Yolande Beekman
| Yolande Beekman | |
|---|---|
Memorial to Beekman and fellow agents in Dachau
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| Nickname(s) | Mariette |
| Born |
7 November 1911 Paris |
| Died | 13 September 1944 (aged 32) Dachau concentration camp |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom, France |
| Service/branch | Special Operations Executive, French Resistance |
| Years of service | 1943-1944 |
| Unit | Musician |
| Awards | Mentioned in Dispatches |
Yolande Beekman (7 November 1911 – 13 September 1944) was a World War II SOE agent.
Born as Yolande Elsa Maria Unternährer to a Swiss father and an English mother in Paris. As a child, Beekman moved to London and grew up fluent in English, German, and French. After schooling in England she was sent to a Swiss finishing school.
When World War II broke out, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force where she trained as a wireless operator. Because of her language skills and wireless expertise, she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for work in occupied France, officially joining the SOE on 15 February 1943. She trained with Noor Inayat Khan and Yvonne Cormeau.
In 1943, Yolande Unternährer married Sergeant Jaap Beekman of the Dutch army, whom she had met on the wireless operator course but a short time after her marriage she said goodbye to her husband and was flown behind enemy lines in France. Beekman was landed in France on the night of 17–18 September 1943, flown in a Lysander aircraft of 161 (Special Duties) Squadron, Royal Air Force.
In France, Yolande Beekman operated the wireless for Gustave Biéler, the Canadian in charge of the "Musician" Network at Saint-Quentin in the département of Aisne, using the codename "Mariette" and the alias "Yvonne". She 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. Her transmissions were intercepted by a radio van and on 13 January 1944, she and Gustave Biéler were arrested by the Gestapo while meeting at the Café Moulin Brulé. At the Gestapo headquarters in Saint-Quentin the two were tortured repeatedly but never broke.
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