She Was The Real Indiana Jones- Part One
- Oct 10, 2015
- 2 min read
Clare Hollingworth, a young journalist, was not only the first person who discovered that the Nazis accumulating tanks on the Polish border on 29 August 1939, but she telephoned at the very beginning of the war, carrying out their journalistic duties, despite the bombs.
It was the beginning of a rich career in which the Nazis chased her across the desert, mingled with Soviet spies and faced with the kidnappers during the Algerian hostage crisis.
The woman whom many journalists referred as the primary inspiration is celebrating her 104th birthday in Hong Kong at the correspondents' club in which she came every day for almost 30 years, surrounded by family, friends and champagne.
Each Claire's story is worth of a Hollywood blockbuster: she is a female Indiana Jones during the war, carrying a gun with a pearl handle and she was happy to go anywhere wearing only a toothbrush and typewriter.
Her stories abound insane courage. She admits today that she would rather be in a fighter plane than watching a football game.
- Do you think I'm too brave. I was dismayed when I get stuck in an elevator - says Claire.
The most famous of all the stories is certainly the one that Claire accidentally met the editor of "Telegraph" in London, which has hired her just a week before the start of the war, and she passed exclusivity.
She arrived to Poland and staying in Katowice with the British consul-general, who, which was the most important, had a diplomatic car. The Germans closed the paths across the border for all vehicles except for those who had the flag and Clare knew it.
Therefore, she immediately asked to borrow the car and went on the mission to Germany and pick up some supplies, such as "aspirin" and white wine- things that were unavailable back than in Poland.
Then it happened a turning point in her career when she returned back to Poland. She looked into the distance and saw hundreds tanks in front of her.
- Thousands of tanks are on the border ready to go – she said to her editor in Warsaw.
Three days later, she was awakened by the sound of bursts: It was September 1st, the war started and Claire was called the second secretary of the UK Embassy in Warsaw.
- I told him, Robin, war began. He answered me: rubbish, they are still negotiating. I moved up to the window so he could hear gunshots. I wasn’t scared, I was very young when I did a story - remembers Claire.
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