King of the Resistance

  Besides the fact that 'Frieda' is an awesome name, Frieda Belinfante was also an awesome woman. Prior to the war, she was the first woman in Europe to be artistic director and conductor of an ongoing professional orchestral ensemble. Then when the Nazis occupied her home country of the Netherlands, they insisted that all Jews register "for their own safety." Yeah right. Frieda began helping to forge documents for Jewish families to avoid discovery. When the Nazis started catching on and began comparing the forged documents to archival records, Frieda and her friends decided to take the plan a step further. They blew up the population registry. With a horde of pissed-off Nazis after her, she disguised herself as a man and lived with a friend for 3 months until she could escape to the neutral country of Switzerland. As a bold postscript to an already courageous woman, she was also openly lesbian throughout her life.

Prewar in a dashing zoot suit and beautiful pompadour

Frieda embodies resistance, 1942

Mankiller: Lyudmila Pavlichenko

  Maybe she was a ladykiller too, but she was definitely a mankiller. A fellow historian has a great and outrageous blog that features a badass bio of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a Soviet lady who snuffed out Nazis with a rifle Enemy at the Gates-style and put some goddamned respect for the power of women into a bunch of white males.

And apparently also starred in Mad Men

"She judo flipped the recruiter through a plate glass window, stomped his balls with a high-heeled shoe and then whipped out her motherfucking MARKSMANSHIP CERTIFICATE."

'a f*cking kickass belle from hell' with her phallic 'marksmanship' certificate

You should read this blog post about her!

Don't Let the Man Keep You Down

 Just about the only thing that isn't hot about this picture is the product placement. Have to say I love a woman in uniform, even if it's military. The sentiment is dated, but the fashion may be forever.

              Willa Beatrice Brown was the first African-American woman to hold a commercial pilot's license in the US. As a social worker in Gary, IN and Chicago, she felt like she wasn't doing enough to help her community. So she learned how to fly. That would have been bold even if she was a man! She then went on to start a flight school and promote equality in both civilian and military aviation.

And with aviator goggles too! Simply to fly for.

Education These Days

Part of a well-rounded education, training in marksmanship helps girls at Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, California develop into responsible women. Don't take shit from no man, fascist or otherwise.

                                                                       August 1942

Big Hair Always Wins

 This unnamed belle was a Danish freedom fighter, pictured here in 1945 outside the Carlsberg Brewery. Spotted neckerchief? Check. Big hair? You know it! And those heavy, buckled boots tell you she wasn't playing around.

Tokyo Rose

  Tokyo Rose was a radio personality in Japan during the war. The name was applied to several women, but most commonly to Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was stranded while visiting Japan in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She was first pressured by the Japanese government to renounced her citizenship and refused, even though she was thereafter denied a ration card. She was eventually persuaded by an Australian POW to host a radio show on the condition that she say nothing against the United States. And she never did. After steadfast integrity while alone in an enemy country, she was rewarded for her loyalty by the US government in 1949 when she was convicted of treason and spent ten years in prison. This bad belle deserves recognition.

I love, love that little smile.

 Being manhandled by a douchebag white male US marshall. I love the big shoulders and half-length slacks.