Moving letter from Josephine Baker ready to fight for France.

Josephine BAKER (1906.1975)

Autograph letter signed to Valentine Fauchier Magnan.

Two large quarto pages.

Missing in the upper corner without affecting the text.

[Château des Milandes] August 18, 1940

“I love our country more than anything.”

A moving letter from Josephine Baker, both dejected and combative in light of the recent French surrender to Hitler's armies. Abandoned by her husband, who, according to her, fled her because of her skin color, the artist demonstrates her sense of honor and courage that would make her a valiant Resistance fighter: " Keep your head up. Courage and patience."

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"My dear dear dear Val, You can never imagine my joy when yesterday the postman brought me your letter, dated June 2nd, it was my birthday present, it was June 3rd my birthday, how happy I am to know that you have not forgotten me, thank you.

Finally, how many things have happened since our last meeting in the street on the Champs Élysées, I am glad that you continue to work for the Red Cross, yes, how many prisoners and so many other things, my poor Val, so unhappy. There is one thing that weighs on my heart and that is that the day I left, I had called Madame Menier to see her and tell her everything but, alas, she was not free that day, and I had to leave immediately. Since then I have been thinking about her, the poor woman all alone there, I think constantly. Where is she? What is she like? I was not able to speak to her on the phone of course and since then it has remained on my conscience.

I'm here in the middle of the countryside, alone but peaceful, Jean [Jean Lion, her husband] left with his family, afraid because of me, I'm black and the other thing, do you understand me? Anyway, I won't leave the boat Val, I can't. I love our country, more than anything.

I'm glad to know that our little Claude is well […] Write to me quickly, Val darling. I send you both my love. Yours Jo. Keep your head up. Courage and patience .

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Having become French through her marriage in 1937 to Jean Lion, Joséphine Baker decided to join the resistance against the Nazis and refused to sing in Paris as long as the Germans were there.

From 1939 onwards, she made several tours along the northeastern border to motivate the troops. In September 1939, Daniel Marouani, brother of Josephine Baker's agent, introduced her to Jacques Abtey, an officer in the 2nd Bureau, the Army's intelligence service. Abtey, who was head of military counterintelligence in Paris at the time of the declaration of war, was then tasked with recruiting "Honorable Correspondents," trustworthy volunteers who could travel anywhere without arousing suspicion in order to gather information on the activities of German agents.

It was then agreed that Josephine Baker would use her connections to get herself invited as often as possible to cocktail parties held at embassies in order to gather information on enemy troops. She thus succeeded in obtaining, at receptions held at the Italian and Portuguese embassies, valuable information on German troop movements and Mussolini's intentions at the start of the war.

In June 1941, Josephine Baker fell seriously ill. Her 19-month hospitalization did not put an end to her intelligence work; quite the contrary, as her room became a center for the exchange of secret information. She also worked to convince all the American officials she met to support General de Gaulle and Free France.

When the Americans landed in North Africa on November 11, 1942, she left her hospital room to experience the long-awaited event.
Barely recovered, Josephine Baker left to boost troop morale and organized shows, donating all her salaries to the French army. (Reference: Pascale Chardonnet and Françoise Firmin, Société d'Histoire du Vésinet, April 2014.)

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For easier reading, we have corrected J. Baker's spelling.