Posted on 09/26/2011 4:30:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway
At the climax of World War II, a symbol of hate — a Nazi flag — was transformed into a dazzling red dress for a female secret agent. A gift from a lost love, today it is helping brighten the twilight of her life.
When 91-year-old Beatrice Jackman put the dress up for auction recently, her colorful background at last came to light, along with the fascinating story behind a romantic memento she had carefully preserved for 66 years. And all because she needed a big-screen TV.
Symbol of hate, symbol of love
The saga of the dress begins at the climax of World War II, when Jackman’s fiance, an American soldier named Parsons, stole a Nazi flag from a balcony of the Reichstag building in Berlin. Arriving with it in a Mercedes stolen from Nazi leader Hermann Goering, the young major gave it to Jackman as a romantic gesture. The flag was made of high-quality cotton — a rare commodity during the war. Backman had the swastika removed from the flag and took the remaining red fabric to a dressmaker, who crafted it into a scoop-necked gown. Decked out in dazzling red, she wore the dress regularly to parties celebrating the end of the war.
Jackman had more reasons than many to celebrate the Allies’ victory in vivid style, because she had spent the war fighting Nazism from the shadows. Her career as a secret agent began where she grew up: in Denmark, where she delivered government messages on her bicycle as a teen-ager.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.msnbc.msn.com ...
There were quite a few SOE agents in the area mentioned. It is possible the officer was in the OSS. If so, they were in areas few people knew about. The story may have happened, just the location was different. It is only recently, that the SOE released any type of records at all. A lot of records are still sealed. I would imagine it would be the same for the OSS. The Governments of the US and England still does not want to put all the information out there.
Could Parsons have possibly been OSS? Shouldn’t you at least consider this. As far as I know, some OSS agents were in Berlin all during the war.
I hadn’t seen your post, but I came up with a similar scenario.
Excellent catch.
A typical lapse of reverence for those that grant freedom.
Read the whole article. It says he died of pneumonia 4 months before they were to be wed.
Of course if she escaped to Sweden in 1943 when things got to hot for her as a spy, that makes her having an American fiance at the end of the war a bit curious too. I wonder how they authenticated the material in the dress.
That's what makes me think that he may have been OSS.
I like many, love WW2 history.
A bit off topic, but recently caught a gem of a movie.
Max Manus, Man of War
Norwegian film, about one of their resistance leaders. Two thumbs up.
RIght that would make the fiance being OSS not surprising. It is just a bit surprising they stayed together after she split, but you never know.
Drink more coffee.
The dress was sold at auction for a fair amount of money. I’m sure a dress made from a flag “stolen from the Reichstag” is worth more than a dress made from a bolt of flag material stolen from a warehouse.
Provenance is a big deal in setting the price of something historic. She got $3200 for it because the dress is pretty and her personal history isn’t challenged. The fabric is probably consistent with other Nazi flags and I’m sure there is some expert who can tell you all about it.
Some of my best family stories told to me by elder members of my family are a bit shakey when looked at objectively.
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