WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Undetected: Coco Chanel

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

This week, Megan and Alessia investigate the complex life of a Nazi collaborator and one of the world's most famous fashion designers, Coco Chanel.

undetected on Radio Free Hillsdale. Go undercover with your host, Alessia Sandala and Megan Lee as they uncover the stories of spies from every country and time. The most thrilling yet the most secretive lives in history. Welcome back, everyone. This week, we are in for a treat, Alessia, and I am super excited about the spy we are going to be talking about today. It's crazy that Coco Chanel might be one of the most iconic names out there, and it is for something that has nothing to do with spying. The world knows Coco Chanel as the enormously successful businesswoman and fashion designer that founded the famous luxury brand named after her, Chanel, which was at the head of a fashion revolution from corsets to sporty chic style. I, for one, had no idea the icon whose name

every girl knows, the woman who dictated Parisian fashion for six decades, was a spy for the Nazis during the Second World War. Much of the world didn't know this either. Coco Chanel was born as Gabrielle Bonner Chanel on August 19, 1883 in Samar, France. Despite the fact that her name goes hand in hand with glamour and luxury today, Chanel was born into poverty. Her father was a street vendor and her mother a laundry woman. Her name was even misspelled on her birth certificate as Chesdell. 11-year-old Chanel was sent to an orphanage after her mother's death in 1895, where she learned to sew. And when she was 18, she set out to become an independent seamstress and cafe sing.

Chanel became active in the social circles of France. She had affairs with many wealthy men and began to build her fashion empire with their funding. She opened her first shop in 1910 and a boutique two years later. Her invention of the Chanel number five perfume in 1921 and introduction of the little black dress in 1926 earned her a great deal of wealth and fame. When World War II began in 1930,

Chanel closed her Cotier house and moved into the Ritz-Paris Hotel. After France fell to Germany, the hotel became a Nazi headquarter. The Ritz is where Chanel met and fell in love with Hans Gunter von Dinklag, a German diplomat and Gestapo agent. The extent of Chanel's involvement with the Nazis remains a debated topic in history, but research has shown her to be a German collaborator in some form. In 1941, Chanel went to Madrid with a German intelligence officer. and it is believed her trip was part of a deal she had entered in with the Nazis to negotiate the

freedom of her nephew, a prisoner of war in a German detention camp. We don't know exactly what she did in Madrid, but we do know that her nephew was freed after her return to France. A bit suspicious, don't you think, Megan? Certainly, Alessia, and it doesn't stop there. Chanel, whose co-name was Westminster, also carried a letter meant for the hands of Winston Churchill, whom she knew from her days in British society. This letter supposedly suggested that Britain and Germany sign a peace agreement. Chanel's co-name was lightly inspired by her strong connections to Britain,

as well as the affair she had with the Duke of Westminster that supposedly lasted for a decade. After the war, Chanel was questioned by a French judge. She was a known collaborator and a potential spy, yet she received no punishments. The circle she ran in full of rich, powerful people protected her from penalty. Her wealth also served as bribery for those who had proof of her spy work. According to a New York Times article, she even paid off the family of General Walter Schellenberg, the man who assigned her to the mission in Spain.

It is debated about whether Chanel was a double agent for the French resistance or not. Some documents show that she was an occasional agent for the French resistance, but the records of that don't begin until 1943. Chanel died on January 10, 1971, in Paris, France, at 87 years old, leaving behind one of the most influential fashion brands in the world and a lesser-known legacy of conspiracy with the enemy. You know, Alessia, I've always thought of Chanel as an icon. She was one of the defining models of womanhood and femininity in history,

but after learning about her affairs, her bribes, the way she used money and power to get what she wanted. I don't know if she should be as much of a role model as she has seen as today. Yeah, Megan, people often have dark hidden aspects of their lives. People typically only see what they want to see, especially with historical figures and even spies. It's difficult to come to terms with such a popular figure's fault, but this is something that I think is important for everyone to do.

I'm Alessia. And I'm Megan. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Undeatessen. Tune in next week to hear the story of the physicist turned traitor and spy Klaus Fuchs on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.