Germaine Guérin

Germaine Guérin was a brothel owner and a French Resistance sympathizer during the Vichy regime. She was part of Virginia Hall's spy network that operated in Lyon, France. Along with the gynecologist Jean Rousset, she helped Hall save Jews, Allied pilots, spies, radio operators, and refugees during the Second World War.

Biography Little is known about Guérin's life and background except for accounts chronicling her life as a "madam", an owner of a popular brothel in Lyon. She was described as a brunette who wrapped herself in jewels, silks, and furs. She lived in an apartment above her business, which was located in a backstreet of the city, an area now occupied by the offices of the National Treasury of France. The 37-year-old Guérin was already part of the French resistance movement; she was known for harboring Jews forced into hiding.

Guérin's brothel was popular among German soldiers, enabling her to extract information through the prostitutes she employed. Guérin also helped undermine the Nazis by spreading sexually transmitted diseases among her German patrons. She used forged white cards that authorities used in their efforts to prevent the spread of such diseases. With the help of gynecologist Rousset, she manipulated identification documents so that infected girls were presented as disease-free.