Clare Mulley tells the incredible story of Elzbieta Zawacka, the World War II female resistance fighter known as Agent Zo.

She was the only woman to reach London from Warsaw during the Second World War as an emissary of the Polish Home Army command, and then in Britain she became the only woman to join the Polish elite Special Forces, known as the ‘Silent Unseen’. She later took a leading role in the Warsaw Uprising and the liberation of Poland.

Rick Stroud has written the untold story of the women of the resistance in Belgium and occupied France during that conflict. On the evening of 31 March 1916, a 23-year-old woman was led from her prison cell in occupied Brussels. She wore a long blue coat and walked ‘like a soldier’.

The chaplain asked if she would like a blindfold before her execution. ‘I am not afraid of looking into the rifles,’ she replied. Stroud describes how the actions of eight exceptionally brave women affected the course of the war.

This event will be chaired by Robert Gerwarth.

This event will be livestreamed on the day via the festival website at dublinfestivalofhistory.ie/live

Note: Booking essential for in-person attendance. No registration required for online viewing