Author says Chanel was Nazi spy
Source: Agencies |
August 18, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A BOOK about the life of Coco Chanel published this week aims to strengthen claims the French designer collaborated with the Nazis during World War II as a spy codenamed "Westminster."
The book, "Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War," by Paris-based US journalist Hal Vaughan, claims not only was Chanel the lover of German officer Hans Gunther von Dincklage, which is well--documented, but the two were spies who went on missions to Madrid and Berlin. It also claims she was deeply anti-Semitic.
Publisher Alfred Knopf said: "Vaughan reveals Chanel was more than just a Nazi sympathizer and collaborator. She was a numbered agent working for Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence."
But a representative for the Chanel fashion house poured doubt on the allegations. It said: "What is certain is that she had a relationship with a German aristocrat during the war. Clearly it was not the best period for a love story with a German, even if Baron von Dincklage was English by his mother and she (Chanel) knew him before the war."
The fashion house also denied the designer was anti-Semitic, saying Chanel would not have had Jewish friends or ties with the Rothschild family of financiers if that were the case.
The book draws on English, French, German and US archives to claim Chanel, whose menswear-inspired designs made her one of the most influential figures in fashion, went on missions with Dincklage and others to recruit German agents.
It gives her Abwehr agent number as F-7124 and codename as "Westminster," named after the Duke of Westminster with whom she had a love affair. She died in Paris in 1971, aged 87.
The book, "Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War," by Paris-based US journalist Hal Vaughan, claims not only was Chanel the lover of German officer Hans Gunther von Dincklage, which is well--documented, but the two were spies who went on missions to Madrid and Berlin. It also claims she was deeply anti-Semitic.
Publisher Alfred Knopf said: "Vaughan reveals Chanel was more than just a Nazi sympathizer and collaborator. She was a numbered agent working for Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence."
But a representative for the Chanel fashion house poured doubt on the allegations. It said: "What is certain is that she had a relationship with a German aristocrat during the war. Clearly it was not the best period for a love story with a German, even if Baron von Dincklage was English by his mother and she (Chanel) knew him before the war."
The fashion house also denied the designer was anti-Semitic, saying Chanel would not have had Jewish friends or ties with the Rothschild family of financiers if that were the case.
The book draws on English, French, German and US archives to claim Chanel, whose menswear-inspired designs made her one of the most influential figures in fashion, went on missions with Dincklage and others to recruit German agents.
It gives her Abwehr agent number as F-7124 and codename as "Westminster," named after the Duke of Westminster with whom she had a love affair. She died in Paris in 1971, aged 87.
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