The Fashion Queen of the Third Reich: Nazi Agent Coco Chanel JJ

14 June 1940, France. After 5 weeks of fighting,   German troops enter Paris, and the capital of one  of Europe’s most powerful nations falls under Nazi   occupation. As the French surrender, the country  is divided between the German-controlled north   and the collaborationist Vichy  regime which governs the south.

The occupation transforms daily life across  France. Resistance fighters are hunted,   political opponents are arrested, and Jews are  subjected to increasingly harsh restrictions.   Across France, fear, uncertainty, and repression  become part of everyday existence. Yet while some   choose to resist, others decide to cooperate  with the occupiers, seeing collaboration as a   path to influence, protection, or personal gain.

The Nazi authorities rely not only on soldiers   and police but also on a network of informants,  sympathizers, and well-connected individuals   willing to work with them. Among those drawn into  this world is one of the most famous women in   France, a fashion icon whose name is known far  beyond the country’s borders. During the war,   she enters a relationship with a German  officer and later becomes involved in Nazi   intelligence operations. Her name is Coco Chanel.

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born on 19  August 1883 in the French town of Saumur.   Her childhood was marked by poverty and  instability. When Chanel was 11 years old,   her mother died at the age of 32, and her  father soon abandoned the family. He sent   his sons to work as farm labourers and placed his  daughters in the convent orphanage of Aubazine,   located in central France, where Chanel learned  the sewing skills that would later shape her   career. Life there was strict, and the years she  spent there left a lasting impression on Chanel.

After leaving the orphanage, Chanel worked as  a seamstress and briefly attempted a career as   a singer in cafés and cabarets in the town  of Moulins. It was during this period that   she acquired the nickname “Coco”, a name that  would eventually become known throughout the   world.

Although her singing career failed to take  off, it introduced her to wealthy and influential   men who would help change her fortunes. In Moulins, Chanel met Étienne Balsan,   a wealthy former cavalry officer and textile heir.  Through him she entered a world of privilege that   had previously been far beyond her reach. In 1908,  she began a relationship with one of Balsan’s   friends, the English businessman Arthur Capel  nicknamed Boy.

Capel would become one of the most   important figures in her life. He financed her  first shops and encouraged her growing ambitions.  Over the following years, Chanel built a  successful fashion business. She opened   boutiques in the seaside town of Deauville and the  resort city of Biarritz and gained a reputation   for simple, elegant designs that broke with many  of the conventions of women’s fashion at that   time.

After the First World War, which lasted  from July 1914 to November 1918, her business   continued to expand. In 1921, Chanel introduced  Chanel No. 5, a perfume that became one of the   most famous fragrances in history and helped  transform her name into an international brand.  As her wealth and fame grew, Chanel moved in  increasingly influential circles. In 1923,   she gained entry into the highest levels of  British society.

Through these connections,   she became acquainted with influential figures  such as Winston Churchill, the Prince of Wales,   and the Duke of Westminster, one of the richest  men in Britain. The Duke and Chanel began a long   relationship that lasted for years. When  later asked why she had never married him,   Chanel reportedly replied: “There  have been several Duchesses of   Westminster. There is only one Chanel.

” By the mid-1930s, Chanel had become   one of the most famous women in Europe. Her  fashion house employed thousands of workers,   and her influence extended far beyond clothing.  Yet she also developed darker habits. By 1935,   Chanel had become dependent on morphine,  a habit she would maintain for the rest   of her life.

It was later claimed that Chanel  was called “Coco” because she hosted the most   fabulous cocaine parties in Paris, although the  nickname almost certainly predated such stories.  On the eve of the Second World War, Chanel  stood at the height of her fame and influence.   Few could have imagined that the choices  she would make during the years of Nazi   occupation would become the most  controversial chapter of her life.

The Second World War started on 1 September  1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. As Europe   descended into conflict, Chanel abruptly closed  her fashion house. She dismissed approximately   4,000 employees, declaring that it was not a time  for fashion. While her boutiques shut their doors,   she remained in her apartment above the House  of Chanel on Rue de Cambon, one of the most   prestigious fashion streets in Paris. In June 1940, France fell to Germany.

As German troops occupied Paris, Chanel  moved into the luxurious Hotel Ritz,   which had become a favoured residence for senior  German officers and officials. It was there   that she began a relationship with Baron Hans  Günther von Dincklage, a German aristocrat and   intelligence operative who maintained close  connections to the Nazi security apparatus.

At the same time, Chanel faced a deeply  personal concern. Her nephew André was   being held in a German prisoner-of-war camp,  and Chanel became determined to secure his   release. It is believed that securing André’s  freedom was the original motive behind Chanel’s   collaboration with the Nazis.

Yet what may  have begun as an effort to help a family member   gradually developed into something much larger. During the occupation, Chanel lived a life of   privilege that was beyond the reach of most French  citizens. While food shortages, restrictions,   and repression affected much of the population,  she continued to live comfortably at the Ritz.   Her relationship with Dincklage also brought her  into increasingly close contact with influential   figures within the German administration.

The occupation presented Chanel with   another opportunity. Since the 1920s, the highly  successful perfume Chanel No. 5 had been produced   by the French company Parfums Chanel, which  was controlled largely by the Jewish Wertheimer   family. Although the perfume bore her name, Chanel  owned only a 10 percent stake in the company.   Chanel had long been dissatisfied with the  arrangement, believing she deserved a much larger   share of the profits generated by her creations.

The anti-Jewish laws introduced under the Nazi   rule appeared to offer a solution. On 5 May 1941,  Chanel wrote to the authorities responsible for   administering Jewish-owned assets. Arguing that  Parfums Chanel remained the property of Jews,   she sought to gain sole ownership of the company.  In her letter, she complained that the profits she   had received were disproportionate and  requested that the authorities correct   what she considered an injustice. Chanel’s plan failed.

Anticipating   German measures against Jewish businesses,  the Wertheimers had already transferred   control of the company to a trusted non-Jewish  associate before the occupation. As a result,   the German authorities could not simply hand the  business to Chanel. Despite her efforts, control   of Parfums Chanel remained beyond her reach.

During the war, she worked with the German   intelligence and participated in operations  connected to the Nazi security apparatus.   Declassified documents later identified  Chanel under the codename “Westminster”,   a reference to her former relationship  with the Duke of Westminster.  One of the most remarkable episodes occurred  in 1943.

By this stage of the conflict,   Germany’s military situation was deteriorating.  Seeking possible avenues for negotiation,   senior intelligence officials became interested  in Chanel because of her friendship with Winston   Churchill, the British Prime Minister, whom she  had known for years through British high society.  In 1943, Chanel travelled to Berlin with Dincklage  and met Walter Schellenberg, one of the most   senior figures in German intelligence.

Together  they became involved in a secret initiative known   as Operation Modellhut. The plan was based  on the belief that Chanel might be able to   contact Churchill and encourage discussions that  could lead to a separate peace agreement between   Britain and elements of the German leadership. As part of the operation, Chanel travelled to   Madrid carrying a letter intended for Churchill.  The mission, however, quickly unravelled.

The intermediary involved in the operation  informed British officials about the scheme,   and the effort collapsed without achieving any  of its objectives. No negotiations took place,   and Operation Modellhut ended in failure. By the summer of 1944, Allied forces were   advancing across Western Europe. On 25 August  1944, Paris was liberated.

Soon afterward,   Chanel was questioned by French authorities  regarding her wartime activities and connections   to German officials. However, investigators lacked  sufficient evidence to bring charges against her,   and she was released after a brief interrogation. Rumours quickly spread that her friendship   with Churchill had helped protect her from  prosecution, although definitive proof has   never emerged. Facing growing scrutiny and public  hostility, Chanel left France for Switzerland.

Although the Second World War in Europe ended  on 8 May 1945, she remained there for several   years as questions about her wartime activities  continued to follow her. Many French collaborators   faced investigation, prosecution, or public  disgrace after the war. Chanel, however,   avoided serious legal consequences. Historians  have long debated why.

One theory suggests that   her friendship with Winston Churchill may have  helped shield her from further prosecution,   although no conclusive evidence has ever emerged. The fashion world, meanwhile, changed   dramatically. In 1947, Christian Dior introduced  his famous “New Look”, and a new generation of   designers began to dominate the industry.

Chanel  dismissed many of these trends as impractical and   believed that women would eventually reject them. Despite Chanel’s wartime attempt to use   anti-Jewish laws against them, the Wertheimer  family eventually reached an agreement with her.   Pierre Wertheimer financed the reopening  of her fashion house, allowing Chanel to   return to the industry she had once dominated.

In 1954, after her fashion house had been closed   for fifteen years, Chanel returned to Paris and  launched a comeback. The collection received a   mixed reception in France, where memories of the  occupation and her wartime associations had not   been forgotten. In Britain and the United States,  however, critics responded far more positively,   and Chanel gradually rebuilt her  position within the fashion industry.

Coco Chanel was 87 years old when she died on  10 January 1971 at the Hotel Ritz in Paris,   where she had lived for more than three  decades. Although many regard Coco Chanel   as the most influential fashion  designer of the twentieth century,   her collaboration with Nazi Germany ensured that  one of the most remarkable success stories in   fashion history would forever remain intertwined  with one of its most controversial legacies.

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