Ayla, a young Jewish woman, walked for miles in the middle of the night through mountainous regions with snowdrifts and freezing temperatures toward the German front.

Nearing the front with its watchful snipers, Ayla would leave her African commando escort behind and continue on alone.

Pretending to be a nurse searching for her soldier boyfriend, Ayla put her life at seemingly unsurmountable risk, but she crossed into German territory many times providing crucial information to the Free French Army regarding enemy troop strongholds and movements.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Shadow Projections
Podcast Episode #04
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs: 36:23

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Ayla: Nicola Lipman
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Scott Whittaker
Archival audio: Divide and Conquer, Don’t be a Sucker, from the Prelinger Archive, used under Creative Commons and/or public domain.

Show Notes

Gendered cultural assumptions
Projected stereotypic beliefs about women in espionage persist today
About projection
Discovering my own personal shadow
Ayla’s story
Escaping to Marseille
Basic training and then the Alsatian front
From the front lines to undercover reconnaissance work
Relying on instinct and having a sixth sense about danger

Links and Resources

Free France
Army of Africa (France)
Vichy France article in Smithsonian magazine
Marseille – First Capital of the Resistance
Antigone – Anouilh play
LA Times: The Agony of ‘Antigone’ : Anouilh’s Heroine Symbolized Nazi Resistance, Its Validity Holds
Rodenhurt, Nigel. 2012 (downloadable PDF). Dis/Simulation as Post-Traumatic Symptom and Literary Strategy in Jewish-American Fiction
Shadow and Projection
Marie Louise Von Franz on the “Shadow.”
Carl Jung and “You see, our whole mental life, our consciousness, began with projections.”
Jung and the Trumpian Shadow
Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche
Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature

All Episodes in this Series