Josephine Baker reported as safe in the New York Times on the 6th December 1942

There was much speculation regarding the fate of Josephine Baker, some feared and reported the worst.

The New York Times ran an article on December 6 th 1942 declaring that Josephine was safe and living in Marrakech.

“JOSEPHINE IS SAFE”

“Negro dancer reported dead is living in Morocco.

Casablanca Morocco Dec 5th

Josephine Baker, the Negro Dancer who played as a child around her mothers washtubs in St Louis and later went on to fame on the Paris stage is now living in the native quarter in Marrakesch an inland city east of here.

Several times since her flight from France after the German occupation she had been erroneously reported as dead.

She lives in the splendour of an Arab house and is driven to market behind a team of spanking bays, but her life is quiet and simple friends say. Though she was ill when she arrived in Morocco her health now was described as good.

Long a favourite of the Parisian Theatre world, she and her troupe fled Paris for Lisbon after the German entry in 1940, but she returned briefly that year to dance in a nightclub.

She married a French manufacturer and broker Jean Lion in 1937. The United States consul here stays that she lost her American citizenship by that marriage.”

The Arab house referred to in this article is Riad Star, once a part of a complex of guesthouses attached to a palace in Marrakech Josephine resided happily there.

Follow in Josephine’s footsteps and join us in magical Marrakech.