Retracing resistance : an analysis of the experiences of missing F section women of the special operations executive

Abstract

This study investigates the experiences of the missing female operatives of the British Special Operations Executive F Section during the Second World War. This research analyzes these women’s movements and treatment, as much as can be reconstructed, from their arrest until their deaths in German concentration camps. In analyzing the experiences of the captured and executed women of the SOE, this thesis illustrates the variables that shaped their fate: when and where they were interned and executed, the role of Nazi personnel, and the conditions and priorities of the camps in which they were held. Contrary to the SOE’s intentions, women’s gender did not protect them, since for the Nazis women spies were a double threat.