The Undercover Secretary Author:Ellie Midwood France, 1942. “With tremendous effort, I forced myself to hold his gaze. My heart was thrashing inside my chest like a bird battering its wings. The room was suddenly devoid of air. Time itself stood still. They knew who I was. They knew what I’d done.” This heartbreaking World War Two page-turner tells the incredible true stor... more »y of Dora Schaul, one of history’s most courageous women.
It was a misty Wednesday morning. Inside the Gestapo headquarters, you could cut the tension with a knife. There was a traitor in their midst: someone had leaked a list of the SS to the British press.
The head of the Gestapo called me into his office. Panelled oak walls, a grand piano in the corner, rugs lining the floor—the place where he ordered executions every day.
I sat at the desk, reaching for the typewriter and adjusting the paper. On the wall, the clock ticked loudly.
He stood over me; I could almost feel his breath on my neck. “I don’t know where the leak came from. Do you?” he asked.
I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling. I was sure he could hear the thrashing of my heart.
Because I wasn’t just a secretary: I was an undercover Jewish girl. The person who fetched them tea, typed their letters, and made them laugh was their enemy. And my day of reckoning had arrived…« less