Several friends have observed that the people we focused on as principal characters are established stars of the French wine community. They are correct, but that was not how we planned it.
Our goal was to find people with stories to tell, people who were willing to share some of their most personal, and sometimes painful, memories. Today, it is true that Huet, Drouhin, de Lencquesaing, Miailhe, de Nonancourt and Hugel are famous names. But when World War II began, they were not. They were small businesses, typical of so many in France’s wine community who were just trying to survive. How these people managed to do that is what caught our attention. We are grateful to all of them.
To May-Eliane Miailhe de Lencquesaing, who invited us to Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande. There on the terrace, she read to us from a diary she kept as a young girl during the war, passages that helped us understand what life was like under the occupation.
To her cousin, Jean Miailhe of Château Coufran, who vividly illustrated to us the danger of defiance as he described how he built a secret laboratory for making copper sulfate.
To Robert and Françoise Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin, who opened their hearts as well as their home to us. They went far beyond what we asked them to do by introducing us to others who lived through the war, and by searching out letters and historical documents that greatly enhanced our story.
To Bernard de Nonancourt of Domaine Laurent-Perrier, who reminded us that enthusiasm and patriotism are not only for the young. His spirit is as effervescent as the wonderful champagne he makes.
To Gaston Huet, who started us on this long journey several years ago. He has the rare gift of making time stand still and yet come alive. You have only to taste one of his wines to know that.
To the Hugels of Riquewihr: to André, whose keen sense of history helped us appreciate the unique circumstances of Alsace; to his brother Johnny, whose unflagging enthusiasm always made us feel welcome; and to their brother Georges, whose harrowing account of serving in Hitler’s army made us shudder. His courage left us in awe.
It is impossible to exaggerate Georges’s generosity and his willingness to put up with our constant questions and phone calls, even in the face of a serious illness. On one memorable occasion, he asked emergency medical personnel, who had just arrived to take him to the hospital, to wait so he could talk to us. We were incredibly embarrassed and apologized for bothering him with what was “a stupid question.” Georges quickly replied, “No, no, go ahead. There’s no such thing as a stupid question. Better to ask it while I am still alive.” That was in the summer of .
Georges died two months later.
There are two people we do not know how to begin to thank, dear friends who were with us from the very start, long before we were sure we had a book to write.
In fact, this book might never have been written had it not been for Kim and Anne Munholland. It was a collaborative effort in the best sense of the word. Kim, a professor of modern European history at the University of Minnesota and an expert on France during World War II, was unstinting in sharing his knowledge and expertise with us.
Essential to that process was the generous financial and institutional support extended by the University of Minnesota Graduate School. Thanks to a series of grants, Kim was able to travel to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., as well as to archives and libraries in France. His research carried him to Paris, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. He spent long and often frustrating hours digging through records, files and books, pouring through hundreds of reels of microfilm for information that was vital to our book. Without his dogged persistence, we would never have known about Roger Ribaud, whose prison memoir was all but lost in the mountain of paper at France’s Bibliothèque Nationale. Nor would we have discovered the details of Louis Eschenauer’s arrest and trial, an event many in France still refuse to discuss. Given its sensitive nature, it is not surprising that many of the documents relating to Uncle Louis were “misplaced,” put in files that had little or nothing to do with Eschenauer or his trial. But Kim managed to find them, along with many other things—documents, photos, old newspaper clippings—all of which helped shed light on a period of French history that only now is beginning to be openly discussed in France.
His work, however, went far beyond that. He also held our collective hand, answering questions over and over again until we gained a proper perspective and began to understand the myriad of dramas that were being played out under the Nazi occupation. (One more question, Kim. How did you put up with all of our “softball” questions?)
Anne, who is Kim’s editor, was equally patient. She applied her careful eye to our manuscript repeatedly, asking questions, making suggestions and drawing up a list for the Glossary. Most of all, perhaps, she kept us honest. Any errors that may exist are ours, and ours alone.
Together, Anne and Kim helped assure that Wine and War would become a reality. They traveled vineyards with us, conducted interviews and provided encouragement to us every step of the way. When things were going well, they were our biggest cheerleaders. When we felt discouraged, they would not let us quit.
But they were much more than collaborators or consultants. They were friends, and we could not have done this without them.
* * *
Index
*The following items may be used as a guide to search for information in this eBook.
Adam, Jean
Adenauer, Konrad
Adolf (pig)
Advice to the Occupied (pamphlet)
Alfonso XIII, King of Spain
Allied invasion of Europe,
Alsace’s liberation
Beaune’s liberation
Champagne Campaign in Burgundy
D-Day
Eagle’s Nest wine cache, discovery of
Paris’s liberation
Royan’s liberation
vineyards, protection of
Alsace-Lorraine
French control, return to
German annexation of
hybrid grape vines, removal of
liberation of
nationality changes
Ambrose, Stephen
Angerville, Marquis d’
Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC)
Arendt, Hannah
Aubrac, Lucie
Bairstow, Edmund
Barthe, Edouard
Barton family
Baus, Herbert M.
BBC broadcasts,
Beaune
liberation of
See also Hospices de Beaune
Bell, Philip
Berchtesgaden/Eagle’s Nest complex
facilities of
wine cache, discovery of
Bergen-Belsen slave-labor camp
Billiot, Denise
Billiot, Henri
Billy, Christian de
Bloch, Marc
Boevers, Gerald
Bömers, Heinz
anti-Nazi stance
Eschenauer and
German loss, prediction of
Göring and
home on leave
postwar fortunes
SS, encounter with
weinführer assignment
Bömers, Heinz, Jr.
Bonaparte, Napoleon
Bordeaux city, Germans’ plans for destruction of
Bordeaux region, Bömers’s tenure as weinführer
Braun, Eva
Breton, André
Brosse, Claude
Brutinel, General
Bullitt, William
Burgundy region
liberation of
Segnitz’s tenure as weinführer
Caesar, Julius
Calais evacuation attempt
Carrage, Claude
Casteret, Jean and Madeleine
Cattle-rustling
Cazes, André
Cazes, Jean-Michel
Chagall, Marc
Chambure, Comtesse Elizabeth de
Champagne Campaign
Champagne region, Klaebisch’s tenure as weinführer
Chapon Fin, Le (restaurant)
Chartrons (wine merchants of Bordeaux)
Château Cantemerle
Château Chasse-Spleen
Château Cos d’Estournel
Château Coufran
Château du Clos de Vougeot
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Château du Grand Mouëys
Château Lafite-Rothschild
Château Loudenne
Château Malescot-Saint-Exupéry
Château Montrose
Château Mouton-Rothschild
Château Palmer
Château Pichon-Longueville-Comtesse de Lalande
Château Siran
Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte
Châteaux Langoa- and Léoville-Barton
Châteaux Lestage and Bel-Air
Chevalier, Maurice
Chevalier’s carpet firm
Chevreau, Jean-Miche
Choltitz, Gen. Dietrich von
Chopin, Ernest
Clarifying process
Clos des Mouches
Clos du Maréchal
Collaboration
amnesty for collaborators
Eschenauer’s dealings with Germans
Eschenauer’s trial
executions of collaborators
Pétain’s encouragement of
Pétain’s trial
public weariness with collaboration trials
women convicted of
Collins, Larry
Combat Resistance group
Comblanchien, burning of
Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC)
Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin
Copper sulfate
illicit manufacture of
use in winemaking
Cortot, Jacky
Couly, René
Crémaillère, La (restaurant)
Crépy wine
Cyrus the Great
Daladier, Edouard
Darré, Walter
D-Day
De Gaulle, Charles
collaborators, policy on
Free French Forces
tank warfare, writings on
Delamotte champagne house
Delmas, Jean-Bernard
Descas, Roger
Dillon, Clarence
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Douarche, Léon
Drouhin, Françoise
Drouhin, Maurice
Eckardt, assistance for
escape from Gestapo
final years
hiding wine from Germans
imprisonment of
Resistance movement, involvement in
return home
Segnitz’s dealings with
vineyard donation to Pétain
winemaking business
World War I experience
Drouhin, Pauline
Drouhin, Robert
takeover of family business
Duchamp, Marcel
Duhamel, Georges
Eagle’s Nest. See Berchtesgaden/Eagle’s Nest complex
Eckardt, Erich
Einsatzgruppe
Engel, René
Ernst, Max
Eschenauer, Louis
Bordeaux’s preservation, pleading for
collaboration trial
early years
Germans, dealings with
later years
personal qualities
Pétain, support for
restaurant business
wine business
Faber du Faur, General Moritz von
Faiveley, Georges
Faux, Gaby
Fernique, Yves
Flanner, Janet
Forbes, Patrick
Foreau, André
Fourmon, Claude
Franco-Prussian War
Free French Forces
French identity, wine’s importance to
Fry, Varian
Gaillard, Henri
Gallaix, Gertrude de
Gallaix, Marcel de
Galtier-Boissière, Jean
Gazogene cars
Gerlier, Cardinal
German leadership’s appreciation for wine
German occupation of France
Alsace-Lorraine, annexation of
artists and intellectuals smuggled out of France
blame for French defeat
Bordeaux’s destruction, plans for
Calais evacuation attempt
calorie regulations
children’s perception of
Comblanchien, burning of
curfews
destruction of property
disorganization of
economic measures
enemy aliens, policy on
exodus from German-controlled territory
French failure to prepare for invasion
French surrender
Halle aux Vins, bombing of
horses, requisitioning of
hybrid grape vines, removal of
invasion and conquest
Jews, deportations of
looting policy
military patrols in cities
military service imposed on Alsatians
occupied and unoccupied zones
Paris, Germans’ use of
Paris’s destruction, plans for
requisitions policy
restaurants reserved for Germans
rules and restrictions
strikes by winemakers
See also Allied invasion of Europe; Collaboration; German/Vichy wine policy; Hiding, fibbing and fobbing off campaign; Resistance movement; Shortage of wine and food; Vichy government
German/Vichy wine policy
antialcoholism crusade
black market in response to
crackdown on resisters
increased production, program for
industrial alcohol, wine converted to
purchase of wine for resale by German government
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure Page 31