“On This Day She” is a book published this year dedicated to “the women whom [sic] time has forgotten; those who didn’t make it into the history books and those whom [sic] society failed to uphold as significant figures in their own right.” There is also a website following through on the premise of the book (and promoting it), from whence the misleading tweet above emanated. Though the book does admit to including women who engaged in “the bad” and who it deems unjustly ignored by history, the tweet above undercuts that admission. The hint is in the last sentence. Why was Morris killed by the French Resistance in 1944?
She was a Nazi, that’s why, and a traitor as well. Morris, a French citizen, sourced black-market petrol for the Nazis, ran a garage for the Luftwaffe, and drove for the Nazi and Vichy hierarchy. After Germany took over France, she worked to foil the operations of the Special Operations Executive, an English organization that aided the Resistance. Claims that she also engaged in spying activities and Nazi torture are disputed, but never mind: what she did do was sufficient to have her known as “The Hyena of the Gestapo” and sentenced to death in absentia. She was ultimately shot and killed—assassinated, to be technical— when her car was ambushed by the Resistance.
Good.
Based on the apparently true story that she had her breasts lopped off so she could drive racing cars, Morris was also a wacko. Surely there are women whose contributions to society justify their stories being told who are more deserving than she is. Indeed, only a tiny percentage of history’s women are less deserving, except as curiosities. We’re tearing down statues of Thomas Jefferson, but working to revive the memory of Violette Morris? The Great Stupid is full of surprises.
Or is the theory that because she was persecuted for her sexual orientation and lifestyle, her victim status mitigates her alliance with Nazi Germany? If so, it’s a stunningly foolish theory that shows warped values and priorities.
Feminists can do better than to lionize creeps like Violette Morris. They have to do better.
Ethics Alarms 
Hell, I’m about as anti-feminist as you can get and I can name 10 better role models for women than this:
1. Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s Iron Lady.
2. Golda Meir, the Israeli Prime Minister who took no crap from anyone.
3. Grace Hopper, American admiral and one of several parents of personal computers.
4. Kate Warne, the first female detective in the US, who guarded Abraham Lincoln on the way to his inauguration.
5. Marie Curie, radium researcher, although she must share credit with her husband Pierre.
6. Nellie Bly, adventuress and early muckraking journalist.
7. Elizabeth I, under whose leadership England turned back the Spanish Armada.
8. Vera Atkins, born Vera Rosenberg, MI6 spymistress and possibly the inspiration for Miss Moneypenny (but far more badass).
9. Cornelia Fort, WASP pilot who dodged the attacking Japanese at Pearl Harbor and later became, unfortunately, the first fatality of that group.
10. Sally Ride, first American woman in space (also closeted gay).
I’m pretty sure I can name a couple thousand, including my mother and sister, two aunts and both grandmothers.
I’m sure, my point is that even I, an anti-feminist, know the difference between a worthy heroine and one who isn’t. My own mom probably would qualify also, as would at least my grandmother on my dad’s side.
P.S. It’s a slippery slope to tell others who their heroes must and must not be. As an Italian-American I bristle at the idea that Columbus, the third most influential man in history (behind Gutenberg second and a tie between Christ and Mohammed for first) is an unsuitable hero because he was a man of his time and being told that my people need to pick someone else, maybe Mother Cabrini or someone like that. Most Irish Americans would bristle at the idea that Michael Collins was anything less than a hero and being told maybe they should take his picture (and Roger Casement’s and Robert Emmet’s) off the wall of the pub. We all know how black America feels about MLK, and in some heavily black areas you will find places named for axe murderer Nat Turner.
If one’s hero is a Nazi and a traitor, one has a serious problem.
Only if you are coming at it objectively. Feminists don’t come at things objectively.
Why do you think this is a problem? It just lets the rest of us know what their values are. I would rather they honestly choose their heroes so I can know what those values are than have them choose tailor the heroes they choose to deceive me.
I just watched several members of America’s women’s soccer team turn away from the flag and a WWII veteran playing the anthem on a harmonica!
I see socialist dogma dominating the left.
I see the press worshiping people who cut off parts of their anatomy.
I would say this woman is an accurate reflection of who they are and a just hero and role model for them.
It’s sometimes dangerous in the long run to show too much of who you really are. Mao Zedong allowed “a hundred flowers” to bloom because the thought was that you can’t catch the snakes if you don’t let them out of their lairs. He wanted those he disagreed with to “wriggle out and sing and fart” so they could later be targeted. Those who are at the forefront of woke-ism now may find themselves in a bad place sooner than they think.
A few years ago, when they started the New York Air Show, held at Stewart Airport, there were a few WWII veterans there. They were being squired about on a golf cart (pity no one brought a jeep). Someone announced, “World War II veterans coming through,” and, even in liberal New York, the crowd parted and everyone applauded. Anyone who sneers at or disrespects a WW2 vet is scum. Even principled peaceful people don’t disrespect veterans like that. The year before I went to the UK for the commemorations of the beginning of WW1. I ended up picking the Tank Museum at Bovington for the actual day. Not a single person there, including many veterans of later wars, was without a red poppy (for the veterans) somewhere about their person. The few principled peaceful people didn’t dare display the white poppy (for peace), knowing if they did they’d be beaten up by angry veterans of recent wars. The pacifist white poppy is considered a slap in the face to the veterans’ sacrifice, and only the ignorant insult those who fought for their freedom.
Steve, if I may ask, did you come to the US from Italy as a child or as an adult? What part are you from originally?
I’m a 3rd generation Italian-American, born and raised in NJ. My great-grandfather and grandfather both came from Calabria. BTW, my great-grandfather was the only one of 4 great-grandparents on that side who could read or write in any language when he got here. My dad was first to go to college and the first to be a commissioned officer. I was the first to go to graduate school and become a lawyer. White privilege my eye. That’s part of why I bristle when opinionated wokesters tell me my people’s history doesn’t count. The hell it doesn’t. I’m Irish on my mom’s side, and the Irish also got here with little – although they didn’t face the language barrier. So far the wokesters leave that history alone, but give them time.