Invisible Women

In this episode, you’ll meet Jennis, a young American woman who grew up in Middle America.

She chose to challenge the conventions of the 1940s by holding a sit-in to protest her university’s policy of not allowing women to study Japanese. WW 2 was underway and she wanted to help the war effort in a way that would maximise her contributions. She won her fight and learned Japanese.

After being vetted, she was recruited and trained by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to become an espionage agent in India, Burma and Ceylon.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing. This content includes graphic references to sexual assault and suicide.

Episode Details

Episode Name
Podcast Episode #08
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs: 39:45

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Edie: Tanja Dixon-Warren
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Matt James and Scott Whittaker

Show Notes

• Visiting temples in India
• How Jennis’s espionage experience was so different than the other women
• How Diane’s journey unfolded after doing the research
• Jennis: Growing up in Kansas
• Two degrees, but still not allowed to study Japanese at university because she was a woman
• A one-person sit-in at the classroom finally wins the day
• Recruited by the OSS after learning Japanese
• Translating Japanese documents, newspapers and confiscated articles
• Sent to India, doing research and analysis
• Travelling and learning Hindi, moving in with an Indian family
• Meeting Gandhi
• Fascinated by Satyagraha, becoming “violently non-violent”
• Using Satyagraha to diffuse a dangerous personal situation
• Back in the US after the war, a PhD and a life long love and study of India

Links and Resources

Psychology/philosophy
Hinduism
Jung psychology
Review: The Evolutionary Journey of Woman: From the Goddess to Integral Feminism by Sarah Nicholson
The Heroine Journeys Project
Satyagraha

History
A Largely Indian Victory in World War II, Mostly Forgotten in India (NY Times article, pay wall)
Strategic Operations Executive in India
Secret Agents, Secret Armies: The Short Happy Life of the OSS
The Burma Campaign
The Bizarre Ways America’s First Spy Agency Tried to Overthrow Hitler
The Women Whose Secret Work Helped Win World War II (NY Times article, pay wall)

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

In this episode you’ll hear Celine’s story. She was a young French woman who first joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in the UK, and then later became a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent. She parachuted into France to courier, sabotage and coordinate among Maquis groups.

You’ll hear how she challenged biased cultural beliefs about women and her references that underscore the personality of many of the women I interviewed ~ independent, strategic, compassionate, courageous and instinctual.

Celine made crucial contributions in one of the most turbulent times of WW 2; during the D-Day invasion and the weeks that followed.

Post war, the British government honoured some SOE agents with medals ~ the men received far more than the women. And for those women like Celine who did survive and receive commendation, their medals were civilian, rather than military.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing. This content includes graphic references to sexual assault and suicide.

Episode Details

Embodiment
Podcast Episode #07
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs: 57:48

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Celine: Emily Bett Rickards
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Scott Whittaker

Show Notes

Links and Resources

A list of SOE agents
Secret Scottish training camps
SOE Training, Transport and Equipment
The Female Spies of the SOE
The Witch hunts
A Brief Guide to Embodied Cognition
Reductionism
Lhasa Pilgrim Circuits and Kora
Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda
The maquis
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
Special Operations SOE Tempsford Secret Airfield WWII Spy Base (YouTube Video)
The Free French
Falais Pocket
D-Day
Shaving women’s heads after liberation

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

There have been two Madonnas worshiped throughout Europe for centuries, reflecting the splitting of the feminine archetypal energy in the mind and lives of western people.

This episode is about Zosia, a young woman who couriered for the Polish resistance in 1939, went into forced labor and found strength in the teachings of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. This icon of the Polish people and women symbolizes the power of independence, freedom, resistance, character and integrity.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Madonnas
Podcast Episode #06
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs: 42:46

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Zosia: Jane Heyman
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Matt James

Show Notes

• The great mother: Interconnectedness and continuity
• Early spirituality
• The two Madonnas
• Feminine and masculine archetypes
• Black Isis
• Madonna above, Madonna below
• Poland and The Black Madonna
• Zosia’s story
• 12 year old Girl Guide Courier
• A family of resistance
• Hiding arms from the enemy
• Fleeing the Russians
• Forced labour in Germany
• Inspiration from the Black Madonna
• Displaced Person after the war, an a new life
• Canada

Links and Resources

History
Isis nursing Horus
Black Madonna of Częstochowa
Chartres Cathedral
The Black Madonna of Poland (YouTube)
The Black Madonna of Czestochowa PolAmJournal
Hallowed Be Her Name: The Language of the Goddess
Forced labour under German rule during World War II
World War II: The Invasion of Poland and the Winter War
Poland still counts losses from WW2 invasion

Psychological
The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future
Longing for Darkness: Tara and the Black Madonna : a Ten-year Journey
Dancing in the Flames
Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women
Maureen Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey Arc
Marion Woodman: Dancing in the Flames – ‘Two Marions’ (YouTube)

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

Invisible Women is celebrating International Women’s Day with the release of Episode 5. This episode is about the power of Sisterhood and women leading, supporting and empowering women and others with compassion, strategy, intelligence and bravery so everyone may benefit.

In this episode you’ll hear Pet’s story, a young woman who lived in Amsterdam during WW 2. At the behest of her mother, she couriered for the Dutch resistance, traveling into the countryside carrying documents and funds for downed Allied pilots.

Pet talks about how the women in her household and in the resistance demonstrated a parallel way to resist without male oversight. Sisterhood resisting was coupled with extreme risk, strategy, and compassion.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Sisterhood
Podcast Episode #05
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs:39:08

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Pet: Lucia Frangione
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Matt James

Show Notes

• The Newgrange passage monument in County Meath, Ireland 
• The great goddess , great mother archetype
• Women working together as resistors
• Pet’s story in the Dutch resistance
• Introduced to espionage by her mother
• First harrowing experience as a courier
• A Dutch pilot’s tragic consequences
• Hiding under the floorboards
• Hiding a Jewish family in the attic
• Getting Father out of prison
• Quick minded and not excitable, my cover was my innocence
• A close call on the train
• What you need to do, you don’t talk about it
• Mother was a role model, defiant and compassionate
• Moving to Canada
  

Links and Resources

Holland’s occupation during WWII
Dutch Resistance ambushes SS officer
Dutch citizens resist Nazi occupation, 1940-1945
WWII Netherlands Escape Lines
How a Young Audrey Hepburn Helped the Dutch Resistance
Sisters in the Resistance: How Women Fought to Free France – Margaret Collins Weitz
How a Jewish teenager infiltrated a Nazi headquarters (YouTube video)
Psychological – Archetypal
In Search of The Divine Feminine with Jungian Analyst Anne Baring (Audio)
Marion Woodman: Dancing in the Flames (YouTube video)
The Great Mother (Wikipedia)
The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype – Erich Neumann
Newgrange prehistoric monument

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

Sign up for the Newsletter

Get updates directly to your email. We promise, no spam.

SIGN UP

Ayla, a young Jewish woman, walked for miles in the middle of the night through mountainous regions with snowdrifts and freezing temperatures toward the German front.

Nearing the front with its watchful snipers, Ayla would leave her African commando escort behind and continue on alone.  

Pretending to be a nurse searching for her soldier boyfriend, Ayla put her life at seemingly unsurmountable risk, but she crossed into German territory many times providing crucial information to the Free French Army regarding enemy troop strongholds and movements.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Shadow Projections
Podcast Episode #04
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs: 36:23

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Ayla: Nicola Lipman
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Scott Whittaker
Archival audio: Divide and Conquer, Don’t be a Sucker, from the Prelinger Archive, used under Creative Commons and/or public domain.

Show Notes

• Gendered cultural assumptions
• Projected stereotypic beliefs about women in espionage persist today
• About projection
• Discovering my own personal shadow
• Ayla’s story
• Escaping to Marseille
• Basic training and then the Alsatian front
• From the front lines to undercover reconnaissance work
• Relying on instinct and having a sixth sense about danger

Links and Resources

Free France
Army of Africa (France)
Vichy France article in Smithsonian magazine
Marseille – First Capital of the Resistance
Antigone – Anouilh play
LA Times: The Agony of ‘Antigone’ : Anouilh’s Heroine Symbolized Nazi Resistance, Its Validity Holds
Rodenhurt, Nigel. 2012 (downloadable PDF). Dis/Simulation as Post-Traumatic Symptom and Literary Strategy in Jewish-American Fiction
Shadow and Projection
Marie Louise Von Franz on the “Shadow.”
Carl Jung and “You see, our whole mental life, our consciousness, began with projections.”
Jung and the Trumpian Shadow
Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche
Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

Sign up for the Newsletter

Get updates directly to your email. We promise, no spam.

SIGN UP

On her wedding day Liliana discovered that she was not only saying yes to marriage, but also to the perilous work of a wireless operator in one of the first resistance cells in France.

Speaking 5 languages by the age of 19 she was instrumental in encoding messages sent to Bletchley Park from a Polish Military cell in Lyon, run by her husband.

The cultural beliefs about women, and the relationship power gradient between women and men, supported her fiancé’s action to decide her fate.

In this episode, the patriarchal monopoly on power is easily exposed in the Allied propaganda of the era. In juxtaposition to this power, Liliana’s story reflects her authentic contributions, and her matchless abilities and ingenuity that saved them from certain capture when the cell was infiltrated by the Nazis.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Propaganda
Podcast Episode #03
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs: 55:53

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Liliana: Colleen Winton
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Matt James
Archival audio: Danger Women at Work, Arm Behind the Army. From the Prelinger Archive, used under Creative Commons and/or public domain.

Show Notes

• The honourable and respectful origins of propaganda
• The WW2 propaganda campaign reinforces the societal stereotypes and expectations of women and men
• Bringing women into the work force in order to keep the economy going
• Propaganda used to shift the perspective of women being capable not only in the home, but also working in factories
• Contradictory stereotypes – how women were portrayed in propaganda
• Post war propaganda
• Modern computational propaganda
• Liliana’s story
• War breaks out
• Working with the Red Cross in Vichy
• A young lieutenant proposes marriage
• Wedding day surprise – the young lieutenant has a different name
• A new husband and a new role in the resistance
• In Lyon, learning about wireless machines and codes
• Trouble in Lyon, and the move to Marseille
• Escape from Marseille to Switzeralnd
• Slipping by the authorities thanks to food coupons
• Divorced after the war, a new husband and a move to Canada

Links and Resources

World War 2 Propaganda & Surveillance
Polish resistance in France during World War II
Women at Work
History of Women in the Red Cross
The Story of Propaganda
The hypodermic effect: How propaganda manipulates our emotions
Advertising, Public Relations and Propaganda
Surveillance and Espionage in a Free Society

Feminism
Feminism
What Is Feminism, And Why Do So Many Women And Men Hate It?
French Red Cross poster

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

Sign up for the Newsletter

Get updates directly to your email. We promise, no spam.

SIGN UP

What is it about secrets and spying that holds such interest, curiosity and energy for us?  And, why were these women agents, who were living ordinary lives pre-war, exhilarated by being undercover in dangerous circumstances?

In this episode I’ll discuss the high stakes of being involved in espionage, whether behind the lines or on the home front. Then, I’ll introduce you to Garnet, a young woman from the UK who was decoding enemy messages in the secret facility at Bletchley Park.

Later it was boots on the ground for her to aid Czechoslovakian resistance cell members escape the Russians. That’s the focus of this episode of Invisible Women, different kinds of Spy Craft.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Episode Name: Spy Craft
Podcast Episode #02
Created by: Diane Greig
Produced by: Robert Ouimet
Runs: 33:11

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Garnet: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Scott Whittaker

Show Notes

• Diane discusses the role of espionage and some of its history.
• How women agents were recruited and trained.
• Garnet explains how she was recruited to work at Bletchley Park.
• Working in the huts decoding enemy encrypted messages.
• Never seeing the big picture and not being allowed to talk about it.
• High stakes.
• The camaraderie at Bletchley Park.
• The end of the war in Europe, and on to a different type of work
• Helping the resistance in Czechoslovaki.

Links and Resource

Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, WAAF (Wikipedia)
Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wikipedia)
History of Espionage (Wikipedia)
Security Service – MI5
Women in Bletchley Park (Wikipedia)
Bletchley Park website
Britannica entry on Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia (Wikipedia)
Prague uprising (Wikipedia)
The Turing-Welchman Bombe, The National Museum of Computing
A recent find of a German Enigma machine in the Baltic Sea
Russian woman sniper article

Psychology-related Links
The Ethics of Silence: An Interdisciplinary Case Analysis Approach by Nancy Billias
The Female Trickster: The Mask That Reveals, Post-Jungian and Postmodern Psychological Perspectives on Women in Contemporary by Ricki Stefanie Tannen
C.G. Jung defines intuition, YouTube video 

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

Sign up for the Newsletter

Get updates directly to your email. We promise, no spam.

SIGN UP

When real life stories have been kept secret for over 60 years, it’s difficult to coax them into existence.

This episode introduces eight such stories and the challenges involved in uncovering them — from the male gatekeepers I had to traverse to inviting the women to share their stories, most of whom had not previously done so.

We begin with Edie’s story, a young woman who worked for Service Zero, a large resistance cell in Belgium.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Service Zero
Podcast Episode # 01
Runs: 48:50

Credits

Host and Writer: Diane Greig
Edie: Patti Allan
Casting Director: Eileen Barrett
Producer: Robert Ouimet
Sound engineer: Scott Whittaker

Show Notes

• Invisible Women is a podcast about eight women who worked in espionage during World War 2
• They were six different countries
• What they had in common was the opportunity to step outside societal norms while at the same time working in the shadows
• The podcast is about cultural shadow. Its also about projections, and societal expectations
• Didn’t plan to search out women in espionage
• Intrigued by image of agents being flown in behind enemy lines by the light of the full moon
• The challenge in finding these women and the men gate keepers
• All were living ordinary lives until war struck and then they were thrust into this unusual work
  Introduction to Edie
  
  Edie’s story
• In 1939 was 16 and living at home in Ghent, Belgium
• May 1940 was on a family vacation in Ardennes when Belgium was invaded
• Harrowing trip back to Ghent, now occupied by German soldiers
• Introduced to resistance work by her brother – a cell called Service Zero
• Reported on rail , troop movement, airfields and construction to British Intelligence
• Typed up and couriered reports to wireless operators
• The every day risks and dangers of inspections at train stations and on the road
• Avoiding going to a forced labour camp
• Family has been through this kind of things before, mother was a role model
• Resistance work ended in 1943 when her brother is arrested
• Her final assignment – to warn the head of Service Zero that someone has exposed the group
• Father is arrested
• After liberation, reunited with her father and later her brother

Links and Resources

Canadians in Belgium WW 2
German Occupation of Belgium WW 2
Overview of Belgium Resistance WW 2 including Service Zero
Untold Stories of Belgium’s Female Resistance WW 1
Belgium Resistance with photos WW 2
Hidden Children of the Holocaust: Belgian Nuns and Their Daring Rescue of Young Jews from the Nazis (review)
Resistance movie (2003)
Belgian resistance during World War (library talk)

Psychology-related Links
Owning Your Own Shadow
Meeting the Shadow
Map of the Soul and BTS Lyrics
Romancing the Shadow

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

Sign up for the Newsletter

Get updates directly to your email. We promise, no spam.

SIGN UP

Based on her years of research and in-person interviews, Diane Greig hosts this podcast about eight women who worked in espionage during World War 2.

The women worked undercover in dangerous territory between 1939-1946, in countries such as France, Poland, India, Holland, Belgium and Czechoslovakia. Most were young, in their teens and early twenties.

These women were from different cultures and backgrounds, and worked for military and non-military cells. Two were from France, and the other six were Russian, Irish, Polish, Belgian, Dutch and American born. What they had in common was the opportunity to step outside societal norms, while at the same time working in the shadows. While their contributions were incredibly important, they’ve been hidden. Invisible women is an opportunity to hear their stories, to explore their roles in society and discover what we can learn from these stories, that is relevant today.

The series is called Invisible Women because the roles of these women spies were invisible to the enemy. This podcast is a thought-provoking series about cultural shadow and contemporary issues — what is endarkened in our culture and therefore, invisible and unavailable to us in our daily lives.

It’s also about projection — what we project onto others because of individual shadow and societal expectations. And, it’s about the unperceived lenses that we grow up with — invisible lenses — that affect our potential, creativity and empowerment. How do these invisible lenses affect your relationships? How may you become more aware and re-imagine, revision and deepen your life? These are a few of the topics covered in upcoming episodes.

Episodes include war-related content that some listeners may find disturbing and/or traumatizing.

Episode Details

Introducing Invisible Women
Podcast Episode #00 (promo)
Runs: 0:56

Show Notes

This is a promo for up-coming episodes.
Diane Grieg introduces herself and the series.

Links and Resources

More about Diane Greig
Army Museum (Paris, France)
Camp X (Ontario, Canada) *SOE training camp
Camp Z (Fraser Island, Australia) *SOE training camp
Canadian War Museum (Ottawa, Ontario)
Imperial War Museum (London, UK)
International Spy Museum (Washington, USA)
Military Museums (Alberta, Canada) 
Vietnamese Women’s Museum (Hanoi, Vietnam) *large section dedicated to women and war

All Episodes in this Series

Episode 8: Heroine’s Journey

Episode 7: Embodiment

Episode 6: Madonnas

Episode 5: Sisterhood

Episode 4: Shadow Projections

Episode 3: Propaganda

Episode 2: Spy Craft

Episode 1: Service Zero

Promo

Sign up for the Newsletter

Get updates directly to your email. We promise, no spam.

SIGN UP