The women of the SOE and Ravensbrück camp

On International Women’s Day, join Dr Kate Vigurs to learn about seven significant women who risked their lives for an important cause.

Towards the end of the Second World War, seven women of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) were captured behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France.

Violette Szabo, Odette Sansom, Lilian Rolfe, Denise Bloch, Cecily Lefort, Yvonne Baseden and Eileen Nearne had risked their lives working as couriers and wireless operators, aiding the local resistance in preparation for the Allied invasion and paving the way for victory.

Arrested, interrogated and eventually imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp, it was the Nazis’ intention that they would disappear without trace. 

Unprotected by the Geneva Convention and beyond Allied help, the lives of seven women hung in the balance. This is the story of their recruitment, training, missions and eventual fate.

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