Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis
Josephine Baker’s life—her rise from the slums of St. Louis to stardom on the cabaret stages of Paris and worldwide renown as a singer, dancer, impresario, and civil-rights activist—would be extraordinary enough without the part she played as a secret agent during World War II.
Recruited by the French intelligence services in the lead-up to the Nazi invasion, she played a vital role smuggling documents, gleaning information from high-society friends, and supporting the Resistance. When she was honored in 2021 with a symbolic burial in France’s Panthéon, President Emmanuel Macron hailed her “courage and audacity” and paid homage to the fierce mutual embrace of the American star and her adoptive home.
