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Helen Fry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Helen Fry (born 1967) is a British historian, lecturer and biographer, with especial reference to the Second World War.

Early life

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Helen Fry was born in Ilfracombe, North Devon. She graduated with a B.A. Hons and Ph.D. from the University of Exeter in 1996.

Career

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During the 1990s, she was active on the international stage in the youth movement of The Council of Christians and Jews, and in promoting inter-faith relations. She has written over 20 books, with special expertise on the 10,000 German-speaking refugees who served in the British forces during the Second World War, especially the Royal Pioneer Corps.[1]

She is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Dept of Hebrew & Jewish Studies at University College London and Honorary member of The Association of Jewish Refugees. She teaches at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.[2] Reviewer Martin Rubin described her book Freud's War as taking readers into the "unusual corners of global conflicts" and described her book as a detailed portrait of different military experiences during World War II.[3]

Personal life

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Fry lives in north London.

Selected publications

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  • The King's Most Loyal Enemy Aliens (Sutton, 2007).[2][4][5] Republished in paperback as Churchill's German Army (The History Press, 2010).
  • Music & Men: The Life and Loves of Harriet Cohen (The History Press, 2009).[6][7]
  • Freud's War (The History Press, 2009).[3][8][9]
  • The M Room (self-published on Amazon, 2013).[10][11]
  • The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's WWII Interrogation Centre (Yale University Press, 2017)
  • MI9: A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in World War II (Yale University Press, 2020)
  • Spymaster: The Man who Saved MI6 (Yale University Press, 2021)

References

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  1. ^ Public Broadcasting Service, Transcript, Helen Fry (guest on program), Secrets of The Dead: Bugging Hitler’s Soldiers Archived 24 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed 31 July 2014
  2. ^ a b Smith, David (2 September 2007), "The German heroes who helped Allies against Hitler", The Guardian. Review of Fry's book The King's Most Loyal Enemy Aliens.
  3. ^ a b Rubin, Martin (26 March 2010), "When the Sons Took Up Arms (Book Review: Freud's War)", Washington Times, ...Ms. Fry paints a detailed portrait of these very different military experiences.
  4. ^ A.C.T. (22 June 2008), "Review of The King's Most Loyal Enemy Aliens", Contemporary Review, archived from the original on 8 August 2014.
  5. ^ Withers, Matt (23 September 2007), "I Fled Nazi Tyranny to Fight Hitler", Wales on Sunday.
  6. ^ Richards, Denby (1 January 2009), "Review of Music & Men", Musical Opinion.
  7. ^ Morley, Christopher (3 July 2009), "Unfinished Symphony; Christopher Morley on the Delayed Premiere of a Work by Arnold Bax", Birmingham Post.
  8. ^ Williamson, Janet (August 2009), "Review of Freud's War", The Historical Novels Review, 49.
  9. ^ Wolfisz, Francine (4 June 2009), "Book reveals Sigmund Freud's dramatic escape to England", Enfield Independent.
  10. ^ Cobain, Ian (21 August 2013), "Helen Fry: 'Whatever the medium, a darn good story sells'. The author of The M Room, about the Germans and Austrians who eavesdropped on Britain's Nazi PoWs during the second world war, says authors have to consider unconventional publishing options in a fast-changing market", The Guardian.
  11. ^ Cacciottolo, Mario (17 January 2013), "The Nazi prisoners bugged by Germans", BBC News.