelligence. The color scheme reflects India's flag with orange, white, green, and blue. The yellow is just a nice addition to the look of the electricity bolts.
The More You Know: Before the war, Noor wrote children's stories that were published in the Sunday edition of Le Figaro newspaper and broadcast on Radio Paris. In 1939, she published the children's book Twenty Jataka Tales. When the war broke out, though her family identified as pacifists, she and her brother left Paris for London to join the effort. she caught the attention of the SOE because she was fluent in french after Germany had captured France. When sent over undercover in France, her resistance cell was found out by the Gestapo, leaving her the only one left after the arrests stopped. Two days before she is to go back to England, she is betrayed by a French agent and arrested by the Gestapo. She kept copies of all her secret signals allowing the Germans to use her radio to trick the SOE into sending new agents straight into a trap. Noor was interrogated but never spoke and attempted to escape her holding cell twice before being sent to Pforzheim prison in Germany, where she was kept in chains and solitary confinement for a year. Despite repeated torture, she refused to reveal any information. In September 1944, Khan and three other female SOE agents were transferred to Dachau concentration camp, where on 13 September were executed.
Watchlist Recommendation: Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story by Robert Gardner (2014)
Sources
Book - "100 Nasty Women of History" by Hannah Jewell
Book - "This is Herstory" by Harriet Dyer
Online - "Noor Inayat Khan," BBC History
Online - "Discover Noor's Story," Commonwealth War Graves
#6 Lyudmila Pavlichenko 1916 - 1974
Transcript: Lyudmila Pavlichenko was born in 1916 in what is now Ukraine and grew up in Kyiv. At about the age of 15, she enrolled in a sharpshooter class where she earned a civil decoration and a marksmanship certificate. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in operation Barbarossa in 1941, she was 24 years old and enlisted. The military pushed for her to be a nurse, but after proving her skills, she was enrolled into the Red Army’s 25th rifle division as a sniper. One of 2000 female soviet snipes and one of 50 to survive the war. She showed extortionary talent and earned the name “Lady Death” with her confirmed 309 kills just a year after enlisting in ‘42 at the age of 25. She is remembered as being the most successful female sniper in history. The Germans would often broadcast to her messages that were either bribes to desert or your standard death threat. She was pulled from combat when she suffered a face wound, and instead of sending her back once healed, Stalin sent her to America on a propaganda tour. She would never return to combat but instead trained Soviet snipers until the end of the war.
Her image represents her career in being a sniper. My depiction of a practice dummy can be found on shooting ranges. The bullseye is in the colors of the USSR. The single bullet hole is in the head because she was just that good! The fancy lines above the figure may or may not have been purposeful in their placement...
The More You Know: Lyudmila was the first Soviet citizen welcomed to the White House. Here is where she first met First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The two women quickly became life-long friends. They toured around America together to share her war experience with the public. The press had a heyday with her; instead of focusing on her record number of kills, they focused on her appearance. They were immensely rude to her, commenting on her hair, makeup, uniform, and weight. However, she just responded with who cares about all that when a war is going on. In 1957, 15 years after Lyudmila's tour around the States, Eleanor Roosevelt found herself visiting Moscow. The former First Lady refused to leave the country until she saw her old friend, Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Eventually, the secret police brought Mrs. Roosevelt to the small apartment in Moscow where Pavlichenko lived. The two women, under supervision, reminisced about their summer together.
Watchlist Recommendation: Battle of Sevastopol by Sergey Mokritskiy (2015)
Sources
Online: ""Lady Death" of the Red Army: Lyudmila Pavlichenko" by Connie Gentry, National WWII Museum,
Online: "Eleanor Roosevelt and the Soviet Sniper" by Gilbert King, Smithsonian Magazine
#7 Nadezhda Popova 1921 - 2013
Transcript: Nadezhda Popova, who went by Nadia, was born in the USSR in 1921. When a small plane landed near her village, she became fascinated and joined a gliding school at the age of 15 without telling her parents. At the age of 18, she obtained her flying license and became a flight instructor. In 1941, Stalin ordered the creation of 3 female air regiments. Her regiment, the 588th, was a band of 18-to-26-year Olds became known as the Night Witches, a name coming from the German soldiers who said their planes sounded like witches riding brooms. It was taken as a compliment. These women would gild at very low altitudes to avoid detection, with the only giveaway being the air hitting their planes made of plywood and canvas. Their mission was to create chaos and drop bombs on the Germans at night. The Germans hated them so much that if a soldier shot one down, they would automatically receive the iron cross. Popova flew 852 missions and became one of the most decorated Soviet pilots during WWII with the Hero of the Soviet Union, the Gold Star medal, the Order of Lenin, and three Orders of the Red Star.
Her image represents her position with the Night Witches platoon during the war. The Star and the red and yellow coloring is a nod to the USSR. The witch in the middle is my take on the group's symbol.
The More You Know: From 1941 to 1945, the Night Witches participated in over 30,000 raids and dropped over 23,000 tons of bombs. Originally designed to be training aircraft, their aircraft quickly transformed into bombers. They did not have a radio or guns attached as well as no parachute. However, these women did not need parachutes because they flew so low the chute wouldn't have time to release. The Witches trained to go down with the planes if shot down. They flew only at night to enhance their chances of survival. Their targets included german military camps and supply depots. Flying so low and slow also helped evade German pilots since the German planes couldn't safely attack under those conditions; they would usually give up. The biggest concern for these women was frostbite and hypothermia on their hands, feet, and faces. Their uniforms were old and tattered hand-me-downs from their male counterparts.
Watchlist Recommendation: The Night Witch: The Story of Nadia, Soviet Bomber Pilot by Alison Klayman, The New York Times Magazine (short op-doc) (2013)
Sources
Book- "This is Herstory" by Harriet Dyer
Book - "The Little Book of Feminist Saints" by Julia Pierpont
Book - "Tonight We Fly!" The Soviet Night Witches of WWII by Claudia Hagen
Online - "The Little-Known Story of the Night Witches, an All-Female Force in WWII" by Eric Grundhauser https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/06/night-witches-wwii-female-pilots
#8 Veronica Foster 1922 - 2000
Transcript: Veronica Foster was born in 1922 in Quebec, Canada. Canada joined WWII alongside the allied powers in 1939. As with most countries, the men left to fight, and the women were expected to step up and help on the Homefront. Veronica, at the age of 19, began working at the John Inglis & Co Factory in Toronto, manufacturing Bren light machine guns for British and Canadian soldiers. The National Flim Board looking for a poster girl in their propaganda campaign to encourage women into factories, chose veronica. She became known as Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl and quickly became a national icon who represented a million female Canadian factory workers. It is from her inspired the American version with Rosie the Riveter two years later. Her most popular photograph is her wearing coveralls, a bandana, and smoking while working. They also took photos of her playing sports, dancing, and primping in front of a mirror. On the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, the Canadian post issued a stamp with her face forever, commemorating her role in the war effort.
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