Balmaceda, Giliana, 1910-

Giliana Balmaceda was a Special Operations Executive agent during the Second World War. Balmaceda was born in Chile in 1910. She had worked as an actress in Paris, where she met Englishman, Victor Gerson, a dealer in fine rugs and carpets, whom she married.

On 18 June 1940, at the signing of the armistice, the couple escaped to England, where both joined the Special Operations Executive. In May 1941 she became the first female SOE agent to be sent to France. Balmaceda, ostensibly on holiday, travelled freely on her Chilean passport in Vichy France, not yet occupied by Nazi Germany, and compiled a long list of names and addresses of those willing to help and who she believed could be trusted. The administrative documents used in occupied France, such as ration cards, which she collected could be reproduced in London for use by agents on clandestine missions in France.

Information on Giliana and Victor's post-war activities is scant with mention of Victor returning to the find rugs and carpet business. No death records have been found to date.