Background
Spanier was born in Paris on 7 March 1904 and raised in Hampstead, London, England and attended Frognal School there.
Spanier was born in Paris on 7 March 1904 and raised in Hampstead, London, England and attended Frognal School there.
While in Paris as a buyer for Fortnum & Mason, she met Paul-Emile Seidmann, a doctor. Shortly afterwards, during World World War II, they fled Nazi-occupied Paris by bicycle. She was subsequently decorated for assisting the American Army of Liberation.
Seidmann was made a Chevalier de la Légion d"honneur for his work with concentration camp survivors.
She was subsequently directrice (director) at from 1947 to 1976. The first of her two volumes of autobiography, lieutenant isn"t All Mink (1959), had a foreword by Noël Coward.
She appeared as a "castaway" on the British Broadcasting Corporation Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 21 June 1965. She retired, a widow, to London, and died there in April 1988.