episode-header-image

May 2024

37m 7s

Agent Zo: spying against the Nazis

IMMEDIATE MEDIA

About this episode

Operating under the codename Agent Zo, Polish resistance fighter Elżbieta Zawacka was one of the most courageous intelligence agents of the Second World War. From running secret missives under the noses of the Nazis, to parachuting behind enemy lines, Clare Mulley recounts her dramatic story to Ellie Cawthorne.

(Ad) Clare Mulley is the author of Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elżbieta Zawacka (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Agent-Zo-Fearless-Resistance-Elzbieta/dp/1399601067/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next

Exploring the medieval world with Marco Polo

You may be familiar with the name of Marco Polo – the 13th-century Venetian merchant who travelled along the Silk Road, journeyed through Asia and spent time at the court of Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. Famously, he documented his experiences in a detailed account that has inspire ... Show More

The Mitford Sisters | 1 : life of the week

For much of the 20th century, six sisters from Britain’s minor aristocracy had a knack for making headline after scandalous headline. They were Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah Mitford. Now, the sisters' incredible shared story has been adapted into a TV drama cal ... Show More

Beyond the trenches: a new take on WW1

When you think of the First World War, what springs to mind? Is it trench warfare? The myth that troops would be home by Christmas? Or perhaps the idea that the whole thing began because of the assassination of an Austro-Hungarian archduke? In this episode, we’re going beyond the ... Show More

Recommended Episodes

145. Battleground 44' - Agent Zo

This episode of Battleground 44' explores the incredible story of Polish resistance fighter Elzbieta Zawacka, who ended the second world war as one of the most highly decorated women in Polish history.To delve deeper into her experieces Saul speaks to historian and author Clare M ... Show More

Operation Mincemeat: The Deception that Changed WWII

It’s 1943. The Allies are determined to break Hitler’s grip on occupied Europe and plan an all-out assault on Sicily, but they face an impossible challenge - how to protect a massive invasion force from a potential massacre. It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, Ewen ... Show More

7. Bela Hazan and the Jewish Resistance

Poland, 1941. Bela Hazan, a young Jewish woman, secures an undercover job at the Gestapo headquarters. She is about to go undercover to fight against the Nazis. Helena Bonham Carter shines a light on extraordinary stories from World War Two. Join her for incredible tales of decep ... Show More

Untold: Stories Of A World War II Liberator (Catalyst)

Deborah Levine, daughter of a World War II military intelligence officer/ Ritchie Boy, shares first-hand stories of WW II and the Holocaust with wartime letters of her father, Aaron Levine. He was assigned to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war. Also, hear the wartime love letters ... Show More

139. Battleground 44' - The Great Escape

The 1963 film The Great Escape immortalised the audacious real-life mass escape of 76 Allied airmen in March 1944 from the German Luftwaffe prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III in eastern Germany, now Poland. But what was the reality of the escape, who were the characters involve ... Show More

410. The Nazis in Power: The Night of Broken Glass (Part 7)

By November 1938 the scene in Germany was at its darkest yet, as the full scale of Hitler’s intentions for the Jewish population of the German Reich was becoming evermore apparent. As the threat of another world war increased, so the Nazi anti-semitism machine went up a gear. Syn ... Show More

The Spy Who Wouldn't Lie | The Unsung Heroines Of WW2 | 5

The endeavors of the women of the Special Operatives Executive were vital to many of Britain's successes during WW2. But the secretive nature of their work meant that many of their heroic feats have been lost to time.Anita Anand discusses how exactly they waged a secret war for f ... Show More

Britain's secret propaganda war

How sex, jazz and 'fake news' were used to undermine the Nazis in World War Two. In 1941, the UK created a top secret propaganda department, the Political Warfare Executive to wage psychological warfare on the German war machine. It was responsible for spreading rumours, generati ... Show More

1. The Spy Who Fooled Hitler

In the dead of night, two British commandos carry out a daring intelligence gathering mission… right under German noses. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill set the date for the largest seaborne invasion in history. The Allies hatch an elaborate plan to throw Hitler ... Show More

Lawrence of Arabia

The famed British officer who fought alongside Arab guerrilla forces in WW1. Best known for his legendary exploits as an intelligence officer in the Middle East, Thomas Edward Lawrence was also an archaeologist, scholar and photographer. His life was one of adventure and espionag ... Show More

Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami