exclusive suburbs of Paris. There, she continued to live a bohemian lifestyle. Violette Morris became a frequent figure in the nightlife of Paris, often attending clubs and parties where she showcased her athletic prowess and strong personality.
Despite her many achievements in various sports, her life was marred by the controversies surrounding her personal life and choices. In 1939, as the clouds of war gathered over Europe once again, Violette made a fateful decision that would shape her legacy. She became a collaborator with the Nazis, believing that her skills and connections would allow her to navigate the political turmoil to her advantage.
However, this decision would ultimately lead to her becoming one of the most notorious figures during the German occupation of France. Her name, once celebrated in the athletic world, became synonymous with betrayal and cruelty. As the "Hyena of the Gestapo," Violette Morris was implicated in the torture and persecution of resistance members and opponents of the Nazi regime.
Her past achievements were overshadowed by her role in enforcing the harsh policies of the occupiers, leaving a stain on her legacy that would endure long after the war ended. Violette Morris's life is a complex tapestry of athletic excellence, personal struggle, and moral ambiguity, reflecting the turbulent times in which she lived. Expensive suburb of Paris.
She then decided to take up opera singing, occasionally appearing on the radio. It was in January 1933 when the Nazis came into power in Germany. Immediately after, Adolf Hitler’s new government began preparing the country for war.
In 1935, a German journalist, Gertrude Hannecker, a former rival in car racing, is said to have contacted Morris to recruit her as a spy for the SD, which was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Germany under Hitler’s regime. Morris knew people all over France and had gained experience in the First World War, which made her interesting to the SD. Morris is said to have subsequently traveled through France and gathered information about the locations of the French army, especially the Maginot Line, the defense system along the French-German border.
She also gathered information about the Somua S-35, France's most modern battle tank. In the meantime, she lived on her houseboat on the Seine and made a living by giving tennis and driving lessons and engaging in black-market trading. When, on August 1, 1936, Adolf Hitler opened the 11th Olympic Games, Violette Morris was invited to attend the event by Adolf Hitler himself, becoming his guest of honor.
At this time, she was allegedly the mistress of the leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, but there is no evidence to support this theory. On Christmas Eve 1937, Violette Morris was arrested for killing a former legionnaire, Joseph Le Cam, on board her houseboat. Le Cam was the lover of her best friend's wife and had threatened her during a quarrel.
Morris was tried in March 1938 but acquitted when the court accepted her plea of self-defense. The Second World War started on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. The Battle of France began on May 10, 1940, and on June 22 of the same year, the Armistice at Compiègne was signed by France and Germany.
During the German occupation of France, Violette Morris was Christian Sarton du Jonchay's chauffeur. Du Jonchay collaborated with the Nazi occupiers and encouraged the recruitment of French officers for the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism. The unit consisted of collaborationist volunteers from France and was sent to the Eastern Front in October 1941, where it performed poorly in combat and suffered heavy losses.
During the war, Morris also helped to confiscate petrol for the German army and ran a garage requisitioned by the German Air Forces—the Luftwaffe—on Boulevard Pershing in Paris, supplying them with spare parts. In 1940, Violette received a transfer of 600,000 francs for this, and she said she had accepted the job because she dreamed of becoming an aviatrix and lecturing on women's sports in the USA. During the occupation, Morris continued to work for the Germans, especially for the commander of the security police in Paris, Helmut Knochen.
Her main responsibilities during the war were to infiltrate French resistance networks and disrupt the operation of the Special Operations Executive (the SOE), a British-run organization that helped the Resistance. In addition to being a spy for the Nazis, she was also involved in the interrogation and torture of suspects, in particular female members of the French Resistance. Her reputation for involvement in torture and enjoying it resulted in her becoming known as the "Hyena of the Gestapo.
" The Gestapo was the German secret police. In December 1943, in the city of Cannes, with the help of the Gestapo, Morris oversaw the requisitioning of important non-ferrous metals for the German war economy. On April 26, 1944, while driving in her car on a country road in Normandy with the Bailleul family, who were favorably positioned with the Nazi regime in France, Morris's car came to a halt.
When the car stopped, resistance members emerged from a hiding spot and opened fire on those sitting within the vehicle. The three adults, including then 51-year-old Violette Morris, and two children aged 14 and 15 were killed. Morris's body, riddled with bullets, was taken to a morgue, where it remained unclaimed for over a year until September 1945.
Then her body was buried in an unmarked communal grave. There are a few contradictory reports around the circumstances of Violette Morris’ death. According to one, in April 1944, an order came from London which stated: “Shoot Violette Morris, spy, immediately and by all means.
End. ” As a result, the day Morris was killed, the resistance members tampered with the engine of the car, which then had to stop due to a deliberately caused breakdown. Another theory says that it was a mistake by the resistance members who thought they had found a targeted Nazi collaborator and began firing.
Other sources claim that the attack was not aimed at Morris but at the Bailleul family, who were travelling with her in the car and who had friendly contacts with the German occupiers. There were no tears shed for Violette Morris. Thanks for watching the World History Channel.
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