Stephanie Czech Rader, American spy, Died at 100

Stephanie Czech Rader was born on May 15, 1915, in Toledo and died on January 21,  2016.

She was a war spy.

She was the daughter of Polish immigrants, they were uneducated laborers who settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in the early 1920s and barely spoke English.

Miss Czech was a Cornell graduate, she spoke Polish fluently, was a natural candidate for the budding spy service who would go on to do over 3 decades in the army.

Rader was a recruit to the Office of Strategic Services and the Strategic Services Unit of the War Department, precursors to the CIA, she was officially employed as a clerk at the U.S. Embassy.

Stephanie was one of two OSS agents working out of the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and traveled the country under the semblance of finding family members in the aftermath of World War II.

She was actually undercover, an agent whose flawless Polish accent and mannerisms allowed her to move around the Soviet-dominated country with relative ease.

When the United States invaded World War II, she left civilian life to join the new Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 and was groomed as an officer.

Stephanie Czech Rader Ivy League education and Polish language skills attracted the attention of the OSS in December 1944.

Stephanie Czech Rader passed away at 100 yrs old.