You’ve probably heard some version of the story. Two brave women in Nazi-occupied Paris, an American widow and an English divorcee, risking everything to smuggle Allied soldiers out from under the noses of the Gestapo. It sounds like a Hollywood script. In fact, it actually was a Hollywood movie in the 1940s. But as Matthew Goodman reveals in his recent book, Matthew Goodman Paris Undercover, the version of history we’ve been told for eighty years is, well, mostly a lie.
History is messy.
When we talk about the French Resistance, we usually want the version where the heroes are flawless and the endings are clean. But honestly? Reality is rarely that polite. Matthew Goodman, the guy who wrote Eighty Days, basically spent years digging through military archives and "never-before-seen" letters to find out why the 1943 bestseller Paris-Underground was such a mess of fabrications.
What Actually Happened in the "Paris Undercover" Era?
Let’s look at the players. You have Etta Shiber, a New York widow of Jewish descent, and her friend Kate "Kitty" Bonnefous. They weren't trained spies. They were middle-aged women living in a flat on Rue de Phalsbourg. When Paris fell in 1940, they didn't flee for good; they came back and started an escape line.
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They were remarkably successful for a while. They hid British and French soldiers in their apartment and drove them through Nazi checkpoints in the trunk of their car. It was terrifying work. Etta was often paralyzed by anxiety, while Kitty was the "change agent" who actually pushed the operation forward.
But then, the Gestapo caught them.
The Betrayal Nobody Talks About
This is where Matthew Goodman Paris Undercover gets really dark. After eighteen months in a Nazi prison, Etta Shiber was traded back to the U.S. in a prisoner exchange. Kitty, however, was left behind in a German prison.
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Etta got home and, wanting to raise awareness for her friend, wrote a memoir called Paris-Underground. It became a massive sensation. The problem? It was heavily ghostwritten and filled with "Hollywood-style" drama that didn't happen.
Worst of all, Etta (or her ghostwriters) didn't disguise Kitty's identity well enough. While Kitty was still sitting in a Nazi cell, this bestselling book was circulating, making her a target for even more brutal treatment from her captors. The Gestapo used the details in the book to torture her for more information.
Imagine your best friend writing a book that accidentally makes your life in a concentration camp ten times worse. That’s the "betrayal" Goodman focuses on.
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Why Matthew Goodman’s Research Matters Now
Goodman didn't just rehash the old story. He found the "real" Kitty Bonnefous. For decades, she was just a character in a fictionalized memoir. In Matthew Goodman Paris Undercover, we finally see her as a real person—a determined, slightly rebellious Englishwoman who survived the war but was never the same again.
What Goodman uncovered:
- The Priest and the Peasants: The escape line wasn't just two women; it was a sprawling network including a French country priest and local farmers.
- The Fabrications: Goodman systematically peels back the "mythmaking" of the 1940s book, showing how propaganda shaped the narrative.
- The Post-War Silence: The two women never met again after the war.
It's a "gimlet-eyed" look at how fame and greed can warp the truth, even when the intentions start out good. Etta wanted to save Kitty, but her book nearly killed her.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you’re interested in the nuances of WWII or how historical memory is constructed, here is how you should approach this story:
- Read the Original First (If You Can): Try to find a copy of Etta Shiber’s 1943 Paris-Underground. It’s a fascinating look at wartime propaganda.
- Compare the Narratives: When reading Matthew Goodman Paris Undercover, pay attention to the specific points where the 1943 memoir diverges from the military records Goodman found. It’s a masterclass in "fact vs. fiction."
- Visit the American Library in Paris: If you ever find yourself in France, this library (which longlisted Goodman's book for an award) is a goldmine for Resistance history.
- Check the Archives: Many of the records Goodman used are now digitized in the French National Archives (Archives Nationales). You can search for the "Service Historique de la Défense" to see real Resistance dossiers.
The story of the Paris escape line isn't just about "courage." It's about the consequences of telling someone else's story without their permission. Goodman’s work serves as a reminder that the truth eventually catches up to the legend.
To fully understand the weight of this story, look into the prisoner exchange programs of 1942. Seeing how rare Etta's release actually was provides the necessary context for why her memoir was so heavily pushed by the U.S. government at the time.