14 Facts About Yolande Beekman

Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman was a British spy in World War II who served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and the Special Operations Executive.

Yolande Beekman 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.

Yolande Beekman was executed at the Dachau concentration camp.

Young Yolande had a gentle disposition and liked to draw, so her family expected that she would become a designer or illustrator.

Yolande Beekman trained with Noor Inayat Khan and Yvonne Cormeau.

Yolande Beekman transmitted messages for the adjacent Farmer network, headed by Michael Trotobas.

Yolande 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.

Yolande Beekman began quietly visiting Gobeaux's house in Rue de la Fere, letting herself in with her own key during the day, placing her set on a small table and passing the long aerial out through the window above.

Eugene Cordelette, one of MUSICIAN's lieutenants, later described Bieler and Yolande Beekman as being "both of the finest stuff imaginable", but her training should have left her more mindful of security.

Yolande Beekman immediately packed up her set and moved again, this time to the Cafe Moulin Brule, a lonely safe house on the north eastern edge of the city, on the northern bank of the canal.

In May 1944, Yolande Beekman was moved with several other captured SOE agents to the civilian prison for women at Karlsruhe in Germany, where she encountered a prisoner named Hedwig Muller.

Yolande Beekman would take a needle and prick her finger to use the blood as ink and draw on toilet paper as there was no paper and pencils.

Yolande Beekman was abruptly transferred to Dachau concentration camp with fellow agents Madeleine Damerment, Noor Inayat Khan, and Eliane Plewman.

Yolande Beekman's actions were recognized by the government of France with the posthumous awarding of the Croix de Guerre.