Title: The Paris Girl
Author: Francelle Bradford White
Publisher: Kensington Books, Citadel Books
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs, History
Release Date: 24th December 2024
BLURB
Andrée Griotteray was just 19 when the Germans invaded France and occupied Paris, where she worked as a clerk in the passport office. When her younger brother, Alain, created a resistance network named Orion, Andrée joined his efforts, secretly typing up and printing copies of an underground newspaper, and stealing I.D. cards which allowed scores of Jewish citizens to escape persecution.
Charming and pretty, Andrée nimbly avoided the unwanted attentions of German officers, even as she secretly began working as an undercover courier. Displaying fearlessness in the face of immense pressure, she traveled throughout the county delivering vital intelligence destined for France’s allies—until the day she was betrayed and arrested.
Throughout her ordeal, Andrée stayed composed, refusing to inform on her comrades. Before she was set free, she even duped her interrogators into revealing who had betrayed Orion, and continued her underground activities until France’s liberation.
Weaving in diary entries, letters, and conversations, Andrée’s daughter, Francelle, brings a uniquely personal slant to her mother’s story. The Paris Girl reveals the narrow escapes and moments of terror, the daily acts of bravery and defiance, and the extraordinary courage displayed by Andrée and so many of her contemporaries, that helped turned the tide of war.
Goodreads Link
REVIEW
I loved the introduction, where the author’s parents return from a British Antique Dealers Association ball, and Francelle’s dad is telling her that everyone at the ball had been looking at mummy's cleavage aka actually her war medals that she got for “bashing up the Germans during the war.” (The author was just 6yrs old at this time) From then on, through her childhood, teen years etc her mother used to tell her what she got up to during the war.
I also loved the byline of "The young woman who outwitted the Nazis & became a WW2 hero" after reading the book I think Andree would have found it amusing as she really didn’t see herself as a hero at the time. Rightly so she was awarded war medals for her service and all the risks she took and danger she faced.
To begin with I struggled with the book I found it not personal or humanised enough for me.....it was just a set of facts and felt a little more like a reference book, than the story of a woman who lived in Paris in WW2. Then as the book progressed there were more diary entries used and we got to know Andree more, the book became much more interesting and I became hooked on reading more about Andree and what she did to help the resistance.
Before the war and occupation of France, Andree was working at the Police HQ under the guidance of Monsieur Langeron, and when the Germans invaded all such civil servants were not allowed to resign. Some chose to disappear and escape, leaving France. Some continued to do their jobs keeping their heads down and doing what the Germans told them to, even going so far as to collaborating and giving the Germans information of the whereabouts of Jewish people and those who were helping them. Then there were a few people, like Andree who continued to work at Police HQ and used their position in any way possible to help others and the resistance. She felt somewhat protected by Monsieur Langeron he was sympathetic to the cause, in fact it was Monsieur Langeron that was behind Andree working around all the different departments, so that she had an extensive inside knowledge of how everything worked and therefore she could access an extensive range of documents and information. When Monsieur Langeron was arrested, reinstated and eventually left Police HQ, Andree felt more alone and knew she needed to be even more discreet in what she was doing. In fact, a colleague warned her about taking blank ID cards too often. The colleague had obviously noticed Andree stealing the cards but had turned a blind eye until the point it would personally affect her if Andree was caught, and even then, she just warned Andree and didn’t report her to the Germans. There were those not openly or heavily involved with the resistance but would turn a blind eye if they saw others engaging in activities the Germans would consider as acts against them.
Andree was drawn into the Orion Resistance group by its eventual leader, her brother Alain. It was a risk as resistance members were not meant to associate with each other, never mind be related to each other. I have to say that even had she not joined an organised resistance group, Andree would have found a way to help the Jewish people and hinder the Germans as much as humanly possible. In fact, Andree did small acts of “defiance” like crossing the road to avoid interaction with German Officers. Though she did have an unavoidable friendship with one German Officer due to working at Police HQ which came in very useful later when she needed someone to vouch for her innocence and that she couldn’t possibly be a member of the resistance. I feel at times because Alain trusted Andree so much he would push her to do more and more dangerous missions.
As Andree worked at Police HQ she had access to a fairly plentiful supply of materials to type things up, be that undercover newspapers, leaflets or information to be passed on. At one point Andree’s job gave her access to ID cards so she stole blank ID cards for the resistance to use to help Jewish people. Even when Andree was switched departments, which happened to her a lot, she would return to see her friends and use these visits to gain access to the blank ID cards.
When doing her regular work at the Police HQ grateful clients would gift Andree perfume and cigarettes which she would sell to fund trips she would take.
Andree took many trips with her small suitcase with its carefully designed lining that she could hide documents in. On a later trip she purchased a girdle to sew coins supplied by the Americans to fund the resistance in to smuggle them across the country. Andree used her image of a young, carefree, perhaps somewhat naïve woman to fool the Germans on more than one occasion. On other occasions she channelled her mother’s authorative manner and actually threatened the German Officers and challenged the Gestapo. Andree had many adventures, one of which resulted in her being unable to find a hotel room for the night, approaching the local Police for help and being directed to a brothel to spend the night! Though she didn’t have a great nights sleep there as she woke part way through the night being bitten by fleas!!
Orion Agents had no formal training, it was set up & managed by French men & women living in their own country familiar with their surroundings. The Orion group never used radio transmitters Alain thought them too risky, it was too easy for the Germans to pick up on radio frequencies. They may have used other resistance operatives & British & US Intelligence service radios but they never had their own. Alain insisted that if a courier was in danger they were to destroy whatever information they were carrying and try to lose whoever was tailing them, but not to lead them to their home or the home of other members. They were not to socialise with other members of the group, in fact the least they knew of each other the better. That way if they were ever caught and tortured, they could not reveal a lot of information. It was later after Alain’s training with the intelligence services that they were issued with cynanide capsules to take if absolutely necessary. Orion’s main instructions came from the “top, top man” Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie and were to make contacts & gather information that may be of use to intelligence services. On the whole Orion was quite successful but it mustn’t be forgotten is caught they would inevitably be tortured and either sent to the camps or simply shot. Orion only lost 2 of its 18 full time agents. These agents were young people. Alain was the youngest resistance group leader and all but 4 of his agents were still under the age of 24yrs at the end of the war. There were only 2 women in Orion, Andree Groitteray White & Margit Ehrart Hutton. Though other women did help Orion they were not full time members.
It was thought at the time that the Germans were less suspicious of women which is why the resistance recruited them, though they were still in as much danger and at times more danger than male recruits. There was always the threat of moles reporting them to the Gestapo, or Vichy. It could be a concierge at the building they lived in who reported them, a work colleague, a double agent or even a “friend”. There were roughly 2,500 German agents, 6,000 French agents and an estimated 24,000 people informing on their neighbours, colleagues and even their friends. These groups such as Orion were not really linked to other resistance groups and there were many such groups however, they did support and work with the SOEs. In comparison to the “untrained” Orion Agents, the SOE Agents received 6 months intensive training in the UK before being parachuted or travelling by sea into France. The SOE sent in 470 Agents - 118 did not return. Of the 470, 39 were female agents, 13 of those died in action. Wireless operators had a life expectancy of 6 weeks!!
I found the initial 20% or so hard going which annoyed me as I so wanted to read about this amazing young French woman & her brother who were part of the Orion resistance. Then as more and more of Andree’s own words are used within the book from her own diary entries made at the crazy dangerous time, I became more and more absorbed. The thing is Andree doesn't believe herself a heroine she sees herself as a normal French woman so doing what she can to help rid her country of unwanted invaders. I found reading about what “normal” life in Paris under the German rule interesting too. On one hand people were starving, yet on the other there were restaurants and hotels that still offered extravagant food. It was interesting to read about Andree’s family life, the way her mother knew her daughter was taking part in dangerous work being a courier of information yet they didn’t openly talk about it. Again it was better that the rest of the family knew no details of operations.
Though it was Alain and Andree that were deeply involved in the resistance they and their family had to know if they were caught that there would be serious repercussions for the whole family. It was amazing to read of the French citizens who all played a small part in the greater goal of the resistance.
Andree’s daughter Francelle, the author of this book used her mother’s diaries, spoke to other resistance members and her Uncle Alain as well as the memories of the stories her mother had told her. Francelle continues Andree’s legacy of helping others as the proceeds from this book are being donated to an Alzheimers & Dementia charity set up in her mothers name.
Summing up, I found the book intriguing, informative and fascinating. I think the word I’d use to describe how the book is presented/put over is pragmatic....... ”pragmatic” the way Andree had to be to survive. Andree didn’t think herself special or a heroine, she was just doing what she could to help the Jewish people and help to get the invading Germans out of her home country.
