Tag: Karen Newman

Violet Szabo

(1921 – 1945)

Queen’s Walk, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB

Having a bad day?  Then think of the plight of Violette Szabo, Special Agent.  The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was secretly formed for the purpose of recruiting agents of many nationalities, who would volunteer to fight for freedom, by performing acts of sabotage in countries occupied by the enemy during the Second World War. 

At the outbreak of the Second World War, she joined the Women’s Land Army and the Auxillary Territorial Service before joining the SOE where she underwent extensive training as a field agent.  Her training was put to the test in several missions, none more so than her final mission.  Thwarted by the SS, her group made a getaway held off by Szabo shooting at the enemy before she was finally captured, tortured and interrogated.  Transferred to Ravensbrück concentration camp she kept up the morale of the other imprisoned resistance fighters by beginning to organize an escape from the camp. Unfortunately, in February 1945 the Germans discovered her plans and she was taken to the execution block where she was shot and killed at the age of 23.

Szabo was one of 117 Special Agents who did not survive their missions to France and her statue represents the bravery and fortitude of all who died for the freedom of others.

Nancy Wake

(1912-2011)

Stafford Hotel, St James’s Place, London SW1A

We’ve come across Karen Newman’s work before and will see it again.  Yesterday’s Anayat Noor Khan bust and later Special Agent Violet Szabo.  Today it is Nancy Wake hidden to the side of a bar.  I feel conscious that my casual wear signals that I’m not staying in the hotel as I approach the doorman at the Stafford Hotel, but I’m permitted in and start searching.  I find her in the corner and take in the similarity of Newman’s Khan bust, partly because Wake (and indeed Szabo) are of the same era.  In the World War 2 she joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive where she undertook several dangerous missions in the lead up to D-Day on 6th June 1944.

The American Bar at the Stafford was frequented by Wake where she would enjoy a tipple of gin and tonic and had a reserved bar stool.  In her honour, the bar makes a cocktail named, ‘White Mouse’ – the name given to her by the Gestapo because of her ability to evade capture.

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Noor Inayat Khan

1914-1944
Gordon Square, London

Initially employed as the first female wireless operator in the war efforts, Khan was subsequently recruited as a Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was sent to occupied France 1943.  In October of that year she was betrayed by a Frenchwoman and arrested by the Gestapo.  She was sent to Germany’s Pforzheim prison and was kept in chains in solitary confinement. 

In September 1944 Khan and three other female SOE agents were transferred to Dachau concentration camp and subsequently executed on 13th September, with her last word being, ‘Liberte’.

As I take in the sculpture, a man opens up with information on Khan, what she stood for, and how, as a woman of colour she is rare, particularly in art.  He also says there is a film to be made about her life.  I’m pleased someone is showing an interest.  As I walk away I notice he has a cat on a lead.  Now I don’t know what to believe anymore.

The bust was unveiled in 2012. 

Sculptor Karen Newman. http://www.karen-newman.com/