Coco Chanel’s Secret Life as a Nazi Agent
Thanks to the introduction of the short black dress, trademark suit, and Chanel No. 5 perfume, Coco Chanel is credited with changing the violin flavor for the modern woman of the 20th century, her name has become synonymous with impeccable fashion sense.
In recent years, however, the availability of undisclosed French government documents has revealed his covert work for Nazi military intelligence during World War II.
The channels grew up in poverty but the rank of society increased from the beginning of WW II
Born in poverty in 1883 and sent to a convent-orphanage at the age of 12, Chanelle overcame her turmoil after World War I to introduce her visionary women’s attire.
His meteoric rise put him in the stratosphere of Europe’s most powerful and influential figures. Hobby with artistic publishers such as Pablo Picasso and Serge Diaghilev, he became friends with Winston Churchill and Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, the mistress of the Duke of Westminster.
The channel’s prominent standing and connections helped her gain control of her life at a critical time, as Adolf Hitler’s forces began closing in on Germany’s neighbors in the late 1930s.
The channel dated a German military officer
After the Nazis took over Paris in 1940, the channel teamed with Baron Hans Gunther von Dinklage, an officer of the German military intelligence Abuhar. Their romance enabled Chanel to move into a comfortable living quarters at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, then doubling as a German headquarters, and firmly placed her in high society, which was also infiltrated by German authorities.
The channel’s relationship with Dinklage also allowed her to deal with important personal matters. The most pressing need was to see the release of his nephew Andre Palasse, who was imprisoned in a German stalag in 1940.
Then she had commercial interests: from 1924 onwards, when the Jewish Wartheimer family supported the launch of their perfume line in exchange for most profits, the fashion maven sought to recreate things on more favorable terms. Now, with “Aryanization” laws forced the Jews to abandon their occupation, the channel saw an opportunity to reclaim a lucrative branch of its empire.
In 1941 the channel became Abwe agent F-7124
Dineklage introduced her lover to another prominent Abuhar agent, Baron Louis de Vuelferland, who allegedly promised to help free his nephew in exchange for his service in Berlin. Sometime in 1941, the channel was registered as F-7124, with the code name of “Westminster” after its former name.
Tasked with receiving “political information” from colleagues in Madrid, the channel traveled to the Spanish city for a few months in mid-1941 under the guise of a trade deal.
According to Hal Vaughan’s book Sleeping with the Enemy, there is a record of his dinner with British diplomat Brian Wallace, during which he discusses life in occupied Paris and the French and Germans hostile to each other.
It is unclear whether the channel’s dialogue in Madrid moved the needle in any way, but they were clearly enough to impress Abwehr observers and earn Pallas’s release.
However, his desire to reclaim the profits of his perfume reached a dead end, as he found out that the Wertheimers had transferred control of the company to a non-Jewish Frenchman named Félix Amiot before fleeing to America. .
In 1944 he was thrown out as a German spy
In late 1943 and early 1944, for some time with the tide against Germany, the channel was tapped for another mission by General Walter Schellenberg of the SS. Named “Operation Modelhut” – for the German “model cap” – he was to use his personal affinity for Churchill, now Prime Minister of England, to relay the word that many senior officers of S.S. to end the bloodshed Were demanding
The channel arranged for the release of Vera Lambardi, a mutual friend of her and Churchill’s, from an Italian prison. He accompanied Dinklage to Madrid, where Lombardi was instructed to hand over the letter of the Channel to Churchill at the British Embassy.
However, the plan was thwarted when Lombardi announced Chanel and his allies as German spies. Lombardi was taken back into custody, although the channel managed to return to Paris safely.
In recent years, however, the availability of undisclosed French government documents has revealed his covert work for Nazi military intelligence during World War II.
The channels grew up in poverty but the rank of society increased from the beginning of WW II
Born in poverty in 1883 and sent to a convent-orphanage at the age of 12, Chanelle overcame her turmoil after World War I to introduce her visionary women’s attire.
His meteoric rise put him in the stratosphere of Europe’s most powerful and influential figures. Hobby with artistic publishers such as Pablo Picasso and Serge Diaghilev, he became friends with Winston Churchill and Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, the mistress of the Duke of Westminster.
The channel’s prominent standing and connections helped her gain control of her life at a critical time, as Adolf Hitler’s forces began closing in on Germany’s neighbors in the late 1930s.
The channel dated a German military officer
After the Nazis took over Paris in 1940, the channel teamed with Baron Hans Gunther von Dinklage, an officer of the German military intelligence Abuhar. Their romance enabled Chanel to move into a comfortable living quarters at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, then doubling as a German headquarters, and firmly placed her in high society, which was also infiltrated by German authorities.
The channel’s relationship with Dinklage also allowed her to deal with important personal matters. The most pressing need was to see the release of his nephew Andre Palasse, who was imprisoned in a German stalag in 1940.
Then she had commercial interests: from 1924 onwards, when the Jewish Wartheimer family supported the launch of their perfume line in exchange for most profits, the fashion maven sought to recreate things on more favorable terms. Now, with “Aryanization” laws forced the Jews to abandon their occupation, the channel saw an opportunity to reclaim a lucrative branch of its empire.
In 1941 the channel became Abwe agent F-7124
Dineklage introduced her lover to another prominent Abuhar agent, Baron Louis de Vuelferland, who allegedly promised to help free his nephew in exchange for his service in Berlin. Sometime in 1941, the channel was registered as F-7124, with the code name of “Westminster” after its former name.
Tasked with receiving “political information” from colleagues in Madrid, the channel traveled to the Spanish city for a few months in mid-1941 under the guise of a trade deal.
According to Hal Vaughan’s book Sleeping with the Enemy, there is a record of his dinner with British diplomat Brian Wallace, during which he discusses life in occupied Paris and the French and Germans hostile to each other.
It is unclear whether the channel’s dialogue in Madrid moved the needle in any way, but they were clearly enough to impress Abwehr observers and earn Pallas’s release.
However, his desire to reclaim the profits of his perfume reached a dead end, as he found out that the Wertheimers had transferred control of the company to a non-Jewish Frenchman named Félix Amiot before fleeing to America. .
In 1944 he was thrown out as a German spy
In late 1943 and early 1944, for some time with the tide against Germany, the channel was tapped for another mission by General Walter Schellenberg of the SS. Named “Operation Modelhut” – for the German “model cap” – he was to use his personal affinity for Churchill, now Prime Minister of England, to relay the word that many senior officers of S.S. to end the bloodshed Were demanding
The channel arranged for the release of Vera Lambardi, a mutual friend of her and Churchill’s, from an Italian prison. He accompanied Dinklage to Madrid, where Lombardi was instructed to hand over the letter of the Channel to Churchill at the British Embassy.
However, the plan was thwarted when Lombardi announced Chanel and his allies as German spies. Lombardi was taken back into custody, although the channel managed to return to Paris safely.
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