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Between 1940 and 1945, France experienced one of the darkest periods in its history during the country's occupation by the German army. The resistance versus the collaborators, a divide which has marked generations ever since. This film will explore this dramatic and complex period as it was experienced by the wine producing world, a microcosm of France, which like the rest of the country had its heroes, its villains, and many others who were just ordinary men and women trying to survive as best they could. Our story begins in the present, in Eastern Europe, in Moldova to be precise. In the town of Cricova, a few kilometers
from the capital, one of the largest wine cellars in the world can be found storing more than a million bottles. The kilometers of underground galleries can be traveled by car along streets which bear the names of outstanding grape varieties. In one of these rooms, 600 bottles with an astonishing history can be found. Here there are only classified vintages, each dating from during or just before the Second World War. Virtually all of these bottles of inestimable value come from French vineyards. To understand how this treasure comes to lie peacefully in the depths of this Moldovan cellar, we need to trace its eventful path.
During the Second World War, Nazi dignitaries accumulated considerable fortunes through spoliation throughout occupied Europe. Hitler possessed a certain number of these great vintages, which he stocked in the basement of his Eagle's Nest in the Bavarian Alps. Hermann Göring amassed several thousands of them in the cellars of Karin Hall, his country residence near Berlin. In the Bavarian mountains, Allied troops celebrated the capture of the Eagle's Nest. In its cellars, they discovered part of the Nazi war hoard.
History doesn't tell us how many French, Americans, and Soviets shared the treasure. But part of the great vintages were sent off immediately to Moscow on Stalin's orders, where many were quickly consumed. The bottles still in Cricova today are those which escaped the father of the nations. In France, victory was also being celebrated. Bottles were brought out. Those hidden from the Germans, as the story goes. At least the crowds didn't get these, was said to be the common cry.
Obviously, there's the legend, the enduring myth up until the present day of wine being hidden, the cellars bricked up upon the arrival of the Germans, etc., etc. If that ever existed at all, it was very limited and fortuitous. Most of the time, life had to carry on. The wine simply had to be sold. Economic life had to continue. Otherwise, the businesses would disappear. But that doesn't alter the fact that certain wine producers [clears throat] helped the resistance network, hid people, etc., as throughout French society. Archives of the post-war purges, and in particular, tax archives, show that wine merchants were probably the most affected by the purges.
Why? Because they did a lot of trade with Germany. For example, we know that between 1944 and September 1945, something like 299 very hefty fines were imposed relating to particularly significant profits made. The historic reality of profits made thanks to trade with the German occupier has long gone untold. It's still something not easily admitted to by some of the concerned parties, notably the numerous houses sanctioned after the liberation. In March 1946, wine merchants asked the Commissioner of the Republic for a deal. Sanctions imposed on them would be hushed up. In return for which they would pay the fines which were, let's say, imposed on them.
It's an important point. Does that explain the unease which can still be felt today? Of course. Today 80 years on having business matters come to light. Saying this trade reappears. Could be embarrassing certain houses which are still very present on the markets. Can we say which ones? No. No, because Let's just say you prefer not to name them. Naming these houses is complicated. Because today they could very easily turn against the historian. And even though a historian might be backed up by archives, they could be accused of defamation
by these wine merchants. 80 years after the fact, it is still difficult to talk about a certain number of cases in Bordeaux. It's difficult to talk about these things because you need a lot of courage to do so. Why not just admit it? Don't make waves. So and so collaborated, but we won't say so. He collaborated. That's an end to it. Collaboration was rife within all the wine merchants. All the grand cru. As well as in large part of the smaller wine producers. But even people like the wine transporters.
The abscess has never been announced. To understand this involvement by part of the wine producing world, we need to go back in time. In June 1940, the Germans entered Paris. An exodus had started several weeks earlier. Millions of refugees had taken to the roads, sometimes under fire from German aircraft, which machine-gunned the crowd. They were trying to reach the free zone in the south, which under the terms of the armistice signed with Germany, was to remain under the control of the new French government led by Philippe Pétain.
What remained of the French state apparatus withdrew to Bordeaux, which was occupied by German troops. Here, confusion reigned. The city's population went from 400,000 to nearly 1 and 1/2 million in a matter of a few days. The mayor of the city, Adrien Marquet, was part of Philippe Pétain's inner circle, and he became Pétain's minister of the interior. He soon organized a purge, ousting from the administration anyone who seemed unfavorable to the new regime. He made very explicit declarations about adhering to a German-occupied Europe. Before the municipal council, he stated that there was a new order and a new reality which was German and needed to be accepted.
It was necessary to bend to this new reality. So, he was part of that camp and the epicenter of collaboration was founded on those choices. Bordeaux, the wine capital, was to be deeply marked by its implication during Adrien Marquet's term in office. There was, of course, a no matter, a long and drawn out of matter around all these questions. In Bordeaux, the large wine merchants quickly adapted to the new situation. Many of them were based in the Chartrons district on the left bank of the Garonne. It's the historic district of the major wine merchants and at the time it was the commercial center of the
city. They were constantly careful about staying close to the seat of power. One of the most notorious characters in the Chartrons world was Louis Eschauer. He was the biggest of the city's wine merchants, a charismatic figure from a large Protestant Alsatian family known to everyone as the emperor of the Chartrons or Uncle Louis to his friends. At the head of a colossal fortune, he possessed several large and prestigious domains including Chateau Compagnet and Chateau Olivier. Florence Motte's family was very close to the Eschauers. Her grandfather, Edme Mongou, was the wine merchant's right-hand man.
Here you can see the portraits of all the Eschauers who founded the distribution house before Louis. Here you have the Christian Union of young people on an outing. This comprises all the Protestant gentry of Bordeaux who regularly went wandering around the local properties. We need to understand that the Protestant clique in Bordeaux was basically just a little group of around 15 families. They were all linked by their religion, lifestyle, social status, and also their neighborhood. Because they all lived in the Chartrons district.
These people lived in each other's pockets. They intermarried, referred to each other as my uncle, my cousin, and so, and had a daily life of luxury. So, they were intermingled, intermingled, intermingled. This small community was descended from families which had fled persecution during the French Wars of Religion and had taken refuge in the German principalities. Later, some had returned to settle in southwestern France. These families had retained cross-border connections, creating business links from generation to generation, notably in the wine trade.
It was very complicated. Because you see people you know arriving with whom you're on a first name basis. They happen to be wearing German uniforms, but what are you supposed to do? Are you going to pretend you don't know them? Obviously, some tried to stay a bit aloof. The Kressmanns pretended not to speak German, which made everyone laugh because they spoke German as well as the Germans did. But they kept pretending that others welcomed with open arms these people who that they considered friends. Was that the case with Louis Eschauer? That was the case with Louis Eschauer.
A lot of people told him he was going too far. That he should be less ostentatious about it. That walking arm in arm with a German officer at the Bouscat race course when the chap was in uniform was nonsensical. My grandmother said to him, "Listen, you like them, you greet them, you know them. But tell them to come in civvies when you invite them to dinner. Don't have them turn up with motorcycle outriders in their Mercedes covered in swastikas. It's absurd. I have no idea why he did that. It's inexplicable. If not for the fact that he was Louis Eschauer, the emperor of the Chartrons, and he
could do what he liked. For Eschauer, as for all the wine merchants of the Chartrons, the arrival of the Germans was a godsend. When the occupation began, the wine producing world was in crisis. The French economy still hadn't recovered from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Wine merchants had significant quantities of unsold stock, which they didn't know what to do with. The arrival of the Germans represented the possibility of stock clearance, especially since Germany wished to procure considerable amounts. In this photo, Louis Eschauer poses with one of his regular commercial partners, the German Heinz Böhmer.
The two men had known each other for years. Böhmer's father had himself had business dealings with the Eschauer house. Luckily enough for Uncle Louis, Böhmer, now a high-ranking officer in the Wehrmacht, had just been put in charge of all Bordeaux purchases for Germany. When Böhmer was at home, there was open house for dinner guests. But at the same time, the Germans were completely at home in Avenue Émile Counord. The attitude amongst wine merchants in Bordeaux was, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." So long as the Germans were good clients. And they bought just about anything. That's the other point.
There was a certain quota of wine which was reserved for general supplies. And there was also more These needed to be sold. So they sold them. Germany considered French wine as a strategic resource. There were wines for everyday consumption, which were in constant supply and essential for morale within the ranks. And there were classified wines for the regime's dignitaries. But contrary to popular and enduring belief, the Germans didn't actually steal the French wine production. Apart from a few cases of theft, notably by Göring, they actually bought it. And at a rather good price. When he arrived, Böhmers received quite
a warm welcome. He was warmly welcomed by companies in the château. He was warmly welcomed by the Bordeaux wine chain. Because after all, he was very well known. There was a certain continuity to It was a good opening for a certain number of wine merchants. The wine brokering house of Heinz Böhmers, the wine führer for the Bordeaux region, still exists today. Its head office is in Bremen in northern Germany. Michael Böhmers is the son of Heinz Böhmers. When his father died, he took over the family business with his brothers. A few years ago, they decided to donate the company's archives to the municipality.
This is a note in which he precisely describes his function. He explains the rules concerning quantities and prices, etc. It seems there was a certain margin for negotiation. That's what my father says here. And it coincides with my personal experience when I went to Bordeaux in the 1960s. Nobody ever criticized me. Perhaps they were being polite. But all the same. Perhaps they'd made a lot of money. That's very possible. At the beginning of the war, I was a year old.
There's a short family film in which my twin sister and myself were celebrating our first birthday. That was 2 days before the beginning of that terrible war. My parents were not at all Nazis. But my father nonetheless collaborated with them. It was necessary for his company. He always said. I [clears throat] tried everything in order to work and protect my family and carry out my duties in Bordeaux in a civilized way as possible. But he hadn't resisted this. If he hadn't, it's unlikely he would have been posted to Bordeaux.
Professionally, it was a very good period for him. Certainly not for the French because but they were occupied. But what about business? I think in terms of business, they were happy. It was a continuation at a slightly different level because the quality is greatly increased. Heims Baum launched the tendering process 11 times during the occupation. 11 tenders open to all comers for important quantities of wine paid for thanks to the daily indemnity given by the Vichy regime to the German occupier to cover occupation expenses.
11 tenders giving brokers two possible solutions. Do I make a proposition or do I abstain? If I abstain, I keep my wine. I have no money. I can't pay my 30 employees. So instead of feeling sorry for myself, I face reality. The reality is I need to clear my stocks. My business needs to continue. Money needs to come in and I have a mouth-watering opportunity. All the major families and others participated made propositions. And to my knowledge, there were no traders, no brokers who put up any resistance to this system.
Since the armistice in June 1940, France had been cut in two. A demarcation line had been drawn between the northern zone occupied by Germany and the southern so-called free zone over which the Vichy government had authority. There was a border which began at Switzerland and ended at Spain with a large 90° arc close to Tours. All the major French wine producers found themselves under German control. Whether they be in Burgundy or a whole part of Burgundy was in the occupied zone. Champagne was of course in the occupied zone, as were some of the wines in the center-west. And here in Bordeaux, you can see that the major appellations were
under German authority. The demarcation line followed the road. And this demarcation line represented a real internal border. An artificial frontier which divided several regions in two. In the legal definition by the occupier, it wasn't actually a simple line. It was a zone. A zone a few meters wide which the Germans could distort slightly as they saw fit. Sainte-Foy-la-Grande is a small village which in June 1940 was right on the demarcation line. It was split by this internal frontier, this artificial
At the outset of the day, cooperative which you see here was in the free zone. But a few weeks, a few months later after the Germans arrived the demarcation line and this cooperative ended up in the occupied zone. It's a small quality wine. It's a Bordeaux vineyard. So, it was interesting for the Germans. We head northeast towards Champagne, towards the vineyards around Épernay and Reims. These lands were also in the occupied zone. The Germans had been very careful to include them when drawing the demarcation line. As with the other viticulture regions, the German authorities named a wine führer responsible for purchases throughout the region.
In this case, it was Otto Klébish. Once again, the Germans had been careful to name a connoisseur of the French market. Klébish spoke perfect French. He was born in Cognac where his father had a vineyard. But that's not the only reason he was chosen. His brother-in-law was no other than Hitler's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Otto von Ribbentrop. He knew the wine sector in the Champagne region inside out. Before becoming a Nazi minister and eventually a war criminal executed in Nuremberg, Ribbentrop had been the German representative for the Mumm and Pommery Champagne houses. So, it was directly from the Minister of Foreign Affairs that Klébish received a briefing before leaving for Reims.
What was asked of him was to be extremely diplomatic and to explain to the people with whom he was dealing as his interlocutor that if they supplied the required number of bottles On the other hand, if things went out of control, if spoken agreements were not honored, they could expect reprisals to be put in place. So, this was the common interest at that time. If they could find a way of working together while avoiding any new dramas or new difficulties, it could result in something very interesting. But the very notion of common interest with the Germans of which you speak was nonetheless problematic. The interest, at least as it was experienced here, was to accept that if they could establish a trading system which worked,
that meant that the population could be peaceful. The personnel working for the large houses would have a salary and could feed their families. That may be difficult to hear, but it was the case. It meant avoiding new dramas like those already experienced. Nobody refused? I don't very well see how they could possibly have refused. In accordance with guidelines from Berlin, Klebisch, the wine führer for the Champagne region, very quickly began coaxing the profession with large orders for Germany. These orders were all the more welcome because the sector was going through a serious overproduction crisis, like the country's other major wine producers at the time. At the headquarters of CIVC, the
organization which regulated the profession. Most archive documents concerning these dark years have disappeared. But thanks to the work of one conscientious archivist, three boxes have been preserved. These documents are proof of business carried out with the occupier by nearly all the major wine producers in Champagne. Amongst these archives, one document is of particular interest. It was written by the head of the CIVC, Robert Jean de Vogüé, and singles out the houses which sold much more than the others to the Germans.
It was important for de Vogüé that all the houses should have an equal share in this new opportunity provided by the occupier. Demand was clearly very high. Orders needed to be fulfilled for the German market to supply soldiers stationed all around Europe, but also to satisfy the social needs of high-ranking members of the Reich, for whom French Champagne now had the taste of victory. At the Ritz in Paris, German officers and prominent figures of the collaboration, such as the Marquis Melchior de Polignac, the director of Pommery, regularly met. At the time, Polignac was one of the leaders of the collaboration group,
which openly campaigned for a German-occupied Europe. In Épernay, it was decided to delete this painful memory. The former park of the Pommery house is today a public garden, and the bust to the glory of its former head has conveniently disappeared. Here, as in Bordeaux, they prefer not to keep reminders of this embarrassing past. Although the attitude of Polignac didn't reflect that of all the houses, another cumbersome character also tarnished the history of Champagne under the occupation, René Bousquet. This was the man who in 1942 organized the largest mass arrest of Jews in France, the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, which led more than 13,000 people to the death camps. At this time, he was prefect of the Marne. It was with his backing, a year
before the roundup, that the CIVC had been created. What was the role of Rene Bousquet in this affair? As I have said, the prefect of the Marne had always held talks with wine producers and brokers who named him the prefect of Champagne. So, the prefect of the Marne was the direct contact and even the advocate of professionals at a governmental level. Bousquet spent very little time in Champagne. He was nominated in 1940. After that, he moved to the national spheres. He disappeared. Bousquet defended the interests of the Champagne region against the pretensions and the prerogatives of the occupation authorities.
Is it possible to separate that from the overall image of the person? It's not connected. They were two different periods of life. It's not because Bousquet became what he later was that smears the creation of the CIVC. It's not connected. The Champagne region is a good example of the ambiguities within the wine producing world towards the Germans. On one hand, the profession easily came to terms with the German presence, even profited off it. On the other hand, it counted a certain number of resistance within its ranks. And its good relationship with the Wehrmacht helped protect others. Some
within the profession were already resistance in 1940. Others, initially loyal to Vichy, gradually changed sides, particularly when German demands increased. This was the case with Robert Jean de Vogüé, the profession's principal representative. As of 1943, there was a clear stiffening on the German side. Agreements between de Vogüé and the wine Führer Klebisch were no longer respected. The Germans now seem to want to use up all the stock of wines from Champagne. In these minutes from a meeting at the Majestic Hotel, the headquarters of the German forces, it's clear that the French contingent used all possible
arguments in an attempt to reduce deliveries. One month later, right in the middle of a meeting with Klebisch, Robert Jean de Vogüé was arrested by the Gestapo. He was condemned to death, but eventually pardoned when Vichy intervened. He spent the rest of the war detained in different German prisons until the arrival of the Allies. Other directors were also arrested for showing resistance. But despite these episodes which honor the profession, it remains difficult to discuss this period of history today.
None of the major Champagne houses were prepared to participate in this film. One of the most famous of them, Taittinger, initially agreed before changing its mind under the pretext that the house was less significant under the German occupation. Why such a reply? Particularly when documents prove that Taittinger traded with the Germans throughout the war in the same proportions as most of the Champagne houses. At the time, the company was headed by Pierre Taittinger, an ardent defender of the Vichy regime and leader of the young patriots far right league. It's still a sensitive subject which is rarely touched upon.
Does the reputation of the main houses play a role? It's true that the houses have always taken care of their reputations. But that's true of all these companies and business enterprises. There has never been a full scale interpretation of what happened. They tried to immediately pass on to other things after the liberation. This period still overshadows the French vineyards. While some families sometimes have a selective memory, others discover the troubled history of their domain later on.
This was the case with Florence and Daniel Cathiard. In 1991, they acquired one of the most famous domains of Bordeaux, Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte. It was only a few years later, in consultation with an archivist from the region, that they discovered part of the history of the property which had been hidden from them. This lady told me that the château was bought around 1905 by a brokering house situated in Bremen. This company did a great deal with the Bordeaux region. It was at that time the property of the families Böhmer and Ullrich. The Böhmer
in question was the father of Heinz Böhmer, who during the Second World War became the Wein-Führer for the Bordeaux vineyards. So, Heinz Böhmer, the officer who reigned over Bordeaux on behalf of the Reich, had owned, thanks to his father, the Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte. But another name reappeared during Florence Cathiard's research, that of the unavoidable Louis Eschauer, the most compromised trader during the German occupation, who managed the domain for Boermans before buying it a few years later. We didn't have the historical background because we weren't born into a Bordeaux family. If you look at my archives and I have quite a bundle of them, it's mentioned on two pages. That's all.
It was a surprise. Afterwards when we started restoration on the Chartreuse, this is something I can show you. We found bullet marks in the ironwork. I couldn't understand it. I thought they'd fought alongside resistance. It's as though the metal has melted. You see it here? We learned that it happened during parties with Boermans and Esch enauer who drank a lot with a number of Bordeaux lay people present.
We stumbled across this because in Bordeaux it was something of an amateur at the time. It's a way to have conversations in Bordeaux in any case. I know about this through the wine court and the aristocracy of which I'm now a part thanks to Smith Haut Lafitte. We don't have that sort of conversation. We don't feel a duty to remember. The few other major owners that we approached did not wish to express themselves in this film. And neither did the professional association which represents them, the CIVB.
"In Bordeaux we look to the future." is a sentence often heard. Effectively looking to the past would mean confronting for example the less than glorious episode of the association between Heinz Boermans, the wine führer of Bordeaux, and Louis Esch enauer, the emperor of the Chartron. Right after the German invasion in the month of June 1940, Esch Nauer set up a company with Bermès. That was incredible. He could have waited 3 months, 6 months, a year, honestly. The next day he runs to a solicitor to set up a shared company.
The other thing that Louis Esche Nauer might be accused of is having acquired Aryanized Jewish goods. In particular the Château Lestage, which belonged to the Natan family. Obviously, that was profiting from the situation to acquire the Medoc vintage. Which incidentally was quite a good wine. That clearly doesn't play in his favor. From the autumn of 1940, Germany began organized spoliation of goods belonging to Jews in the occupied zone, as they did throughout Europe. This policy was taken up by the Vichy government, which in 1941 set up a Commissariat General for Jewish Affairs.
The Germans had their eye on certain reputed domains, like that of the Rothschild family, but in the end Vichy took their vines. The owners were stripped of their French nationality. As for Louis Esche Nauer and Heinz Bermès, they were on the lookout. A neighbor had just announced Natan, owner of the Château Lestage domain, to the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs. Learning that the property was on the point of being confiscated, Esche Nauer and Bermès suggested to Natan that they purchase it at a low price before its seizure. Obliged to take flight, the Natan family could not refuse their offer.
Going through the family home's archives, Michael Burmester came across a trace of this dubious transaction from which his father and Louis Eschauer profited. The document confirms the sale without mentioning the debatable conditions. He didn't mention the case to the owner of the time. It might result in expropriation or something of that sort. So, I have absolutely no idea how my father came to be owner of the Chateau Listrac. Knowing your father, would it have concerned him to take advantage of a cheap purchase from a Jewish family? I don't think my father was someone who would have sacrificed a good opportunity. If he thought somebody else would step in and do the same thing.
I can't imagine him reacting a bit like that. Obviously, it's not pleasant for me to imagine that my father could have reacted in that way. The 2nd of February, 1943. On the other side of Europe, German troops experienced their first major defeat at Stalingrad. The war was gradually turning in the allies favor. In France, part of the wine cork nobility was still living it up. Unaware that the tide was turning.
It was to take long months of battle before the first French towns took up arms against the occupier. As the allies and the troops of General de Lattre de Tassigny advanced. After a week of fighting, Paris was liberated on the 25th of August 1944. Reims in the Champagne region were liberated a few days later. As for Bordeaux, the city was liberated by the end of August. But there was no fighting in Bordeaux, which owed its liberation to an agreement between the German authorities and the resistance fighters. The mayor of the city, Adrien Marquet, as well as Louis Eschauer, appear to have played an important role in this agreement.
Notably, thanks to the close relationship between Eschauer and one of the high-ranking officers, Ernst Kuhnemann, himself a wine trader in civilian life. Even when the final liberation came about the wine producing world would once again one more time play a role which would be widely remembered. Because what do we recall of the events today? The action of Adrien Marquet and the action of Louis Eschauer because the liberation of Bordeaux boils down to two stages, the Germans leaving then the FFI arriving.
There was no contact between them. Does that also go to explain why both Marquet and Eschauer remain relatively esteemed characters? Yes, in the end it was a peaceful liberation. The different actors present in Bordeaux the wine producing world Adrien Marquet were already watching their backs. We're already preparing what was to come. Once the Germans had left the city, the settling of accounts began. The net began tightening around war profiteers of all kinds, around collaborators suspected or proven.
Within the wine world a certain number of people were preparing for difficult times. Louis Eschauer was quickly arrested by the liberation forces and held at the Fort du Hâ in the very place where the Germans had interned resistance. Ironically his co-detainee with whom he shared a cell was none other than the mayor of Bordeaux, Adrien Marquet. In the summer of 1945, Germany capitulated. As with a large number of German officers present in Bordeaux, Heinz Böhmer managed to leave the country unhindered. Bremen, the city of his birth, had taken a pounding from the allies. My father had always thought that Germany would be defeated.
It did not surprise him. He called it absolute madness. Because the war would certainly be lost. In any case, it was a huge error, whichever way you look at it. There's a folder with a whole list of my father's associates, acquaintances, were accused of collaboration. I think it was written by Madame Eschauer. And it must have been in 1947. In my opinion, it was a list which my father had asked for to find out the fate of his friends and acquaintances in Bordeaux. Eschenauer spent 18 months in prison, sentenced to 4 years, but freed after 18 months.
Goods probably confiscated. Married Jean, in good health, now living in Paris. Descas, 13 months in an internment camp, now carries on business as usual. Petri Marty, I think I met this gentleman. Large fine, little inconvenience. Large fine is nonetheless inconvenient. In fact, all your father's friends had problems after the war. Yes, not all of them, but a good number. In the archives of the Burmes house, the name of a woman appears, Gertrude Kircher, nee Villute. She was the assistant of Heinz Bormann in Bordeaux. But unlike Bormann, who managed to
return to Germany, Gertrud Kiescher was arrested at the time of the liberation in Bordeaux. Interrogated by the free French intelligence services, she claimed to be in possession of precious archives concerning the most visible characters in the Bordeaux wine business. He told me that he had all the documents destroyed. Perhaps he gave the order, but it wasn't carried out. Perhaps what I don't know. We've uncovered the transcript of Gertrud Kiescher's interrogation. It is edifying. Gilbert Woah, 7 Rue Henri Colignon, very sympathetic towards Germany.
Flouret, Avenue Emile Counord, Germanophile. Calvet, father, numerous sales propositions, friendly relationship with Bormann, received at his house. Eschenauer, Germanophile, invited German generals to dinner. Kruse, Germanophile, very friendly relationship with Bormann. Descas, informed Bormann of anyone who undermined Franco-German economic agreements. To the point of personally dictating letters to the authorities. In exchange for this information, a veritable who's who of the collaboration network in Bordeaux,
Gertrud Kiescher was given a new identity by the French intelligence service, under which she was to be confined to her residence for a while before disappearing without a trace to this day. Louis Eschenauer was given a fine of 105 million francs, the equivalent of 10 million euros. His goods were confiscated. Other prominent names in Bordeaux were sentenced, such as the Cruse, Descazes, Labory, D'Estournel, Barton & Guestier, and the large houses.
The agreement that was made with the new authorities, quick payment of fines in return for no publicity about sanctions, was so well respected that 80 years later, the secret is still jealously guarded. In the Champagne region, a report published in September 1944 qualifies certain fortunes amassed through trade with the occupier as scandalous. But 1 year later, the follow-up was minimal. Only two figures from Champagne were convicted, Lucien Drouin and Melchior de Polignac, the head of Pommery. The legal network reformed quickly after the war, helping to bury a certain number of inquiries.
The large majority of houses were able to continue doing business peacefully. What happened after the war? Your father finally returned to France, if I understand correctly. Yes. Carrying on business with the same people? The same people. I mean, practically the same. The same vendors and buyers, etc. Yes. I know that my brother, who was 12 years older than myself, went on a long trip in 1950. During which he visited all the acquaintances in France.
Not just in Bordeaux. And he was welcomed everywhere with open arms. Several houses called into question in this film still exist today. With a few rare exceptions, they still refuse to discuss the German occupation period or allow unrestricted access to their archives, thus depriving historians of precious information for continued reflection on this crucial period of history. L'image est négative. It gives a negative image when you're at the head of a renowned commercial enterprise. You don't want negative publicity when you're in that situation.
It's easy to understand. But this part of the Second World War has remained untouched. Nothing has yet been expurgated. In fact, we don't consider it anymore. But the problem's still there. So it will resurface. It will resurface. The story isn't over. It carries on within us. Despite the disappearance of those directly connected and the desire of certain people to smother it, it is now the essential task of their descendants to draw the lessons from this part of French collective history.
