The Paris Girl: The Young Woman Who Outwitted the Nazis and Became a WWII Hero

Summary

Andrée Griotteray was nineteen when the Germans invaded France and occupied Paris, where she worked as a clerk in the passport office. When her younger brother, Alain, created a resistance network named Orion, Andrée joined his efforts, secretly typing up and printing copies of an underground newspaper, and stealing ID cards which allowed scores of Jewish citizens to escape persecution.

Charming and pretty, Andrée nimbly avoided the unwanted attentions of German officers, even as she secretly began working as an undercover courier. Displaying fearlessness in the face of immense pressure, she traveled throughout the county delivering vital intelligence destined for France's allies—until the day she was betrayed and arrested. Throughout her ordeal, Andrée stayed composed, refusing to inform on her comrades. Before she was set free, she even duped her interrogators into revealing who had betrayed Orion, and continued her underground activities until France's liberation.

Weaving in diary entries, letters, and conversations, Andrée's daughter, Francelle, brings a uniquely personal slant to her mother's story. The Paris Girl reveals the narrow escapes and moments of terror, the daily acts of bravery and defiance, and the extraordinary courage displayed by Andrée and so many of her contemporaries, that helped turned the tide of war.