2023-09-13 16:59:32
French fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel, who collaborated with Nazi Germany, was also “an occasional agent“in the Resistance, according to documents revealed by the Victoria and Albert museum in London.
This museum with the exhibition, “Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion manifesto“, which will open its doors on Saturday. During the Second World War, Gabrielle Chanel lived at the Ritz Hotel, partly requisitioned by the Nazi regime to house the Luftwaffe and its leader, Marshal Göring.
She had a relationship with a German embassy attaché, Hans Günther von Dincklage, who was undoubtedly a spy. The museum explains that in July 1941, “Nazi authorities record Gabrielle Chanel as a reliable source, although it is unclear whether she was aware of it“. His code name was “Westminster“, its number F7124.
“Conversely, recent research highlights the contradictory nature of his actions during the war“, says the V&A. “She is listed as an occasional agent of the ERIC network. This branch of the resistance was led by René Simonin and had links to the British secret services“.
“If the archive files do not detail the actions carried out by Chanel for the network, they confirm its participation from January 1, 1943 to April 17, 1944“, we still read in the exhibition.
Two documents are presented in support. In a “Nominal status of occasional agents in the ERIC network“, dated and signed in Paris, March 20, 1948, her name appears. She is described as Miss Chanel, known as “Coco“. The other document, dated 1957, is a “certificate of membership in the FFC“, the French fighting forces.
At the Liberation, Gabrielle Chanel was arrested then released a few hours later.
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