International star Josephine Baker used her fame and celebrity to go unnoticed as an undercover wartime spy, a Cardiff University expert has shown.
Baker, an African American who took French citizenship, was a household name by the Second World War – and was one of the performers who entertained troops in London for the VE Day celebrations.
But her secret life in helping the war effort has never been fully understood – until now.
Professor Hanna Diamond, based at Cardiff University's School of Modern Languages, explains: "Josephine Baker was multi-faceted – she started off as a dancer and her performances captured the attention of audiences in Paris. She learned to sing and went on to become a film actress. She really was one of the first international stars.
"But what is truly remarkable about her is the way she mobilised that celebrity platform to assist the Allies and the French Resistance. She wasn't the sort of person you associate with being a spy; wherever she went there were huge crowds of people. Her fame meant she could pass in plain sight.
"Diplomats would speak to her because they were so starstruck and she could collect this information and pass it on to people for whom it would be useful. She'd scribble it down and even hide notes on her person, because, as she said, 'who would dare search Josephine Baker'.
"She had a very genuine understanding of the dangers of Nazism; she encountered the racism of their ideology very early on. She also married a Frenchman who was Jewish so she had a lot of affinity to Judaism."
She felt a huge debt of gratitude to the French. They had made her into a star and during the war she felt she should use her position to pay that back and defend her adopted country.
Drawing on extensive new research and previously unseen material, Professor Diamond's book, Josephine Baker's Secret War: The African American Star Who Fought for France and Freedom , details the full significance of Baker's wartime contribution.
She spent the war years in France, Spain, Portugal, North Africa, and the Middle East, where she entertained local populations and Allied troops while collecting and transmitting information for the British, American, and French secret services.
A woman of colour operating in a white male environment, her international appeal as an entertainer gained her access to a wide range of social and military circles, enabling her to provide the Allies with important intelligence. She aided the American military in the detection of enemy agents and faced significant dangers as she carried out her missions.
Professor Diamond said: "We can only admire Josephine Baker's bravery because she was remarkably astute about the way she conducted herself in this period. As well as acquiring intelligence through her privileged contacts and passing it on without suspicion, she also facilitated the movement of others who travelled undercover with her and were able to pass unnoticed.
"After the Allied landings in North Africa in late 1942, she carried out several camp tours, and made an extraordinary journey across the Middle East, spying for the French while raising money for the Resistance. She carried quite a burden on her own and she was able to pull this off, operating in very difficult and dangerous conditions.
"It's clear the war period was hugely influential in fuelling her antiracism activities in France after the war, as well her US civil rights campaigning in later years.
"Eighty years after the end of the Second World War, it seems a very timely moment for us to remember the lengths that people went to in the fight against fascism. Josephine Baker is a unique individual but her story is an important one, demonstrating the personal sacrifices that were collectively made to contribute to a bigger cause."
