Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

The Paris Showgirl Who Fought The Nazis

September 11, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Josephine Baker arrived at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 1925 as a 19-year-old dancer fleeing the poverty and segregation of St. Louis, Missouri. Within a few years, she was the most famous entertainer in Europe, known for her banana skirt, her pet cheetah with a diamond collar, and a stage persona that blurred the line between colonial fantasy and avant-garde art. But as historian Hannah Diamond explains in this episode, the most remarkable part of Baker’s life came later: during World War II, she used that very celebrity—the absurd, over-the-top fame—as a perfect cover for espionage, hiding secrets in her underwear and passing through Nazi checkpoints while railway workers ran to get their wives’ autographs.

From the Jim Crow South to the Parisian Stage

Baker was born in 1906 into real deprivation. Her father disappeared early, and her mother sent her to work as a domestic servant in affluent white households, where she was not well treated. She married for the first time at thirteen—a short-lived arrangement that was not uncommon in African American communities at the time, Diamond notes, though Baker’s memoirs suggest she was unhappy. A second marriage, at fifteen, was to Willie Baker; she kept his name after they divorced in the 1920s.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (07:00) **Who Was Josephine Baker?** - Professor Hannah Diamond introduces Josephine Baker as an African American woman born in St. Louis in 1906 who rose from extreme poverty to become one of the first global celebrities.
  • 2 (11:34) **The Path to Paris** - The discussion covers how Baker left Jim Crow America for France, where she found a different racial framework and became an overnight sensation.
  • 3 (14:36) **The Savage Dance and Banana Skirt** - The conversation details Baker’s electrifying 1925 debut performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and her iconic banana skirt.
  • 4 (16:52) **Reinvention and Celebrity** - Hannah explains how Baker, with the help of a man called Count Abatino, transformed herself from a primitive stage persona into a polished, multilingual performer.
  • 5 (21:57) **Love Life and Celebrity Persona** - The discussion touches on Baker’s bisexuality and her pioneering use of celebrity antics to maintain public fascination.
  • 6 (27:27) **Why She Stayed to Fight** - Hannah explains that unlike most other African American performers, Baker chose to stay in France when war broke out, having formally adopted the country as her home.
  • 7 (30:32) **Recruited as a Spy** - The conversation reveals how counterintelligence officer Jacques Abtey initially dismissed Baker as an unlikely spy but was convinced by her genuine patriotism and unique access.

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Show Notes

Josephine Baker went from poverty and segregation in St. Louis to becoming Paris’s most sensational showgirl, captivating Europe with her dancing, sexuality and scandalous performances.


But behind her outrageous persona was an extraordinary woman who became a spy in World War Two, civil rights activist and French national hero.


Joining Kate today is author and Second World War French historian, Professor Amerita Hanna Diamond.


This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.


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All music from Epidemic Sounds.


Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.


Betwixt the Sheets is a History Hit podcast.


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