Isidore Newman

Isidore Newman MBE CdeG MdeR (26 January 1916 – 7 September 1944) was a British secret agent in the French section of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.

Early life He was born in Leeds on 26 January 1916, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants Joseph and Tilly Newman. He grew up in Durham where he trained as a primary school teacher, before moving to Hull in 1938, and had studied French at university though spoke it less than perfectly. They travelled in HM Submarine P 42 “Unbroken” to Antibes where on the night of 21 April 1942 Churchill took Newman and Zeff and their radios to the shore by canoe, and led them to their contact Dr Élie Lévy. Churchill then returned to the submarine and dropped off Clech and Gerson by canoe at Pointe d’Agay near Fréjus before returning to the UK.

Second mission He was brought by Lysander on the night of 19/20 July 1943 near Azay-sur-Cher to be radio operator of Philippe Liewer's SALESMAN network in Rouen and Le Havre. His nom de guerre was "Peter" (or "Pepe"). During this mission Newman sent 54 messages. SALESMAN needed a reliable radio link with London to begin coordinating supply drops and made effective use of the arms it then received, sinking an 800-ton minesweeper in September, and wrecking a local power station the following month. Newman maintained tight security, transmitting from three separate locations and never transmitting more than twice from the same location before moving to the next, but German direction-finding teams were close to arresting him and he was forced to cease transmission for six weeks at one point. On 8 March 1944, Claude Malraux, who was temporarily in charge of SALESMAN, was arrested and within hours all his contacts were blown.

Arrest and death Newman was arrested on 31 March 1944 and was subsequently suspected of revealing the locations of his safe houses. He was taken to the Gestapo prison in Paris, then Fresnes prison, and lastly transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp where he was executed on 7 September 1944.

Recognition Awards Great Britain: Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military), Mentioned in Despatches France: Croix de Guerre, Médaille de la Résistance

Monuments As one of the 104 agents of section F who lost their lives for France, Isidore Newman is honoured at The Valençay SOE Memorial, Indre, France. Brookwood Memorial, Surrey, panel 21, column 3. Capt. Isidore Newman, British Secret Agent, SOE, MI6 during WW2

Historical marker of honor on the home he lived in, in Durham, erected 2023 by Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (U.K. Branch).