1 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 1: Diversion audio. A note this episode contains descriptions of violence 2 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: and genocide that may be disturbing. Please take care in listening. 3 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: This series is based on historical characters and real events. 4 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: Some dialogue has been imagined for dramatic purposes when no 5 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: primary source material is available. Virginia Hall had successfully managed 6 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: to save the British pilot in German clutches, but the 7 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: rescue came with the cost. While meeting with the downed 8 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: airman in a public restaurant, she was confronted by the 9 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: Gestapo after the pilot ordered a beer, a drink forbidden 10 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: to the French public. In an effort to cover for him. 11 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: Virginia explained that she was in the Mary a newspaper 12 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:05,559 Speaker 1: reporter named Brigitte Le Contra, but by doing that, she'd 13 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: exposed her alias to the Nazis earlier in her mission 14 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,119 Speaker 1: than she had hoped. Now she felt she had to move. 15 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: Virginia abandoned her current safe house and leon and set 16 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: up shopping another, notifying Vera Atkins, her unofficial handler with 17 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: the s O back in London, that she was changing 18 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: her street name to Marie. She decided she'd have to 19 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: be smarter about direct contact with Nazis. Going forward, she 20 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: would offer aid to operatives who needed it, but she'd 21 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: have to work more discreetly. Up to this point, Virginia 22 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: could move about in France without much pushback. She could 23 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: use her status as an American to fend off a 24 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: stint in a German prison, so long as she wasn't 25 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: actively stirring up trouble. Though America had thrown financial and 26 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: moral support to the Allied forces, it was still the 27 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: middle of nineteen forty one and the US hadn't officially 28 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: entered the war. As President Roosevelt explained in late nineteen 29 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: the people of Europe, who are defending themselves, do not 30 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 1: ask us to do their fighting. They asked us well. 31 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 1: The implements of law, the planes, the tanks, the guns 32 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: freight us which will enable them to fight for their 33 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:32,359 Speaker 1: liberty and our security. The Democrats controlled both the House 34 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: and the Senate at that point, and believed in tangling 35 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: themselves in an international war would distract from an economy 36 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: that was still recovering from the Great Depression. America was 37 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: confident that the United France, and Britain could feedback Hitler's armies, 38 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: but after the Blitz of nineteen forty Germany's persistent bombies 39 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: of English cities to simphthy from America. The Blitz was 40 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: a series of German air raids and bombing attacks that 41 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: lasted until forcing Britat into their homes for extended periods 42 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: of time and leaving much of London in ruins. As 43 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: one BBC radio reporter recalled, I was walking between solid 44 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: walls of fire. Roofs of shops and office buildings came 45 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: down with a roaring crash. Panes of grounds were cracking 46 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,239 Speaker 1: everywhere from the heat. At Every street was criss crossed 47 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: with innumerable lengths of hose. President Roosevelt began taking bigger 48 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: steps away from neutrality and an effort to help the British, 49 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: eventually offering U S ships to work as convoys for 50 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: British travel around the globe. It wasn't long before the 51 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: Axis powers realized the U S would be more directly involved, 52 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. With that in mind, the order 53 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: was given yesterday. They sum US some nineteen forty one, 54 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: a date which will live in infamy. The United States 55 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. Japan bombed the 56 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 1: U S naval base at Pearl Harbor and what was 57 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: then the U. S Territory of Hawaii, killing two thousand, 58 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,839 Speaker 1: three hundred and thirty five people and wounding over a 59 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:35,239 Speaker 1: thousand more. The next day, President Roosevelt declared war against Japan, 60 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: officially entering World War two and effectively ending Virginia's cover 61 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:51,720 Speaker 1: in France, as she was now stationed deep within enemy territory. 62 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: I'm Stephen Talty and from Diversion. This is good Assassin's 63 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:04,359 Speaker 1: Season two. Being killed would be the easy part. Being 64 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: tortured would be the hard part. Our intel suggests she 65 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: is behind many of the prison bricks over the country. 66 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:19,359 Speaker 1: She is dangerous, so sabotage plus a little espionage paramilitary 67 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: operations make things blow up. The message for Captain Bobby 68 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: and I believe I have found the nest of the 69 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: Limping Lady. Episode five, Enemy Territory. It was early and 70 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: Robert Alesha's hunt for the Limping Lady had brought him 71 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: to the doorstep of a French gynecologist and resistance operative 72 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: named doctor jean Ussey and leone France. Alessia had managed 73 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: to trick the doctor into believing he was a priest 74 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: named Robert at coom, a new courier for the French resistance. 75 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 1: In reality, he was a Nazi spy working directly for 76 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: infamous s S officer Klaus Barbie. Alesha had received information 77 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 1: from Dr Roussey and concluded a woman named Marie maybe 78 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: the Limping Lady he had been searching for. He wired 79 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: his superiors with a report A message for Captain Bobby. 80 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: This is Alesh. I believe I have found the nest 81 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: of the Limping Lady. Between her rescue of the British 82 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: pilot and Alesha's visit to Dr Hussey's home, the Limping 83 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: Lady had become a major thorn in the side of 84 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: the s S. She had managed to gather intel of 85 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: German missions and plots to target British strongholds in France 86 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: that gave the Brits an edge. But most importantly, the 87 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: Limping Lady was considered by the s S to be 88 00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:00,040 Speaker 1: the leader of a new resistance network named Heckler that 89 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: supplied resistance members with weaponry, housing, and escape roots out 90 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: of the country. In reality, Virginia wasn't just the leader 91 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: of Heckler, but the founder. We tried to confirm why 92 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: Virginia named her unit Heckler, but our research was unsuccessful. 93 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: Her well known wit might be some indication. But whether 94 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: Heckler was named to aggravate the Nazis, there was no 95 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: denying its impact on German war efforts. Over the course 96 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: of about eleven months between August nine and July, Virginia 97 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: masterminded multiple jail breaks free captured British and French resistance fighters, 98 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: returned information to London. And she did it all from 99 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: the shadows. What do you want me to do? Then 100 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: I find the limping Lady, confirm her location, and then 101 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: returned to us. Do not make any attempt to arrest her. 102 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: We don't want to expose you just yet. I don't 103 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: want to tell you how to do your job, Captain. 104 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: But if this really is the limping Lady, I would 105 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: discourage any attempt to imprison her. She won't go to prison, 106 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: She'll go to the camps. Soon after Adolf Hitler became 107 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: chancellor in Germany, the Nazis began to set up a 108 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: number of isolated stations, ostensibly to hold those they deemed 109 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: undesirable until the war ended. These stations, architecturally designed for 110 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: the purpose of suffering and dehumanization, were called concentration camps. 111 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: The first concentration camp was built in Dakout, Germany, just 112 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: outside of Munich, in March of ninety three. So Dachau 113 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 1: was the most important, the most long lasting of the 114 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: concentration camps that are set up in the first months 115 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: of Hypnostic titorship, and therefore, as such, Dakau was central 116 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: to the destruction of the Bimar Republic and to the 117 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: destruction of the rule of law in Germany. That's Christopher Dillon, 118 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: a senior lecturer of modern German history at King's College, London. 119 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: In two thousand fifteen he published a book called Dakau 120 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: and the s S, a Schooling in violence. Dakau was 121 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: built for political prisoners and perceived threats to the Nazi Party, 122 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: and the majority of its first occupants included Jews, social Democrats, 123 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: German communists, and others perceived as sympathetic to socialist ideals. 124 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: As the camp grew over time, it became home to 125 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: others deemed unsociable, most notably homosexuals, the Roma, and Jehovah's witnesses. 126 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: Once these prisoners arrived, they faced a world of terror. 127 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 1: Some of theatum with an oxwid in front of the 128 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: SA prisoners, which is both a punishment for their supposed 129 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: these would also a demonstration to the wider prisoner community 130 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,080 Speaker 1: of the s S is absolute power in the camps. 131 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: Some arrivals are taken off to the camp knock up 132 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 1: or bunker where they're tormented, are insulted, beaten, deprivate of sleep, 133 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: subjected to attack dogs, and invited to commit suicide. And 134 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: in a handful of cases also you have Nazi apostate 135 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,600 Speaker 1: supposed internal traitors of the movement who were brought to 136 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: the camp and then a kind of gruesomely murdered in 137 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,439 Speaker 1: so called female executions, which is on a killing that 138 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: was quite fashionable in the German right during the Weimar 139 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: Republic in the first commandant of Dakao invoked martial law 140 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: in a unilateral declaration, one that had no validity and 141 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: would not be recognized by the local government, but it 142 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: gave the SS guards grounds for their actions. Years before 143 00:10:56,400 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: World War Two began in Auschwitz, Comman Down, who had 144 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: cut his teeth at Dakau, wrote a post war memoir. 145 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: He uses the term dak House spirit to describe what 146 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: he calls the unique quote atmosphere of hatred end quote 147 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: in Dakau towards the prisoners, and he saw this as 148 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: being kind of proactively brutal and hectoring guard culture, and 149 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: it almost kind of boyish open joy in inflicting creative 150 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: suffering on the inmates. This dak House spirit was then 151 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: diffused throughout the camp system because ss men who kind 152 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: of earned their spurs and Dakau are then posted to 153 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: set up camps elsewhere and a core ethos of the 154 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: guard mentality with anti Semitism. In fact, fourteen of the 155 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,959 Speaker 1: twenty two prisoners murdered at Dakao in his first year 156 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,560 Speaker 1: of operation were Jewish, even though Jews made up less 157 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: than ten percent of the inmate population at the time. 158 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,839 Speaker 1: If he didn't loudly and publicly hate Jews at all 159 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: times as a Dacaud, you simply wouldn't fit in. It 160 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: was absolutely axiomatic to the world view of Nazi activists 161 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:14,959 Speaker 1: and party members. Decas primary architect with an AS officer 162 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: named Theodore Acre who became commandant of the camp in 163 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 1: June of and he was fanatical Nazis, charismatic, pugnacious, devoted 164 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: your no kind of life really outside the s S. 165 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: I can want to guards to hate the prisoners on 166 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: a very personal and emotional level. He wrote, quote SS 167 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: members hate the heart in their breasts must be turned 168 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: to stone and quote So under Ka's command, the guards 169 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: at Dark House and increasing these young males who come 170 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: from the Hitler youth are hazed and drilled in the 171 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: roughest German tradition and encouraged, in turn, to channel their 172 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,960 Speaker 1: resentments of being mistreated during drill onto the camp prisoners 173 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: to cascade them. Guards are promoted full violence and then 174 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: protected from many legal consequences from their actions, so the 175 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,439 Speaker 1: camps really are a lawless space by the Big n 176 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: It was Ica who masterminded the blue and white pajamas 177 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: given to detainees, and it was Ica who oversaw a 178 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: new regiment of Nazi guards and methods that led to 179 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: most of the harsh and often lethal punishments that became 180 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: standard in every camp. The Nazis regularly withheld food from 181 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: their prisoners while simultaneously increasing their workloads. They were literally 182 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: worked to the bone and not given medical treatment for malnutrition, injury, exhaustion, 183 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 1: and dehydration. If they died, they were merely replaced with others. 184 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: Ica would rise through the ranks and be placed in 185 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,200 Speaker 1: the crosshairs of history, as he was later handpicked by 186 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: Hitler to murder Ernst Rome, a high ranking Nazi who 187 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: Hitler feared was plotting to take over the Nazi Party. 188 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 1: In ninety four, Here's a man named Abe Melnick reflecting 189 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: at his horrific time as a prisoner at Dakau. In 190 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: the house every morning, other friend of mine and myself 191 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: we had a small card like a little y show, 192 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: and we walked from back to back, and we pulled 193 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: up all the dead people and stacked him up and 194 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: take the rown, dumped them and do it again. And 195 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: some of my own friends I wouldn't even recognize because 196 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: full of lies, lies, monetrician diarrhea, the cent terium, typhoid, everything, 197 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: all that everything hit us Daka was the longest camp 198 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: in operation, only shutting down after its liberation from Allied 199 00:14:53,520 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: forces in April. It's estimated over two thousand prisoners in 200 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: Dakau throughout the course of its operation, though the death 201 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: toll is disputed. While account of nearly twenty eight thousand 202 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: deaths was talied between nineteen forty, the number from nineteen 203 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 1: thirty three to nine is unknown, as the amount of 204 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: murdered unregistered prisoners can't be counted. The first thing they 205 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: see is like an enormous train of the sidings of Daca, 206 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 1: which is full of corpses. These are prisoners that have 207 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: been transported from elsewhere in the camp system that have 208 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: died en route. So let's just get absolutely sickening sites, 209 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: these other worldly scenes of suffering and death, as saying 210 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: into everyone's historical consciousness, we have to take a short break, 211 00:15:47,040 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 1: stay with us. According to the US Holocaust Museum quote, 212 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: the Nazis and their allies ran more than forty four 213 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: thousand camps, ghettos, and other sites of detention, persecution, forced labor, 214 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: and murder during the Holocaust. Daka was just the first 215 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: of the concentration camps created by Germany. They varied in 216 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: size and function. Some were labor camps and others were 217 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: just execution sites. These were the hellish places that people 218 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: like Robert Alesh were sending Jews, resistance fighters, and those 219 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 1: who spoke out against the Nazi Party. After receiving permission 220 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:39,840 Speaker 1: from Klaus Barbie, the head of the Gestapo and Leone 221 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: to hunt down the limping lady, Alesha knew that the 222 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: address Dr Russey had given him wouldn't likely put him 223 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: in direct contact with her. Molestia had spent enough time 224 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: undercover among resistance fighters to know that they all carried 225 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: multiple aliases, and while he was sure that Marie was 226 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: the Limping Lady, he knew that disco bring her real 227 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: identity before making contact would give him an advantage. But 228 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: he couldn't go back to Dr Hussey and ask him directly. 229 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: Alesh once again turned to the Leone churches, adopting his 230 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: persona as a priest to find more information. Forgive me, father, 231 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: for I have seen that it has been seven months 232 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: since my last confession. Forgive me, father, for I have 233 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: seen forgive me six weeks since my last my last confession, 234 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: five months since my last confision. But this method seemed 235 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: to have run its course. The resistance unit known as 236 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: Heckler had dug deep into Leone, and apparently the word 237 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: had gotten out not to trust the clergy with any 238 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:55,239 Speaker 1: resistance secrets. With his secret weapon taken away, unless went 239 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: back to Barbie for advice. You told me you had 240 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: her Lokay, Sir, I think we should know more about 241 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: her before we show up at her door. What we 242 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,439 Speaker 1: know about her is that she is single handedly taking 243 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: us apart. Hecla is responsible for the Menvy lost at Muzak, 244 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:20,920 Speaker 1: and now you are hesitating. In July of n Virginia 245 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,639 Speaker 1: had successfully plotted the escape of twelve British agents and 246 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,520 Speaker 1: resistance fighters from a prison called Muzak in the city 247 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: of berger Rock in the southwest of France. It was 248 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:36,439 Speaker 1: an amazing operation. Over a series of a few months, 249 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: Virginia brought together a number of Heckler operatives who slowly 250 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:43,919 Speaker 1: and methodically delivered to the prisoners bits of clay in 251 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,919 Speaker 1: tin sardine cans that could be used to make a 252 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: cast of the lock of the barracks door. After successfully 253 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: building a replica of the lock, a locksmith was able 254 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: to build a key that was then smuggled into the 255 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:01,440 Speaker 1: prison and allowed the prisoners to escape. After their escape, 256 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: Virginia smuggled the agents out of France, through Spain and 257 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: into London, all while never stepping out of the shadows. 258 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 1: This incredible operation was deemed one of the nazis greatest embarrassments. 259 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:19,639 Speaker 1: Every moment you're standing here in front of me is 260 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: another moment where that woman is transmitting our plans to 261 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: the British and setting us back months. If I go 262 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,640 Speaker 1: to the address and misidentify her, we'll have played our 263 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 1: hand and all of this will be for nothing. Then 264 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: they'll shows the place on sir. If she's there, you'll 265 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,960 Speaker 1: kill her and we won't have learned anything. We need 266 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,119 Speaker 1: her alive. We need her face on a poster that 267 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: we can shove into the faces of the British so 268 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: we can make them think we know everything about the operations. 269 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: If we capture the Limping Lady, we destroy HECLA. But 270 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: if we haven't confirmed exactly who she is and we 271 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: just kill some woman we could be looking for the 272 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: Limping Lady forever, then go get her. We have to 273 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 1: imagine this exchange with Barbie was frustrating. For a lesh, 274 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 1: he would have felt like he was back at square one. 275 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: He considered that if he just knew what the Limping 276 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: Lady looked like beyond her limp, he could make a 277 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:26,119 Speaker 1: positive idea with a careful interrogation. He also knew that 278 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,399 Speaker 1: if she had to tell as prominent as a limp, 279 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: and she was the leader of Heckler, it was possible 280 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 1: that other female agents or resistance members might pretend to 281 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:39,400 Speaker 1: have limps just to keep the Nazis guessing, but Lesh 282 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: couldn't get church parishioners to talk about the resistance and 283 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:47,040 Speaker 1: confession anymore. They were either not involved or had gotten 284 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: wise dispelling secrets. His priest persona was proving ineffective, so 285 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 1: he would have to take a more scholastic route and 286 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: review reports made by the Gestapo about past encounters with 287 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 1: Suspic's civilians. It was here that a Lash learned of 288 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,399 Speaker 1: an instance in which a foreign news reporter had a 289 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: strange encounter with the Gestapo about a year before. Robert Delash, Yeah, 290 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: you are the man who spoke to zoa porter. Yeah, 291 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: in the cache what exactly major supporters stand out? She 292 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: was a woman, and she was with a man who 293 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: tried other pier shaky fellow, nervous on accident. Her French 294 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: was excellent, but the accident was I believe perhaps Canadian. 295 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 1: What was her name? I don't remember. Was it Marie? No, 296 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: it wasn't Marie Bridget and believe Bridget. M hm. You 297 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: have written a new report that she had a limb. Yeah, 298 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: that's right, and this was about a year ago before 299 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: as a limping lady was known to us. Yes, Sir, 300 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: I didn't seein thing all describe her to me. Virginia 301 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: was described as mid thirties, dark hair with a large, 302 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: slender nose. She had thin eyebrows with a higher than 303 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: normal arch, the curled sharply and thin lips. Her height 304 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: was noted as five ft seven with this description and 305 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 1: limited other options. Unless decided on his next move. After 306 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,439 Speaker 1: the break, he pays a visit to the address given 307 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:52,719 Speaker 1: to him by Dr Hussey. It's unclear if Robert Alesh 308 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: felt any guilt for what he was doing. When Germany 309 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 1: first became a threat to Europe. He had originally sited 310 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: against them, and record show he even considered himself part 311 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:06,199 Speaker 1: of the resistance, aligning with the French and working to 312 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: hide immigrant Jews in his parish. But when the Nazis 313 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: took over all of France and forty two and Alesha 314 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: was arrested for his activities, he quickly switched sides and 315 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 1: never seemed to look back. Now he was in league 316 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: with some of the top ranking Nazis stationed in France, 317 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: although it seems he was not himself a designated member 318 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: of the Gestapo. With his connections to the s S, 319 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: he likely could have run and escaped to almost anywhere 320 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: in the world, but instead Alesh chose to stay and work, 321 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: maybe hoping to build an identity in this new world. 322 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,399 Speaker 1: The Nazis promised. He come a long way, and we 323 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,080 Speaker 1: haven't been able to find any evidence that he ever 324 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: planned to turn back. I wish with all my heart 325 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 1: that everyone fighting in this war could have come with 326 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: me through the bobbed wire offense that leads to the 327 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:03,000 Speaker 1: inner compound. The app following the end of the war 328 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 1: in the world started to learn of the devastating number 329 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 1: of people killed in the concentration camps, starting with Belson 330 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: in Germany. Richard Dimbleby described what he found there in 331 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: his role as a war correspondent for the BBC. But 332 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,680 Speaker 1: beyond the barrier was a whirling cloud of dust, the 333 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:27,679 Speaker 1: dust of thousands of slowly moving people, laden in itself 334 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: with the deadly typhus job. And with the dust was 335 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: a smell, sickly and thick, the smell of death and decay, 336 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,920 Speaker 1: of corruption and filth. I passed through the barrier and 337 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:44,360 Speaker 1: found myself in the world of a nightmare. Dead bodies, 338 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: some of them in decay, lay strewn about the road 339 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: and along the rutted tracks, on each side of the 340 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: road were brown wooden huts. There were faces the windows, 341 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: the bony, emaciated faces of starving women too weak to 342 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: come out sid An estimated six million Jewish people were 343 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,199 Speaker 1: murdered at the hands of the Nazis. Sometimes when we 344 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: hear numbers so large, it's difficult to put them into perspective. 345 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,920 Speaker 1: So consider this. More Jews were murdered in concentration camps, 346 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 1: then there are people currently living in the entire city 347 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: of Los Angeles. While the Holocaust can't give us a 348 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: perfect number for all its casualties due to the Nazis 349 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 1: destroying their records as camps were being liberated, it remains 350 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,639 Speaker 1: the most well documented and accurate count of genocide in 351 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:41,399 Speaker 1: human history. I've seen many terrible sites in the last 352 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: five years, but nothing, nothing approaching the dreadful interior of 353 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: this hot At Belson, the dead and the dyeing lay 354 00:25:50,320 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: close together as Alest approached the address give into him 355 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: by dr who say he shifted into his father, a 356 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: con persona. He would only get one chance with this lead, 357 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 1: and he still wasn't sure if this Marie was in 358 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:21,880 Speaker 1: fact the limping lady. Mm hmmmm, Yes, Marie Marie, it's father. 359 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 1: Can have you treated the cats on the roof? Yes, 360 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: but they won't take a brandy come in father. Coming 361 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 1: up on the next episode of Good Assassins, being burned 362 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: is devastating. That means your whole network could be compromised. 363 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: Your number one thing is that tingly spider sense. Right, 364 00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,719 Speaker 1: they've been banging the fourth there's made landings that all 365 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,200 Speaker 1: around about give on the long coat of front North 366 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 1: Africa and somewhere on the web coat. Whatever it is 367 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 1: the Gestapo wants, they'll demand it in exchange from making 368 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,840 Speaker 1: the pain end, and then at the end they'll mainly 369 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 1: execute the people. If you have any questions for us 370 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: about Good Assassins, if you're curious about some aspect of 371 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: Virginia Hall story, or have any comments on the podcast, 372 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,919 Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at 373 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:42,399 Speaker 1: good Assassins at diversion audio dot com. Make sure you 374 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: spell assassins correctly. Again, that's Good Assassins at Diversion Audio 375 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: dot com. We'll try to answer your questions on a 376 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: future episode. Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at 377 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,879 Speaker 1: diversion Pods. Good Assassins is a production of Diversion Audio 378 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: in association with iHeart Podcasts. This season is hosted by 379 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,639 Speaker 1: Steven Talti and written by C. D. Carpenter, Produced and 380 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: directed by Kevin Thompson for Real Jet Packs Productions. Story 381 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: editing by Jacob Bronstein, with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, 382 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: Additional research and reporting by Sophie McNulty. Theme music by 383 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: Tyler Cash featuring the voices of mikayla Is Caerdo, Raphael 384 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,120 Speaker 1: cork Kill, Lenna Klingeman, John Pierkese, Andrew polk or Lock, 385 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 1: Cassidy Manouel Falciano, Sean Gormley, Matthew Ament, and Steve Rautman. 386 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: Sound design, mixing and mastering by Paul Goodrich. Sound editing 387 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:47,719 Speaker 1: by Justin Kilpatrick. Executive producers Jacob Bronstein, Mark Francis and 388 00:28:47,800 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: Scott Waxman for Diversion Audio S Simply for Diversion Audio