For many women who were accused of collaboration during the Second World War, they often had
to undergo the horrific torture of the ugly carnival. In France, this was used and women
accused of sleeping with the enemy, or the Germans were paraded in front of a huge crowd,
and they would forcibly have their heads shaved, and they were also made to run the gauntlet
where the baying crowd would hit, kick and try to inflict more suffering onto them. It
was a a sight which was noted by the Allies as disgusting, and many allied soldiers were
fearful of getting involved, as women were covered in swastika’s and other Nazi symbols
aimed to embarrass and punish. Some women in Paris who worked inside of the brothel’s
where German soldiers visited were even killed during their ordeal. But there was one woman
from France who lived a very interesting life, and she was a gold medal winning athlete who
actually became an honoured guest of Adolf Hitler. But she would become known as ‘the
hyena of the gestapo,’ for the fact she was involved in collaborating with the Nazis.
For this the French Resistance made Violette Morris pay. But what was her story? Join us
today as we look at the execution of the hyena of the Gestapo, and as always to support our
channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Violette Morris was born in April 1893 and she was the daughter of a retired French Army
cavalry captain. During her teenage years she spent a lot of time inside of a convent,
and she would then in August 1914 marry Edouard Joseph Gouraud, but the couple would divorce
9 years later. But as the First World War was gripping the continent, Violette Morrison
decided to have an involvement in the conflict, and she would learn how to drive at this time,
and she would then during the war drive ambulances at some of the deadliest battlefields. She
would during the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun serve also as a courier of
information near to the frontlines, and she was considered rather skilled at this.
But Morris was a keen sportswoman, and she would play football for the French women’s
national team, and she won gold medals at the Women’s Olympiads. But as well as being
a skilled footballer, she was also a national water polo player, and also a pioneering boxing
and she would fight against men and often at times defeat them. Also she was involved
in wrestling, weightlifting, diving, archery, motorcycle and bike racing and even underwent
surgery to allow her to fit in race cars more easily. She would compete in the Tour de France
Automobile and in many other races including endurance ones, but her lifestyle was very
different to traditional women of the time.
She dressed in mens clothes, swore often and was a heavy smoker and because of this the
French Women’s sport federation would refuse to renew her license and she would be barred
from taking part in the 1928 Summer Olympics. She had also at some point punched a referee
during a football match, but her racing license would also be revoked and she would then try
to sue these authorities. At her trial she said that, ‘We live in a country made rotten
by money and scandals, ruled by speechifiers, schemers and cowards. This country of little
people is not worthy of its elders, not worthy of survival. Someday its decay will bring
it to the level of a slave, but if I'm still here, I won't be one of the slaves. Believe
me, it’s not in my temperament.’
However in January 1933, Violette Morris moved into a houseboat with her partner Yvonne de
Bray, and they were moored on the River Seine in Northwest Paris. They lived off the inheritance
that they received and also sung and began to gain popularity, as they would perform
sometimes on the radio. But on Christmas Eve 1937, whilst they were having dinner with
their neighbours at a restaurant in Neuilly, Violette came across an aggressive drunk man
named Joseph Le Cam. She tried to calm the man, but the man the next day arrived at their
houseboat, and an argument broke out between Le Cam and Violette Morris. He pulled a knife
and threatened her, but Morris pushed him and he then lunged at her with the knife,
and she pulled out a revolver and shot Le Cam twice. He died in Hospital, and because
of this Violette was then charged with murder and was held in prison before her trial, but
she was acquitted on the basis of self defence.
But then something surprising would occur. Her reputation as an iconic female sportswoman
would be overshadowed, as she would become involved and ingratiated with one of the most
evil regimes the world has ever seen. In December 1935 she met Gertrude Hannecker who was an
ex racer but also a German journalist. She was a recruiting officer and agent for the
SD, the Nazi Security Service and she then invited Violette Morris to attend the 1936
Summer Olympics in Berlin, and she would then become an esteemed guest of Adolf Hitler.
But this then began a number of years in which Violette would collaborate and willingly pass
over information about the French military that she could get her hands on. Some information
that she passed onto the Nazis was invaluable, including partial plans for the Maginot Line
which were passed to the German army, as well as maps of strategic points inside of the
city of Paris. She even gave over diagrams and schematic blueprints for the French tank
the Somua S35. The information regarding the plans of the French defensive would be invaluable
during the German invasion of France during the Second World War, but it’s not known
what led this seemingly iconic French woman to become in the pockets of the Nazis.
As the Second World War broke out, she would continue to collaborate with the Nazis and
would continue to betray her nation. She became a member of the Carlingue, which was the official
office responsible for collecting the money that the French had to pay to Germany to buy
goods from France on behalf of the German State. But what this was was a French division
of the Gestapo, who could at times arrest and torture people and they were supported
in this by the Vichy Government. Propped up by the Nazis, violet Morris lived very well
on her barge, and she would then during the occupation of France take on different roles
for the Nazis and the Germans. One of her objectives was to help foil members of Special
Operations Executive, a British spy organisation that would help collaborate and link up with
the French Resistance. It’s believed that Violette Morris during this would have been
involved in the torture of the suspects, and many of these were women. She would have conducted
barbaric torture interventions where she would beat and whip the prisoners, as well as batter
them senseless, and she became a complete brute.
Violette Morris was also involved in sourcing black market petrol and gas for the Nazis,
and she would run a garage for the German Airforce also to conduct maintenance and fill
up their aircraft. Also she drove key Nazi and French officials, and she may have done
this in the lead up also to the gall of France. Some historians have debated her role in the
spying and torturing, and others class her as a scapegoat, but her reputation became
rather well known across Paris and France, and she was referred to as the notorious ‘Hyena
of the Gestapo.’ The work that Violette was conducting was directly contributing to
the arrests and suffering of many French civilians, but she continued to work for the Germans
and the Nazis, and continued to be a rather active collaborator.
But because of her reputation, she then became a target for the French Resistance who once
they were gaining a foothold across the nation, began to attack. The resistance at times wasn’t
the best co-ordinated, but they would try to take out those who were considered helpers
for the Nazi regime. After years of occupation, and after years of suffering, they decided
to take out Violette Morris. On the 26th April 1944, she was driving her Citreon Traction
Avant along a country road from Lieurey to Epaignes in Normandy. Inside the car were
members of the Baileul family who had also benefitted from the Nazi regime. However she
didn’t realise that the car she was driving in had been messed around with by members
of the French Resistance, who had planned to ambush her. As Violette Morris’ car came
to a spluttering halt on the country road, members of the French Resistance stepped out
from hiding places, and they opened up their machine guns and weapons onto the car. The
vehicle was littered in bullets, and inside the car three adults and two children were
all killed. There were accusations that Morris was the intended target, but inside the vehicle
the Resistance had taken out a number of collaborators, but also some children. Violette Morris’
body was riddled with bullets, and was then taken from the car to a local morgue.
Her body went unclaimed, and she was then buried inside of an unmarked grave. Many Historians
have debated her involvement inside of the Nazi occupied France, and some have doubted
the scale of her collaboration. It’s believed that she did a few months before her death
tell the Gestapo about a resistance network involved in parachuting people into France
and Sabotaging machinery. The Gestapo would then shoot these six people including the
wife of one of the resistors. Another informing session led to the Germans capturing an arms
store being built up, with 7 resistance members being killed, and 10 more were sent to the
prisons of Paris for torture. But others have debated if the Resistance made her a scapegoat.
But Violette Morris’ career as a celebrated and skilled athlete of the 1920s was overshadowed
by her involvement with the Nazi regime, which brought a significant amount of shame to her
legacy. But she would meet a brutal and bloody end alongside others who were suspected of
collaborating with the Nazis, with her body and car riddled with bullets. What is interesting
though is why Adolf Hitler invited her specifically to attend the olympics. He may have seen Violette
as someone who could be used to gain information, which is what she did. She was a woman who
had a sketchy past involving the murder of the man that threatened her, but she was also
someone who suffered financially during the 1930s. The schmoozing by the Nazis for her
may have been what ingratiated her into helping them during the Second World War, but information
she passed over would be key for the invasion of France.
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