By Mary Dodge Allen
Who would have believed it? She was a French-born Jewish refugee, age 25, under five feet in height - and yet she worked as a spy behind German lines.
But Marthe had courage, a quick mind, and she spoke fluent German and French. She also had a fierce determination to do anything she could to help the Allies defeat the Nazis.
Marthe was born in Metz, France on April 13, 1920 to Regine and Fischel Hoffnung. They were an Orthodox Jewish family, and her grandfather was a prominent rabbi. Marthe had six siblings, but she was the only one who resembled their mother - fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes.
Metz, France is located in the area of Alsace-Lorraine, only a few miles from the German border. Germany annexed this area in 1870 and held it nearly fifty years, until it was returned to France after WWI. While under German control, the residents of Alsace-Lorraine were only allowed to speak German.
By the time Marthe was born, Alsace-Lorraine was once again part of France, and French could be freely spoken, as well as German. As a result, she grew up bilingual, speaking German to her parents and French with friends and in school.
Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass:
During November 9-10, 1938, the Nazi government staged a barrage of violence against German and Austrian Jews, arresting and beating them, while destroying their property.
In one German city, a Jewish teenager was brutally thrown out of a three-story window. He broke both legs as he landed on the broken and burning household furniture belonging to his family and others.
Marthe's family and others in their Jewish community resolved to help the Jewish families who were fleeing Germany by crossing into France. They provided shelter, food and money so they could travel on to reach relatives in safer areas.
WWII Begins:
France declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939, after the invasion of Poland. Marthe's oldest brother Fred enlisted in the French Army and was sent to the Maginot Line. Metz city officials advised Jewish families to move further into France, away from the German border.
Marthe's large family packed as much as they could in suitcases and left behind their home and business to resettle in the town of Poitiers, southwest of Paris, where Marthe's Uncle Benoit lived.
The Nazis Occupy France:
During May - June 1940, the German military conducted a 'Blitzkreig' (lightning war), conquering France and its neighboring countries. The Maginot Line fell quickly. Marthe's brother Fred was taken prisoner, but he escaped and briefly rejoined the family in Poitiers. Then he left to join the Resistance movement.
In the summer of 1940, Marthe, age 20, got a job to help support her family. She was hired to work as a French/German interpreter at Poitiers town hall. Her blonde hair, blue eyes and German surname 'Hoffnung' convinced Nazi officials she was 'Aryan.' Working as a Jew under the supervision of the enemy wasn't easy, but she learned to handle the pressure.
Beginning in the autumn of 1940, the Nazis ordered Jewish residents to receive new identity papers with JUIV or JUIVE in bold red letters. More edicts followed, banning Jews from many occupations, taking over businesses, enacting strict curfews, and confiscating radios, telephones and typewriters.
In April 1941, Marthe hosted a small party to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. Of all her siblings, Marthe was closest to her sister Stephanie, who was studying to become a doctor. Stephanie came to the party with some of her fellow medical students. One of them, Jacques Delaunay, soon became engaged to Marthe.
Persecution Intensifies:
In August 1941, Nazi officials discovered Marthe was Jewish, and she was fired from her job at the town hall. Three months later, she began nursing training at a Red Cross nursing college. It was run by a kind French woman, who defied Nazi rules by allowing Marthe to enroll, knowing she was Jewish. The woman declared, "There's no prejudice here."
Weeks later, Marthe was approached in the street by a French clerk she had worked with at the town hall. He offered to make forged identity papers for her and her family (without the red JUIV stamp). The clerk refused payment, even though he risked being arrested and killed if Nazi officials caught him.
Marthe was overwhelmed at his kindness and asked why he would take this risk. He said:
"If I can help one family escape from the Germans, then I will. I can't just stand by and watch what is happening."
She hid these forged papers in a safe place, waiting for the right time for her family to escape from Nazi-occupied France to the relative freedom of the '"unoccupied zone" (the area of southern France controlled by the puppet 'Vichy' government.)
The Noose Tightens:
During 1942, the Nazis began requiring Jews to wear a garish yellow cloth star on their clothing, and the random arrest and imprisonment of Jews became more commonplace. Marthe's family helped Jewish families to escape, by enlisting the help of patriotic French farmers whose land bordered the unoccupied zone.
One day, her sister Stephanie forgot to use an alias and signed her real name on a coded letter to one of the farmers. The Gestapo intercepted the letter, saw it was suspicious and arrested her. They ruthlessly interrogated her, but Stephanie refused to reveal any names. Every week, on visiting day, Marthe brought Stephanie food and clothing, and they prayed together for her release from jail.
After Stephanie's arrest, the Gestapo kept a close watch on Marthe's family. Every night they pounded on the door at curfew, to make sure all members were present.
Marthe's fiance Jacques - who wasn't Jewish - knew the time would soon come for them to part. He said, "I'll write every day, and when the war's over, we'll be together all the time."
The Escape:
One night after curfew, one of Marthe's nursing classmates came to their door and warned them there was going to be a 'rafle' (police roundup of Jews) later that night. She urged them to spend the night at her house. Marthe protested that her friend was putting her life in danger. But her friend insisted.
Marthe had already begun preparations for a quick getaway, sewing several thousand francs inside the lining of her clothes. Her large family took what they could carry and made their way through the dark streets to her friend's house.
They left her house at first light, splitting into small groups to avoid attracting attention. They traveled by different routes to the border, where they hoped to walk across, aided by their forged documents.
Marthe's group was the last to attempt the crossing. It was dusk when she and her mother walked on the rural road beside her squeaking bike, while steadying her frail grandmother, who was riding on the handlebars.
Nazi officials had plastered posters everywhere near the border, offering 25,000 francs (a year's income) to farmers who prevented Jews from crossing. As the small group walked past rural farmhouses on their way to the border, people stared at them. Marthe whispered a prayer, "Dear God, protect us now."
Then a farmer bowed his head and dropped to one knee. His wife kneeled next to him and made the sign of the cross. One by one, others bowed their heads and clasped their hands in prayer as they passed. Tears ran down Marthe's cheeks as she nodded a silent thanks to them. They crossed the border safely.
After reaching the unoccupied zone, Marthe's family still faced the danger of arrest. They reunited with her brother Fred, who was now active in the Resistance. He moved the older family members to a safer place in a remote mountainous area of southern France.
Shattered Hopes:
Marthe settled in Marseille and enrolled in nursing school to finish her degree. A year later, in October 1943, she completed her nursing exams. At this time, she also received terrible news. Her fiance Jacques had been executed by the Gestapo for his acts of sabotage with the Resistance. Marthe was devastated.
Weeks earlier, she'd heard that Stephanie had been moved out of Poitiers jail. Marthe feared that her sister had been sent to a concentration camp. Her anger burned against the Nazis, for taking away those she loved.
Heartbroken, Marthe moved to Paris to live with her older sister Celine, and she soon got a job as a private nurse for a wealthy Catholic woman.
New Role as an Allied Spy:
Paris was liberated by the Allies in August 1944. but fighting still raged, as the Allies pushed on toward Germany. More than ever, Marthe wanted to do her part to defeat the Nazis.
After several attempts, Marthe was finally accepted into the French Army, and was assigned to the 151st Infantry Regiment, a former Resistance unit. Many officers dismissed her as a weak, petite girl. She had volunteered to work as a nurse, and instead was given an unimportant social worker position.
One day, she was sent to answer phones for a high ranking officer. As soon as he found out she could speak fluent French and German, he asked her if she was willing to work for the French Army's Intelligence Service. She said yes!
Marthe endured rigorous training in handling weapons, reading maps, signaling in Morse code and recognizing Nazi uniform insignia. She was the only woman in the training, and she excelled. Her trainers gave her the nickname: 'Chichinette' which means 'fussy girl' because of her stubbornness.
Her 'Aryan' appearance made her a perfect spy. Under the cover name, "Marthe Ulrich," she would enter enemy territory and pose as a German nurse looking for her missing fiance - a German soldier. This 'search' cover story would help her to approach German officers and gather information on troop placements.
With her photographic memory, Marthe gathered key details of troop movements and sent coded messages back to headquarters. She even warned them of an entire German Infantry Division hiding in the Black Forest, waiting to ambush Allied troops.
After the War:
Marthe resumed work as a nurse, eventually moving to Switzerland. She searched through detailed records of concentration camp inmates and discovered that her sister Stephanie had been killed at Auschwitz.
In 1956, Marthe met an American medical student named Major Cohn. By 1958, they were married and living in New York City. They had two sons, Stephan Jacques (named for Stephanie) and Remi Benjamin.
For her courageous wartime service, Marthe received several medals, including the French Croix de Guerre in 1945 and France's highest honor, the Medaille Militaire in 1999.
Later Life:
Marthe never forgot her wartime experiences and often suffered from bad dreams. She didn't share her story - not even with her sons - until the mid-1990s, when she began traveling around the world, giving talks promoting peace and equality.
In 2002, with the help of another writer, Marthe wrote about her life and experiences, in a book called, Behind Enemy Lines.
Her wartime experiences were harrowing and tragic, but in her talks Marthe spoke with wit and optimism, captivating her audiences. She once said, "Why wouldn't I be an optimist when so many people risked their lives to save me?"
Marthe continued traveling and sharing her story until her death on May 20, 2025, at the age of 105. I wish I had known her.
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Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers.
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