The Girlfriends: Spotlight – E16: Hélène Outwits the Nazis

Date: March 2, 2026
Host: Anna Sinfield
Guest: Gwen Strauss (author of The Nine)
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts and Novel

Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, host Anna Sinfield tells the remarkable true story of Hélène, a brilliant member of the French Resistance during WWII, who survived brutal Nazi concentration camps and orchestrated her own and eight fellow prisoners’ escape. Guided by Gwen Strauss—the great-niece of Hélène and author of the book The Nine—the show vividly recounts tales of courage, resourcefulness, and indomitable female friendship amid the darkness of war.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction and Historical Setting

• [02:45] Anna Sinfield opens with a content warning for themes of torture and violence before immersing listeners in a vivid description of the chaotic Nazi death marches as WWII draws to a close.
• [02:55] The focus shifts to nine concealed women, pretending to be corpses to escape detection—“Helene is the leader... and she has a plan.”

2. Hélène’s Background and Early Resistance Work

• [05:45] Gwen Strauss describes Hélène as highly educated—a chemist, mathematician, discreet, fashionable, multilingual, and elegant, even in old age.

  “She was brilliant, especially for her time... she was a chemist and also a mathematician... she was an incredibly good linguist.” – Gwen Strauss [05:45]

• [07:11] At age 23, Hélène stayed in Nazi-occupied Paris, allegedly for studies, but in reality to join the Resistance, organizing clandestine Allied parachute drops and decoding BBC messages.

  “She would listen to the radio and wait for messages from Britain... She would then crack the codes to discover where and when the next drop would be.” – Anna Sinfield [07:11]

• [07:49] High-risk operations required her to light landing strips, rapidly hide parachutes, and disperse before the Gestapo arrived—often with only a 20-minute margin.

3. Capture and Suffering

• [11:47] After nearly 10 months of eluding capture, Hélène is arrested. She attempts to hide her Resistance message, but is eventually transferred to the infamous Angers prison.
• [13:07] Gwen chillingly details torture: “I know that they waterboarded her. I know they pulled out her fingernails and that she would often be sent back to her cell in a stretcher.” [13:07]
• [13:26] Hélène keeps her mind sharp by writing unsolved mathematical formulas on her cell wall—an effort to mentally escape confinement.

4. The Concentration Camps

• [14:55] On D-Day, as male prisoners are executed, Hélène is deported to Ravensbruck and then Hassag Leipzig, separated from France and thrust among thousands of suffering women.

Meet The Nine

• [20:29]–[22:41] Gwen introduces each member of “The Nine”:

  • Jose – Spanish, beautiful singing voice
  • Zinka (Renée) – Tiny, brave, just had a child taken from her
  • Zaza – Witty, optimistic
  • Lon & Gigi – Dutch, joined Resistance, quickly caught
  • Minna – A flirty Breton, joined for love
  • Jacqueline – Oldest, a widow, swears like a sailor, had diphtheria
  • Nicole – Nearly caught by Klaus Barbie, disguised as a nurse
  • Hélène – Gwen’s aunt, chemist and polyglot

  “They were all different... different in every way. And yet they managed to be great friends. And all those kind of differences didn't matter. They were very much united in helping each other survive.” – Gwen Strauss [22:41]

Solidarity and Survival

• [23:45] The women invent the “bowl of solidarity”— pooling bits of food to give the most despondent among them.

  “It wasn't dog eat dog at all. It was this idea that we can only survive if we help each other.” – Gwen Strauss [23:45]

• [24:47] Creativity sustains them: making hats from mattress scraps, dancing, and even crafting secret “cookbooks” full of dreamed-of decadent recipes.

  "Starving people love to talk about food... and so they started to write down the recipes on scraps of paper and pass them around." – Gwen Strauss [25:12]

Resistance Inside the Camp

• [26:28] Hélène sabotages production (with help from a sympathetic factory head) by manipulating thermostats so munitions are defective—a sophisticated act of resistance that’s never discovered.

  "She did not stop resisting... when she figured out how to sabotage the production, she felt so happy." – Gwen Strauss [27:13]

5. The Escape: Outwitting the Nazis

End of the War & The Death March

• [27:48]–[28:55] The factory is bombed as Allies push nearer; all camp prisoners are forced on a brutal death march—anyone who falters is shot.

• [32:37] The women realize their situation is desperate and hatch an escape plan. During a pause on the march:

  “Helene and Lan started to talk, and...we know they're going to kill us at the end of this or we're going to die, so we have to escape.” – Gwen Strauss [32:37]

• [34:05] When the guards are out of sight, Hélène signals and they hide among corpses in a ditch, letting the march pass by before fleeing.

  “They slid off into the ditch along the road... piled on top of each other like a pile of dead bodies and let the march continue past them.” – Gwen Strauss [34:05]

Flight Across Germany

• [35:34]–[39:12] For 10 days they evade Nazis and Russians, subsisting on kindness from strangers and their own ingenuity.
• They cross a raging river on slick stones in prison clogs, some losing their few precious possessions.

Finding the Americans and Freedom

• [39:12] On the verge of collapse, they’re rescued by American soldiers.

  “The soldiers find them and like, ask them if they want chewing gum... They all climb into their jeep and they bring them back to the base.” – Gwen Strauss [39:12]

• [40:51] All nine survive and sleep together in a bed, finally safe under American guard.

6. Aftermath, Loss, and Legacy

• [42:00] Hélène stays on in Germany to assist the Allies, later driving home in an American military vehicle—her mother overjoyed, her father in disbelief.

• [42:51] Upon return, the women are often met with suspicion or judgment, not celebration:

  “Men were commended for their bravery, but the women were treated with disdain.” – Anna Sinfield [43:20] “If you had been in the Resistance and young and survived, it meant you had slept around or been a prostitute... That’s a lot of the reason there was a lot of silence about it after the war.” – Gwen Strauss [43:36]

• Gwen dedicates years to researching their stories, culminating in her book The Nine. Through interviews with descendants—like Zinka’s daughter, France—she brings a sense of closure and validation to the families.

  “She fought to survive because of you. And it was like kind of a. It was a gift that I could give her.” – Gwen Strauss [45:31]

7. Enduring Lessons & Inspiration

• The episode highlights that resistance can take many forms: not only acts of sabotage, but sustaining fellow humans through solidarity and compassion.

• Gwen reflects:

  “There’s all these different ways to resist. It’s not just, you know, throwing a Molotov cocktail at something. ... The way that they helped each other out really moved me and made me realize, oh, there’s all these different ways to resist.” – Gwen Strauss [47:22]

• Anna closes with reflections on how the relatability of these women and their longing for simple pleasures (wine, a cigarette, being by the sea) connects the past to the present, showing heroism is not always grand or unattainable.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Hélène's Motivation:

  “I asked her... 'why were you so brave?'... And she said she didn't even think about it, 'cause I had to.” – Gwen Strauss [09:34]

• Solidarity over Self-Preservation:

  “It wasn't dog eat dog at all. It was this idea that we can only survive if we help each other.” – Gwen Strauss [23:45]

• Sabotage as Resistance:

  “She didn't stop resisting... when she figured out how to sabotage the production, she felt so happy. Like, it was like she was still a soldier.” – Gwen Strauss [27:13]

• On the Joy After Liberation:

  “Nicole remembered eating [bread and jam] and... only a few hours earlier, she was ready to die. And there she's sitting in the sun, eating this feast.” [36:49]

• Rescuers and Cultural Memory:

  “Lon just...ever since then...had a thing for men in uniform... The greatest thing ever.” [40:06]

• Postwar Silence:

  “If you had been in the Resistance and young and survived, it meant you had slept around or been a prostitute... There was a lot of silence about it after the war. People didn’t talk about it.” – Gwen Strauss [43:36]

Key Timestamps

• [02:45] Content warning and opening: The death march and Hélène’s concealed escape plan
• [05:45]–[07:49] Hélène’s background, recruitment, and parachute-drop operations
• [11:47]–[14:55] Hélène’s arrest, torture, and endurance at Angers prison
• [19:53]–[25:50] At Hassag Leipzig: Introduction of “The Nine” and solidarity stories
• [26:28]–[27:13] Sabotaging Nazi munitions in the factory
• [28:00]–[35:12] Death march, escape plan, and the perilous journey
• [39:12] Encounter with American liberators—emotional peak
• [42:00]–[43:58] Aftermath: Postwar challenges and passage of years
• [45:06]–[47:22] Tracing descendants, legacy, and lessons for today’s world

Episode Themes and Takeaways

• Female Solidarity as Survival: The “bowl of solidarity” and daily support defy the dehumanization of camp life.
• Forms of Resistance: Courage isn’t always dramatic; acts of care, sabotage, and creative determination are vital.
• Erased Histories: The episode strongly addresses the historical silencing of women’s war heroism and the enduring impact on families and memory.
• The Power of Storytelling: Researching and telling these stories restores dignity and lets us find inspiration in ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances.

Final Reflection

Host Anna Sinfield and guest Gwen Strauss together deliver a story that not only commemorates lost heroines but seamlessly connects their legacy to the present:

"It makes me feel that perhaps we've all got a bit of the nine's courage locked away in us, even if I hope we never have to use it." – Anna Sinfield [48:14]

Further Reading: Gwen Strauss’s book The Nine explores the full story of these women’s heroism and what became of them after the war.
Charity Highlighted: Womankind Worldwide (womankind.org.uk)

Listen for Next Episode: Stories of resistance against the Taliban.