Audrey Hepburn was secret World War II hero who spied on Nazis and hid Brit paratrooper in her cellar risking execution, new book claims

HOLLYWOOD legend Audrey Hepburn was a secret World War II hero who spied on Nazis and hid a Brit paratrooper in her cellar – risking execution – a new book claims.

Author Robert Matzen combed secret files, interviewed members of her family and sourced new diaries to uncover the incredible new information.

His book, Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II, has been published 26 years after her death in 1993, at the age of 63.

Hepburn remains the “most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, says the publicity on Matzen’s book, available in hardback on April 15.

However, while “several biographies have chronicled her stardom, none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands”.

Her son, Luca Dotti, said: “The war made my mother who she was.”

Hepburn’s wartime experience included helping the Dutch Resistance, working as a doctor’s assistant during the “Bridge Too Far” battle of Arnhem, and mourning the brutal execution of her uncle, a Dutch prosecutor.

She also had to contend with the fact that her dad was a Nazi agent and her mother was pro-Nazi for the first two years of the occupation.

But the war years also brought triumphs as Audrey became Arnhem’s most famous young ballerina, the publicity adds.

She would dance at gatherings organised to raise funds for the Resistance.

The said that Hepburn was a “maddeningly private actress” who had dropped hints about her work with the Dutch Resistance during the conflict.

This new book finally pieces together the whole story about her heroic actions.

It was risky, he was a stranger in uniform, a saviour, and therefore a knight and hero.

Hepburn's son, Luca Dotti

Hepburn’s family harboured an English pilot shot down over the Netherlands, hiding him in the house, like Anne Frank.

His presence brought the war home “to Audrey in a way a 15-year-old could never have expected,” the author writes.

The Times explains that an Allied operation to seize a bridge over the Rhine had been repulsed and paratroopers who had dropped from the sky on gliders were stuck in German territory on the far side of the river.

It was then that a British soldier was hidden in the home of Adriaantje van Heemstra, a heroine of the Dutch Resistance who would later become known as Audrey Hepburn.

According to Hepburn’s son, it was her favourite story to tell about the war.

Dotti explains in the book: “My mother told me it was thrilling for her — it was risky, he was a stranger in uniform, a saviour, and therefore a knight and hero.

“Then I learned about the German law that if you were caught hiding an enemy, the whole family would be taken away.”

She lived in the village of Velp with her Dutch mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra, between 1942 and 1945.

Hepburn, then a budding ballerina, also delivered a Resistance newspaper, Oranjekrant.

But, because paper was in such short supply, the newsletter was printed on a sheet half the size of a paper napkin.

Hepburn later recalled: “I stuffed them in my woollen socks in my wooden shoes, got on my bike and delivered them.”

She was an asset as, having been educated in England, she spoke English – so she was used by Dr Henrik Visser ’t Hooft –  a former Olympic hockey player who worked in the hospital, to carry messages and food to downed Allied pilots in 1944.

Because Hepburn was just a teenager at the time, she still young enough to avoid suspicion from the cops.

Once, Hepburn spotted a police patrol approaching.

Dr Hooft said that, one day, she “began picking wildflowers in the rough countryside.

“When the Germans reached her, she remained silent and sweetly presented her flowers to them.

“After a check of her identity card, she was allowed to pass.”

A version of this article first appeared in the .