Books like Paper Bullets by Jeffrey H. Jackson

Paper Bullets recounts the courageous anti‑Nazi campaign of two French women, Lucy Schwob (known as Claude Cahun) and Suzanne Malherbe (Marcel Moore), who used their avant‑garde artistic talents to create handwritten “paper bullets.” These anarchic letters—wicked insults to Hitler, calls to rebellion, and subversive dialogues—were slipped into German soldiers’ pockets or hidden inside newsstand magazines on the British Channel Island of Jersey. The pair devised their own psychological warfare campaign, composing propaganda that sought to undermine the morale of occupying troops. Hunted by the Gestapo, the women were betrayed in 1944, imprisoned, tried on a court martial, and sentenced to death. They survived the war, continuing the fight from prison by reaching out to other prisoners and spreading hope. Their actions were even more daring given their identities: bisexual and LGBTQ partners, cross‑dressers, creators of “degenerate” art, and members of communist circles in Paris. Paper Bullets is an uncommonly told World War II story that illustrates the power of art and resistance, highlighting the intersection of queer history, political propaganda, and underground movements during the war.

First publish date: 2020