Marthe Cohn, The Spy in the Heart of Nazi Germany Who Became a Writer

 

A large crowd eagerly awaited Marthe Cohn at the Friendship House on Le Duan Street in the center of Ho Chi Minh City on December 23, 2011. Marthe Cohn is a renowned French-American author who was once a remarkable spy for the French Resistance during World War II (WWII). She has received numerous awards and medals for courageous and harrowing missions. As the clock struck 3:00 pm, Marthe and her husband, Major Cohn, walked into the room. The audience stood up and welcomed them both with hearty applause. In excited response, Marthe joyously and graciously said “hello”.

Marthe Cohn was born to a Jewish Orthodox family in Metz, France near the German border. The laws of Jewish observance were a part of her everyday life and she was instilled with the discipline and routine of a Jewish religious education. Ms Cohn is a well-educated lady with  a degree in nursing while in France in 1943, and certificates awarded to her in Switzerland and Michigan in 1954 and 1958, respectively. She also practiced nursing while serving three years in the French Vietnam War and much later became a nurse-anesthetist in the United States.

Happy to be home again

Marthe Cohn began her talk with fervor and affection. She said, “I was in Vietnam as a nurse during the war caring for both French and Vietnamese soldiers. Well, time passed by so quickly that I only now returned to Vietnam “Đat Viet” 65 years later. I feel very fortunate and honored to be here with all of you again today; I am “home”.” In addition to the joy of being in Vietnam once again, Ms Cohn was impressed by the significant changes that had taken place economically, politically, and socially as a whole. For examples, there are many tall buildings, factories, industrial zones, wider roads, and the many intertwining cars and motorbikes on the streets. She continued her speech in a witty manner by saying, "Tell me what a female spy looks like?” The audience realized what she was implying and replied in chorus, “She must be tall, beautiful, and very sexy.” “I couldn’t agree with you more" was her response and then while smiling contently asked “so do you think I look like a spy? I don’t fit the criteria; however, I was a spy for the French Resistance during WWII despite my petite appearance.” At that moment her blue eyes sparkled and her face radiated with confidence making her feel comfortable with her own unique appearance. The audience appeared to be inspired by her uniqueness, wittiness, and her determination. Throughout her presentation, we were excitedly and nervously drawn to her by her inspirational and intriguing story during the Nazi Germany reign in WW II.

Asserting her civic duty  

When WW II broke out, Marthe Cohn’s family was forced to move to the Southwest of France, away from the German border. She recalled that move as being extremely horrible and nerve-racking because of the Nazi Germany Army raids and invasion. Because her family was Jewish, there was always a danger that they would be killed at any time if they had not had protection from the non-Jewish French people. She repeatedly emphasized the humane deeds of the non-Jewish French with profound gratitude. Thanks to their kindness and humanity many Jews, including her family, were able to survive in France.

Before talking in detail about her own intelligence missions and her book entitled, Behind Enemy Lines: A True Story of a French-Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany, Marthe Cohn spoke in a very emotional and affectionate manner about her sister, Stephanie, who was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in 1942. She was moved from one concentration camp to another and then could have been released before being sent to the Drancy Concentration Camp, instead she declined and stayed with the children close to Poitiers because they needed her care, guidance, and compassion. Stephanie was eventually deported to Auschwitz on Yom Kippur where she was presumably murdered-in-mass along with the other Jews in the camp, and was never seen again. Not long afterwards her father and brother were also arrested. Though the pain and suffering of her family was about to tear her into pieces, Marthe’s tenacious spirit of patriotism and fighting for justice were always very strong.

Marthe quickly returned to Paris before the French Liberation thanks to a forged identification card with the name Marthe Ulrich. She joined the French Army as a nurse in 1944. Her opportunity came about when she met a Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Fabian who was impressed with her fluent German. She was asked whether she would be willing to do intelligence work; she immediately agreed without giving it a second thought. Her initial assignment with the French Intelligence Service was to interrogate German prisoners.

Marthe Cohn was sent into Germany “behind enemy lines” to spy for France posing as a young German nurse who was desperately trying to look for her fictional fiancé, Hans, a German soldier missing in combat. After 13 unsuccessful attempts to cross the front in Alsace, she successfully crossed the border between Switzerland and Germany. Before saying goodbye, Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Fabian told her that if she got caught, the Intelligence Service Unit would not be able to help her and under no circumstances was she to disclose anything to the enemy. She utilized her endless will and strength trudging through the immense Black forest, mountains, fields, nights, and extreme weather to achieve her mission. Once she was near the border she hid in the brush for days in the company of a Swiss officer in order to find the right moment to slip across. While she and the Swiss officer were lying in the bushes, he remarked to her “you don’t know whether you will die or live when you try to enter Germany so why don’t we have some fun together now?” She very forcefully said “No, I don’t think so” and waited patiently until she saw two German soldiers changing shifts. When the right moment came she summoned all her courage and calmness and approached the soldiers. She felt greatly relieved when all her documents were pronounced valid and she successfully infiltrated behind enemy lines.

Marthe Cohn became an integral member of the German military and approached troops who were sympathetic to her plight risking her life every time she did so. As a nurse, Marthe won the soldiers’ hearts while caring for their wounds and injuries. She was able to retrieve needed inside information from the troops, such as their plans, movements, weapons, financial resources, and the size of their combat forces. After having gathered all this valuable information, a plan for Nazi troop movements slowly emerged in her mind and she was then able to alert Allied commanders concerning two major pieces of information. One was that the northwest of Freiburg, the Siegfried Line, was evacuated; the other was the location of the remnants of the German Army laying in ambush in the Black Forest waiting for the Allied forces. Thanks to her intelligence information, the Allied commander broke through the Siegfried Line and surged forward into German territory in 1945.

A stark-silent, ordinary life

In 1956 Marthe Cohn and her husband were married and she followed him to America. For years she never mentioned her young life and the anguish she had experienced during WWII. She lived quietly and felt immense gratitude for her survival. Several years ago, her brother encouraged her to write a memoir to inspire the younger generations to help people, who were in similar situations, relieve their pain. Eventually she decided to write the book previously mentioned with the assistance of her relatives and former colleagues. Her book has impacted and attracted a large number of readers around the world.

Last but surely not least, Marthe shared with us that to be granted medals in France one has to submit an application to the French government agencies. Most importantly, she chose to live a quiet life instead of seeking fame or glory, which was the major reason why she had not received any awards, certificates or medals until 1999, when she was officially awarded the “Medaille Militaire” as decreed by the President of France. The award was for courageous and heroic actions carried out during military service in WWII. At that time it was remarkable for a woman to receive such a prestigious honor. Marthe was next declared a “Woman of Valor” in 2002 by the Los Angeles Simon Wiesenthal Center for her service to the allied forces during WWII.  In 2006, she was again honored by the French Government with the “Medaille of the Reconnaissance de la Nation.” Since then she has become an international speaker and no longer lives a quiet, ordinary, undisturbed life. She said “I enjoy this ‘turmoil’ because I have opportunities to travel around the world to deliver my story and impact people.” Most importantly, she returned to Vietnam after 65 years and felt as if she was coming home while being enveloped by her family members. She smiled contently and her eyes were shining whenever she mentioned Vietnam.

As one of the admirers in the crowd, I was extremely fortunate and honored to meet Marthe Cohn, my greatest hero of all time. I did not mind spending time listening to her story over and over again because it is so inspiring, full of love, fear, anguish, spirit of patriotism and civic responsibility, conviction in one’s beliefs, and it reflects her unbreakable will. Through her remarkable and intriguing story, she has made us aware that war is always brutal. Inequality, racism, and discrimination still exist in most places on the planet. I often wonder why people don’t learn from her example of heroic actions, or why people don’t learn from history lessons in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Marthe Cohn represents the best of what it means to be human. Heroic actions are not a special genetic trait that some people are able to pass on from one generation to the next and others do not have that ability; heroic actions are decisions that we must make within ourselves and then react to as a natural response. Marthe said “the alternative would be to die in shame or cowardness or be killed by the enemy”; she didn’t feel like a hero because she didn’t die, however, others felt that she was a hero because of doing something special. Heroes are all around us and there is one within each of us. We do not need to risk our lives in order to be considered a hero; acting genuinely, listening intently, showing kindness to people, and doing what is right despite the consequences, that is, the stuff heroes are made of; and you can also be such a hero.  

To clearly understand Marthe Cohn’s inspirational and magnificent story and learn more about her heroic deeds, you can read Marthe Cohn’s and Wendy Holden’s book entitled, Behind Enemy Lines: A True Story of a French-Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany, published in 2002 by Random House, Inc.

Reported by Doan Thi Ngoc

http://gas.hoasen.edu.vn/en/gas-page/marthe-cohn-spy-heart-nazi-germany-who-became-writer#