The brave, iconoclastic Lee Miller was many things—model, muse, artist, and more. Yet the more she pushed herself, the higher the price she paid.
Miller was one of Vogue’s most stunning models, but fate had a twisted plan in store for her. She famously said, “I’d rather take a picture than be in one.” However, Miller’s decision to become a photographer led her down a chilling road.
During WWII, she ended up on the front lines, recording the tragic reality of the conflict as best she could. At the siege of St Malo, she witnessed and recorded the very first use of napalm, and was on the ground for the Battle of Alsace.
Around this time, Miller also witnessed one of the defining nightmares of the 20th century: The liberations of camps like Dachau and Buchenwald. After experiencing these conditions, she wrote to Vogue with an urgent message, along with photos, for people who denied the Germans were doing this to Jewish People: “I IMPLORE YOU TO BELIEVE THIS IS TRUE”.
Incredibly, despite her service to her country in recording WWII, Great Britain gave Miller very little thanks. In the 1940s and 1950s, when she was struggling mightily with her mental health—likely as a result of the horrors she’d suffered—MI5 even investigated her, believing she could be a Soviet spy.
