Friday, August 26, 2016

Famous sociopaths in history: Nancy Wake

From a reader (quoting extensively from other sources, not always notated in quotation marks):

I was recently reading about a spy in WWII named Nancy Wake, known as The White Mouse, and it struck me that this woman shows many of the classic traits of a sociopath. Im not sure if you have heard of her before, so here is a not so brief summary:

"The youngest of six children of Charles and Ella Wake, with the next eldest eight years ahead of her, she always felt a little isolated from the rest of the family, with the sole exception of her filmmaker father, whom she adored, but was devastated when, at the age of four, her father abandoned the family – an event believed to have sparked her rebellious nature and fearsome temper. The rest of Wake's childhood was spent waging a kind of guerilla war against her mother and, to a lesser extent, her siblings, which ended only when she ran away at 16."

With $300, she moved to New York and was soon working as a freelance journalist, which led her to Paris where she apparently led a wild life:
"She once described herself — as a young woman — as someone who loved nothing more than “a good drink” and handsome men, “especially French men.” She found work as a freelance journalist, and managed at the same time to live “Parisian nightlife to the full,” according to Mr. FitzSimons. By 22 this globetrotting Aussie/Kiwi was living in Paris, working as a freelance newspaper journalist during the day and  then rocking out at the hottest Parisian nightclubs after dark.  A tough-as-hell chick who could rarely be found without a double gin and tonic in her hand and designer cosmetics in her purse, Wake had a reputation for drinking hard, telling dirty jokes, and then getting a tall, dark, and handsome Frenchman pick up the tab for her. "

After being sent to Germany to interview Hitler, Wake developed a "deep, deep hatred" of Nazis and devoted her life to eliminating them. She married a rich industrialist, and together they helped rescue refugees, spy on Germans, and smuggle information across enemy lines. She used her charms to manipulate German soldiers:
"Against the suspicions of German guards manning the various checkpoints she had to get through, she regarded her beauty as her principal shield and played upon it to the maximum, openly flirting with many Germans. Using her charms and a native cunning, she was so successful with the Resistance that she soon graduated to taking groups of refugees - often downed Allied pilots or Jewish families - between safe houses until they reached the base of the Pyrenees, where other guides would get them across."

She was soon on Gestapos most wanted list, and after her husband was tortured and killed by Nazis trying to find her, she waged open war against the Nazis, leading a resistance movement of 7,000 men against them.

"In April 1944 she parachuted into France to coordinate attacks on German troops and installations prior to the D-Day invasion, leading a band of 7,000 resistance fighters.  Her chute got stuck in a tree on the way down, and when the local French resistance leader said some asinine thing like "I wish all trees grew such beautiful fruit," or something equally cheesy she gave him the finger and said (in perfect French no less), "Don't give me that French shit." In order to earn the esteem of the men under her command, she reportedly challenged them to drinking contests and would inevitably drink them under the table. But her fierceness alone may have won her enough respect: During the violent months preceding the liberation of Paris, Wake killed a German guard with a single karate chop to the neck, executed a women who had been spying for the Germans, shot her way out of roadblocks and biked 70 hours through perilous Nazi checkpoints to deliver radio codes for the Allies."

"With her coiffured hair and red lipstick, Wake was the epitome of glamour, but when she was dropped into occupied France she became a fighting force.
Even without a weapon, she could be deadly. During one raid she reportedly killed an SS guard with her bare hands to prevent him raising the alarm. "She is the most feminine woman I know until the fighting starts. Then she is like five men," one of her French colleagues recalled."

Despite the violent nature of her heroic deeds, she displayed no hint of remorse over killing.

"Afterwards she would declare: "In my opinion, the only good German was a dead German, and the deader, the better. I killed a lot of Germans, and I am only sorry I didn't kill more."

"Lady was ice-cold.
Known as "The White Mouse" by her German pursuers, Wake spent much of the war as an Allied operative in France, helping escaped POWs and others wanted by the Germans flee to Spain, running messages between the British military and French resistance — and, of course, choking the life out of various Nazis.

"I was not a very nice person," Wake said once, according to the Times. "And it didn't put me off my breakfast.""

"She returned several times to live in Australia, making unsuccessful attempts to get elected to parliament, but had an uneasy relationship with the country of her childhood, feeling unrecognised and underappreciated. This led her to refuse decorations from the Australian government; with characteristic bluntness, she said they could "stick their medals where the monkey stuck his nuts". In February 2004, she relented and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.

Naturally, not giving a crap about awards and stuff like that, Wake sold off her medals and lived off the money for the rest of her life.  When asked why the hell she sold a trio of Croix de Guerres, she said, "There's no point in keeping them… I'll probably go to hell and they'd melt anyways."
Wake found post-war life uneventful. "It's all been so exciting … and then it all fizzled out. I had a very happy war," she said. FitzSimons told Australian radio: "She was a woman who was always a hair-trigger from being in a rage … and that rage within her was wonderful during the war, [but] it could be problematic when the war was over. She was a force of nature."

"Her volatility and bursts of rage, which had been so effective in the war, did not stop with the peace. A lot about Wake was ill-suited to regular civilian life and she was keenly aware of it. ''After the war ended, it was dreadful because you've been so busy and then it all just fizzles out,'' she told The Australian in 1983.

"In an interview a decade ago, at the age of 89, Wake appeared to have lost none of her fighting spirit. "Somebody once asked me: 'Have you ever been afraid?' Hah! I've never been afraid in my life," she said."

"“I was never afraid,” she said. “I was too busy to be afraid.”

By most accounts, Ms. Wake never figured out what to do with her life after the war.

She settled, the best that she could, for being a homemaker for her second husband, a garrulous former RAF pilot by the name of John Forward, whom she had met in the mid-1950s and who took up a position as a mid-ranking executive with an Australian textiles firm. Generally, the two were very happy together and John came to cope with being with a woman who was only ever a hair-trigger away from high hilarity or high-octane fury."

42 comments:

  1. FIRST!!!

    Hey, M.E.:)

    ~Vegas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I enjoyed that post.:)

      It sounds like Nancy Wake, was cool.:)

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    2. This post reminds me of the series "La Femme Nikita", and the movie "Point of No Return".:)

      Bridget Fonda was awesome in "Point of No Return", and I have quoted one of her lines from that movie, on this blog before.:)

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    3. Everyone is so quiet.

      I think we need a song!!!

      I'm into this song right now...

      Song of the Day:

      Bishop Briggs

      River

      ~Vegas

      Delete
  2. "...and had a 5 million-franc bounty over her head. That was one of her obituary articles in 2011, and it also called her 'the real Charlotte Gray'." The Sociopathic "Anatomy" must have been her destiny, I believe.

    Based on her description, her husband was quite tough, too. Here is more information about Code Name.

    http://www.metafilter.com/143496/Code-Name-The-White-Mouse

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't understand why most people are looking for an experience which will give them a more complete life or save them from their misery. I'm constantly aware of my impending death. I believe humans only get two devine experiences in their life, when we are born and when we die. Everything in between this, finding love, becoming rich and famous, visiting your favorite place on earth, achieving your dreams. These will never come close to the experiences of birth and death. The two events are the only time when you are completely alone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "...a woman who was only ever a hair-trigger away from high hilarity or high-octane fury."

    ReplyDelete
  5. "Misanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be truthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he is wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same character. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them."

    Plato


    And nothing sound in me. "Emphasis mine."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Superchick-

      Thank you sharing that quote from Plato-I loved it.:)

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    2. Superchick,

      Only "you’ve got mail”….

      It sounds as though you’ve had a bad day, but know that I’ve had a similar day, too.

      I hope the person - or the world as a whole – who has made you think of such things knows or does the following:

      “A true gentleman is one that apologizes anyway, even though he has not offended a lady intentionally. He is in a class all of his own, because he knows the value of a woman's heart.” Alder

      Let the untrue face of misanthropy descendeth....

      Delete
    3. Superchick, Plato met a sociopath. Or two. So what. Use their energy and their vitality to entertain and sustain you. They are worth your energy once you undestand him/her/them, after you understand what to expect and not expect from them.

      Life is fun.

      I imagine you with red high heels.

      Why is that?

      Delete
    4. Misanthropy is very natural. Everyone is misanthropic to a degree, they all inwardly hate each other but they'll never admit it to themselves, because we're supposed to believe that humans are basically good creatures.

      No one really needs a reason to hate someone or something else, reasons are what we come up with to justify our acts to each other.

      Delete
    5. Thanks for the replies. Somethings different in me now. I can't shake it. I have spent years to gain the approval of people I think. I wasn't odd or anything. Not popular, not unpopular, I just don't fit in anywhere accept for a few things in my life. I appreciate my own company now. My farm animals I value. My family I love. The more time I spend with people ....the more disappointed I am inside. I see cisterns with cracks & holes. I see strong judgment. I see hypocritical beings talking about others. Gossip. Shaming each other. I feel kind of bad for feeling this way. But I can't pretend anymore. It's what I see in people. Your friends with someone for a few years than they'll ditch ya when the next good thing comes around. I actually wish I adopted the lifestyle of a sociopath along time ago. Sure they see your flaws. But they do not judge, criticize and I find acceptance and solace there more so than I do over there more so. I can't believe the energy I've wasted ...when my sociopathic trait individuals friends I've encountered through the years can harness in on what matters most in life.

      I understand this is my perception, my reality on how I'm seeing things. Others might not understand. I don't expect them too. We see things entirely different. I respect that.

      Delete
  6. M.E.-

    Regarding your tweet:

    "They should punish kids who do well in school with more homework to prepare them for what happens to people who are efficient at their jobs."

    HA!!! LOL!!!

    SO TRUE!!!

    ~Vegas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. M.E.-

      PS-Your Robert Greene retweet, is also very true.:)

      ~Vegas

      Delete
  7. I like that you focused so much on the interpersonal aspects of growing a brand. One of the really tricky things to get across to new bloggers (without seeming like a jerk) is that it’s still all about reaching out to other people–you’re not just drawing people to you like some glowing beacon for internet moths, you’re going out there and communicating with them.


    asthijivak
    Fat Cutter

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have a question:

    I think I saw my husband drive by again, a few days ago.

    What is the point of that?

    If I ask him about it, he'll deny it.

    What is the point of that? I don't see how that could be a game or manipulation-is it just to "spy" on me???

    ~Vegas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. M.E.-

      Thank you.:)

      When he drove by on his motorcycle and saw me looking, he hit the gas, and went REALLY FAST!!! I wondered if he was trying to impress me? Was he mad? I had no clue. Thank you, for "the tip"!!! I think you are absolutely correct.:) I haven't seen that movie!!! I'll have to watch it.:)

      You are my "Wonderwall"!!!

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    2. Gotta love those old WWII propaganda stories.

      Delete
    3. M.E.-

      Did you know, that Gene Wilder just passed away???

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    4. M.E.-

      Gene Wilder had "wild" hair!!!

      I like that clip.:) The Little Prince had "wild" hair, too!!! That little boy is cute.:)

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    5. M.E.-

      Do you have a rose(s)???

      ~Vegas

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete
  10. pain and solitude makes you stronger. if you can sit with the pain then you will grow and grow. if you need to rush to some addiction then you will become smaller and weaker.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, too.:)

      That is why I try not to think about my husband's eyes being the color of "icy blue glaciers", like Peta Wilson's, from the "La Femme Nikita" series.:) If I do, then I will think about his body, and I will want to have sex with him. Then, I will be like Kirsten Dunst in "Interview With The Vampire", after she tastes blood, and says "I Want More"...

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    2. PS-

      That's why I need a diversion, and hope M.E. shares a seduction/paramour/rose story.:)

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    3. PPS-

      Oops!!!

      Kirsten Dunst actually says "I Want SOME More".:)

      HA!!! LOL!!!

      ~Vegas

      Delete
    4. I know what you mean, Vegas.

      How can it be so good?? But it is :)

      Always, always for me it's a matter of making space for things that seems impossible. Eventually, each becomes possible... and the world is so much broader. One can see more sides to the shapes that appear.

      Delete
  11. M.E.-

    Will you tell us about one of your seductions/paramours/roses???

    ~Vegas

    ReplyDelete
  12. this site has gone to shit

    ReplyDelete
  13. Mercy.

    8 posts in July
    5 in August
    Why lie?
    Woe is M.E.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This post is really giving me exciting information. There is something new which is related to my hobby. This post is considerable use for me. Thanks for sharing it.
    nick jr | minecraft games | barney | abcya

    ReplyDelete
  15. M.E.-

    Are you OK???

    I hope so...

    ~Vegas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. M.E.-

      Will you tweet, so we know you are alive???

      Please???

      ~Vegas

      Delete
  16. Eerily vacant. A morbid silence.

    What does it all mean, M.E.?

    ReplyDelete
  17. That she fucking took a break from posting. Chill.

    ReplyDelete
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