Born: 30 December 1899, France
Died: 15 February 1947
Country most active: France
Also known as: Julienne Simart, Clair
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
A former teacher and scriptwriter, Julienne Aisner was running a Paris film company when the war reached France. She had founded Hérault Films with her husband, but as a Jew, he was captured by the occupying Nazis. He managed to escape, leaving the country to work for the war effort from abroad. In 1941, she was imprisoned for slapping a German officer after he made rude remarks to her. A year and a half later, the 43-year-old Aisner was recruited in January 1943 by an SOE officer to rent apartments for arriving SOE agents, welcome them to Paris and provide them with false documents—identity cards, ration cards, and work permits—that she obtained with help from her cousin, whose husband worked at the Saint-Ouen town hall. That August, she bought a bar in Paris at the SOE’s request, which served as a mailbox and an emergency meeting point. She also assisted radio operators, finding (relatively) safe places to broadcast and transporting dismantled radio parts at great personal risk. After the war, she was given a British rank of captain and was recognized with a Croix de guerre and the Résistance medal. Although she survived the war, Aisner died not long after from cancer, in 1947.