1942 | COURAGE IN THE FACE OF HATETHE RESISTERS
BY ABIGAIL ABRAMShIstorIans who haIL the heroes of worLD war II
typically focus on soldiers storming the beaches of Nor-
mandy or Allied troops liberating concentration camps.
Rarely remembered are the networks of quiet, effective re-
sisters who also risked their lives to thwart Nazi atrocities
while the war raged on. These resisters are exemplified by
women like Miep Gies, who in 1942 decided without hesi-
tation to hide Anne Frank and her family along with others
in Amsterdam. She later preserved the teen’s diary, which
allowed future generations to learn about life during the
Holocaust and hear Anne’s unique voice.
That same year, 28-year-old Haviva Reik enlisted with
the pre–state of Israel’s elite Palmach fighting force and
later joined a unit of paratroopers, hoping to be sent to
her native Slovakia to rescue Jews trapped under Nazi
occupation. The British refused to transport a woman for
a military mission, so Reik secured a ride from American
pilots and met her colleagues behind enemy lines, in the
middle of the Slovakian national uprising. After arriving,
she fed starving Jewish residents, helped some escape and
eventually rallied Jewish partisan fighters. In 1944, she was
captured and killed by Nazi collaborators.
Hannie Schaft, another young dissenter, went from law
student to legendary fighter when she and two friends se-
duced and killed Nazis as part of their work with the Dutch
resistance. Her tactics were so infamous that Germans re-
ferred to her simply as “the girl with the red hair.” And Han-
nah Szenes, who grew up experiencing anti-Semitism in
Hungary, joined the British army in Palestine, parachuted
into Yugoslavia and was captured trying to save Jews at the
height of their deportation from her home country. Despite
being tortured and put on trial, Szenes refused to betray
her mission, and was also executed in 1944.
In her diary, Anne Frank wondered, “How many peo-
ple look upon women too as soldiers?” They may not have
fought on the front lines, but underground fighters and ev-
eryday objectors saved Jews and helped preserve the mem-
ory of the horrors that took place and the millions of lives
that were lost.1941
Jane Fawcett and
the Codebreakers
The Allies’ secret weapon
Even for the most public figures, it
can take years for influence to be
recognized. When the Official Secrets
Act— British legislation criminalizing
unauthorized disclosure of state
secrets—is involved, it can take decades.
So it wasn’t until the 1990s that Jane
Fawcett’s work during World War II
became widely known. In 1940, the
18-year-old debutante joined a covert
project at Bletchley Park, headquarters
for Allied military codebreaking.
The 8,000 women there were
underrepresented at the highest tiers
of the operation but played a key role in
shortening the war.
In 1941, Fawcett was sitting in a
cramped, dark decoding room when a
message came in that revealed the loca-
tion of the Bismarck, Germany’s most
fearsome battleship. Fawcett translated
the message and, immediately recogniz-
ing its importance, relayed the intel to
the navy—which, two days later, found
and sank the ship. This marked the
first significant victory by the Bletchley
Park Codebreakers but, Fawcett later
said, she “never told a soul, not even
my husband.” —Billy PerrigoHANNIE
SCHAFTHAVIVA
REIKHANNAH
SZENESMIEP
GIESL HANNIE SCHAFT FOUNDATION; SZENES: ALAMY^41