Marthe Cohn

Marthe Hoffnung Cohn (13 April 1920 – 20 May 2025) was a French nurse, spy, Holocaust survivor and author. She wrote about her experiences as a spy at the end of World War II in the book Behind Enemy Lines.

Life Marthe Hoffnung was born in Metz on 13 April 1920, Her grandfather was a rabbi who instilled the love of books, Once, teenagers stoned her family as they left synagogue services, and she watched her father chase them, wielding his belt.

World War II After the start of World War II in September 1939, Cohn's family moved from the border with Germany to Poitiers, where they stayed after the 1940 German invasion of France.

In the summer of 1942, using false papers, Cohn organized her family's escape from Poitiers to the free zone; at the time, her sister Stéphanie, a student of medicine, had been arrested by the Gestapo because she had helped a student to escape.

After the War After the war, Cohn returned to France to pursue a career as a nurse. She studied further in Geneva, where she met an American medical student in 1956, Major L. Cohn, who was the roommate of a friend. Within three years, they were married and lived in the United States She was awarded the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour (Decree Number 2702, MR 2004) by André Bord, the national veterans minister in 2002. In 2006, she was again honored by the Government of France with the Medaille of the Reconnaissance de la Nation. Cohn had not previously spoken publicly about her secret assignments during the war, largely because she thought no one would believe her. Standing 4 feet 11 inches tall, she commented that spies were "usually tall and good-looking", making her "a very unlikely spy".

She died in Rancho Palos Verdes on 21 May 2025, at the age of 105. Médaille militaire, 1999 Legion of Honour, Knight 2002 Woman of Valor, Simon Wiesenthal Center Medal of the Nation's Gratitude, France, 2006 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Film A 2019 film was produced as a documentary of Cohn's life by writer-director Nicola Alice Hens and producer Amos Geva, entitled Chichinette: The Accidental Spy. The nickname "Chichinette", or 'pain in the neck', referred to her keen and inquisitive nature. In the film, asked for a message to viewers, she said: "Be engaged. And don’t accept any order that your conscience could not approve."

Books