Women Spies 1

Usually when we hear the word “spy,” an image of a man comes to mind. However, throughout history, many women have changed the fate of wars and countries by secretly transmitting information. There are two main reasons for using women as spies: the first reason is that women arouse less suspicion. For example, during World War II, men were much more likely to be interrogated by the Nazis than French women. Accordingly, the number of female spies increased significantly during that period. The other reason is that women can use their physical attractiveness to deceive men and tempt them into revealing information. Part of the book states: “Suzanne Spak was born around 1905 in Belgium. Her father was a bank employee. She married Claude Spak, a famous Belgian playwright, and together with her husband and two children, she moved to Paris, an important social center in Europe, leading a lavish and luxurious life. In Paris, her husband met a Belgian painter named Rene Magritte, who in 1936 painted a portrait of Suzanne and gave it to her husband. With the onset of World War II and the occupation of Paris, the lives of this couple changed. At this time Suzanne Spak, angered by the oppressive policies and brutality and racism of the Nazis, joined the National Resistance movement and offered her help. Among the doubters, some members of the Resistance accepted her, though they believed she was a pampered woman from the upper class and would not be resilient in difficult circumstances. At first, in the French National Resistance movement, she was assigned low-level tasks like typing, distributing leaflets, and buying supplies. As the number of Jews seeking help increased, Suzanne scoured all over Paris to find hospitals willing to help Jews with medical assistance and hide them. As someone from the upper social class of France, she used this advantage to visit lawyers, judges, priests, film stars, and government officials, encouraging them to support and help.”