Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany

by Marthe Cohn

But as one door closed another opened. In December 1940, Fred arrived home. We were delighted to see him, although shocked by his appearance. We sat him down, fed him and listened, open-mouthed, as he told us his story. After the Maginot Line had fallen, he’d been captured and transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in Strasbourg, which was the last we’d heard of him. Overhearing the German guards say that all the prisoners would be transferred to Germany the following day, he brought his escape plans forward and, wearing civilian clothes he’d secretly hidden, somehow fled and crossed the Vosges Mountains in the harshest winter on foot, walking only at night. He traveled to Nancy, contacted all his old customers, held a huge sale and sold the entire contents of his tailor’s shop. Secreting the money in his clothes, he’d journeyed on to Poitiers. This money kept us going throughout the whole of the war. Thanks to Fred, thin and pale after his ordeal, we were able to survive.