The Naked Heroine: From the French Resistance to the Folies Bergere

This is the fascinating story of Lydia Lova; one of the most decorated women in France for her war-time resistance work; later a nude dancer at the Folies Bergere. The author, then a journalist working in Paris, heard about Lydia dancing nude at the Folies and became fascinated by her story. He traces the life story of Lydia, born in Poland to a Count, who as a young girl in 1939 joined the French resistance network run by her father. For eighteen months she danced for the German officers in Pigalle by day, and by night she spied on them. Then came betrayal and she and her father were arrested by the Gestapo. She was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Somehow this young girl organized her own resistance movement inside the camp and avoided the gas chamber. For her services she was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'Honneur. The Naked Heroine is an exciting and moving story about one woman's fight and love for her country. See more