17. She Risked Her Life to Resist the Nazis
Baker was well positioned to stick it to the Nazis. As an international entertainer, she had an excuse to travel, and she did, within Nazi-occupied Europe, to neutral Portugal, and to South America. She transported coded messages, written in invisible ink on her music sheets, between the French Resistance and the Allies. They contained information about German troop concentrations, airfields, harbors, and defenses, all of which Baker smuggled beneath the Nazis’ noses. She also hid fugitives in her home, supplying them with forged identification papers and visas obtained through her contacts.