"Women of the Resistance" by Vicki Chelf

Vicki Chelf with her "Women of the Resistance" at Art Avenue

A couple of years ago, artist Vicki Chelf and her husband went to France to help a friend clear out the basement of an old house he was buying. She came upon piles and piles of soggy old newspapers. And when I say old, I mean it. Many dated back to 1912 and reported on the events leading up to WWI. Chelf was fascinated by the papers and immediately started thinking about how she might incorporate this medium into her work. 

While there, Chelf also visited The Museum of the Resistance in Avignon. A lightbulb went off. She would create collages from old newspapers and paint images of women she had learned about at the Museum. She found a stash of German newspapers from 1935 and got to work. Fast forward to last week when I heard Chelf speak about her exhibit at Art Avenue entitled "The Women of the Resistance." It was fascinating. 

Hedy Lamarr

When people hear the name Hedy Lamarr, the actress' beauty and sex appeal are likely what come to mind. She was definitely a bombshell. But did you know she was also an inventor? And we're not talking things that have no relevance to our lives today. Lamarr, together with composer George Antheil, invented a form of spread spectrum technology that she dubbed "frequency hopping." It is the technology that provides the underlying basis for Wifi, GPS and Bluetooth communications systems. But back to the war. 

Lamarr's first husband was Freidrich Mandl, a munitions manufacturer who was in bed with the Nazis. By the time Lamarr escaped from their marriage in 1937, she had heard much talk about war-time weaponry over dinner with people involved in the industry. When she met Antheil, she ready to put what she had learned to use. 

The two met shortly after a German sub had torpedoed the SS City of Benares, a ship that had been evacuating 408 people from Britain to Canada. More than 250 passengers were killed, including dozens of children. If I understand correctly, what enabled the Germans to destroy so many ships was a technology that jammed the signals of Allied torpedoes. As a result, the ships were left essentially defenseless. Lamarr and Antheil believed their frequency hopping invention would enable Allied ships to change -- or hop -- the frequencies guiding their torpedoes when those signals were blocked and to reacquire their targets. When the Navy was approached with the idea, Lamarr was asked to sell war bonds instead. She sold $25 million in bonds during a ten day tour by selling kisses for $2500 a pop. Fast forward to the 1960s and the Cuban Missile Crisis when torpedoes guided by frequency hopping systems were installed in all U.S. ships on a blockade around Cuba. For a great article about Lamarr and her inventions, click here. 

Virginia Hall

Virginia Hall was more personally involved in the Resistance. A wanted poster ordered by Klaus Barbie himself proclaimed her "The Enemy's Most Dangerous Spy." She was the United States' most highly decorated female civilian during WWII. The fact that she had only one leg makes her work all the more remarkable. 

Hall was living in France with the goal of becoming a diplomat. She was, after all, multilingual. Instead, she was hired as a secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Turkey. An outdoorsy type, she was hunting one day and accidentally shot herself in the foot. Due to infection, her leg had to be amputated at the knee. She was fitted with a wooden leg and got back to work. When Germany invaded France, Hall volunteered as an ambulance driver. Soon, however, she fled with others to Britain, where she met an intelligence officer who saw her potential as an operative. 

Hall was based in Lyon where she built an expansive network of spies. She utilized a variety of sources in her work, including nuns and prostitutes. The Nazis called her "The Limping Lady" and made her capture a priority.

Newspaper clipping

In the winter of 1942, the Nazis were closing in on her. Hall's only option for escape was to traverse 50 miles over the snow-laden Pyrenees to Spain. It took Hall three long and hard days, but she successfully made the journey. Undaunted, she sought to resume her activities as a spy. The British refused, believing it too dangerous, Instead, she was swooped up by the Americans for whom she worked as a member of the Office of Strategic Services. Hall is truly a hero. To read more about this amazing woman, click here. 

Andree Peel is an example of an ordinary woman who became a Resistance fighter. She was a hairdresser working in Brest, a port town in Brittany, when the Germans occupied the city. When the Germans took over an area, one of their first priorities was to assume control of the media. Ultimately, the press systems in France, Poland, Norway and other occupied countries were operated by the German Ministry of Propaganda, headed by Goebbels. Peel's first job in the Resistance was the distribution of underground newspapers in Brest that kept citizens apprised about what was really happening. 

Andree Peel

Peel was soon given other responsibilities that included relaying information to the Allies about German troop movements and guiding Allied planes to safe landings by illuminating air strips with flashlights. Peel and her team were responsible for rescuing 102 downed Allied airmen from capture by the Germans. But Peel -- now known as Agent Rose -- was not as fortunate. 

Agent Rose was eventually caught by the Nazis and tortured by a method that was a precursor to waterboarding. Still she did not talk. She was transferred to the Ravensbruck women's concentration camp where she twice narrowly avoided death in the gas chamber. She was then transferred to Buchenwald, where she again miraculously escaped death. With the liberating troops approaching, the Nazis wanted to get rid of as many prisoners as possible. As the saying goes, dead men tell no tales. Peel was literally in line for the firing squad when American troops arrived and saved her and the remaining prisoners. Peel died in 2010 at a nursing home in Bristol. She was 105. For more on Peel, click here. 

"Women of the Resistance" will remain on display at Art Avenue in the Siesta Key Mall through the end of May. Chelf and her husband own Art Avenue, so you might catch her there if you stop by. Plans are in the works for some sort of stage production next year honoring the Women of the Resistance, so keep your eyes out for that event. Kudos to Chelf for featuring the stories of these brave women in her work. They are truly an inspiration.