Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman (7 January 1911 – 13 September 1944) was a British spy in World War II who served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and the Special Operations Executive. She was a member of SOE's Musician circuit in occupied France during World War II where she operated as a wireless operator until arrested by the Gestapo. She was subsequently executed at the Dachau concentration camp.

Early life

Beekman was born Yolande Elsa Maria Unternährer to a Swiss father and an English mother in Paris. Beekman became an efficient and valued agent who, in addition to her all important radio transmissions to London, took charge of the distribution of materials dropped by Allied planes.

:Documentary about the SOE "finishing school" on the Beaulieu estate in Hampshire.

  • Les Femmes de l'Ombre (aka Female Agents) (2008)

:French film about five SOE female agents and their contribution towards the D-Day invasions.

  • Nancy Wake Codename: The White Mouse (1987)

:Docudrama about Nancy Wake's work for SOE, partly narrated by Wake (Wake was disappointed that the film was changed from an 8-hour resistance story to a 4-hour love story).

  • Now It Can Be Told (aka School for Danger) (1946)

:Filming began in 1944 and starred real-life SOE agents Captain Harry Rée and Jacqueline Nearne codenamed "Felix" and "Cat", respectively. The film tells the story of the training of agents for SOE and their operations in France. The training sequences were filmed using the SOE equipment at the training schools at Traigh and Garramor (South Morar) and at Ringway.

  • Odette (1950)

:Movie based on the book by Jerrard Tickell about Odette Sansom, starring Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard. The film includes an interview with Maurice Buckmaster, head of SOE's F-Section.

  • Robert and the Shadows (2004)

:French documentary on France Télévisions. Did General De Gaulle tell the whole truth about the French resistance? This is the purpose of this documentary. Jean Marie Barrere, the French director, uses the story of his own grandfather (Robert) to tell the French what SOE did at that time. Robert was a French teacher based in the southwest of France, who worked with SOE agent George Reginald Starr (codenamed "Hilaire", in charge of the "Wheelwright" circuit).

  • Wish Me Luck (1987)

:Television series that was broadcast between 1987 and 1990 featuring the exploits of the women and, less frequently, the men of SOE, which was renamed the 'Outfit'.

See also

  • British military history of World War II
  • Military history of France during World War II
  • Resistance during World War II

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • The full story of the thirty-nine female agents of the Special Operations Executive who went undercover in France during the Second World War.
  • Documents Atkins' post-war search for missing SOE agents including Borrel.
  • Focus on the four female SOE agents (Borrel, Leigh, Olschanezky and Rowden) executed in the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.
  • Documents RAF small aircraft landings in France during WW2 (author was one of the pilots).

Further reading

  • Overview of the French Resistance.
  • Focus on the four female SOE agents (Borrel, Leigh, Olschanezky and Rowden) executed in the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.
  • A once classified report compiled in 1946 by a former member of SOE's F Section, Major Robert Bourne-Patterson, who was a planning officer.
  • Buckmaster was the head of SOE's F Section, who infamously ignored security checks by captured SOE wireless operators that indicated their capture, resulting in agents being captured and executed.
  • Comprehensive coverage of the French Resistance.
  • Information about female SOE agents in France including Borrel.
  • Overview of SOE (Foot won the Croix de Guerre as a SAS operative in Brittany, later becoming Professor of Modern History at Manchester University and an official historian of the SOE).
  • Detailed look at SOE casualties and selected stories that are representative of the experience of SOE personnel.
  • The second and most recent biography of Rowden.
  • A thorough overview of SOE.
  • The first biography of Rowden.
  • Overview of the scores of female SOE agents sent into occupied Europe during WW2 including Borrel.
  • A source of information about the dozens of female agents sent into France during WW2 including Borrel.
  • Comprehensive coverage of the German occupation of France.
  • Look at the lives of women in Paris during WW2.
  • Overview of Atkins' activity at SOE (served as Buckmaster's intelligence officer in the F Section).
  • Documents the activities of female SOE agents in France including Borrel.
  • Written by the son of Major Francis Suttill, the Prosper circuit chief executed by the Nazis in 1945.
  • Documents the activities of female OSS and SOE agents in France including Borrel.
  • Overview of SOE activities.
  • Nigel Perrin - SOE Agent Profiles: Yolande Beekman
  • Spartacus Educational - Yolande Beekman