Danuta was a 38-year old Swedish woman who hit a marching neo Nazi over the head with her handbag. The iconic photograph was taken by photojournalist Hans Runesson in 1985. Danielsson was Jewish and her mother had survived a German concentration camp in Poland during The Holocaust.
There are now several statues of her.
There were rumours that Margaret Thatcher hit someone with her handbag too, but I am not sure how true they are. Seppo Seluska, the man Datura handbagged was later convicted for the torture and murder of a gay Jewish man.
Read more here
The Thatcher handbagging incident was John Sargent, but I don’t think he was actually struck…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sergeant_(journalist)
Thank you for this Dawn. Most interesting. I found this article about Margaret Thatcher and her handbags (I had no idea she also used Launer bags), and how ‘handbagging’ entered English vocabulary.
I love this picture! I wonder if I would have had Danuta’s courage! I didn’t know her name but the picture was very famous. Thank you for this blog post!