“Les raisins du Reich”, un livre qui dévoile la collaboration entre les nazis et le monde du vin
In a book-investigation published by Flammarion, entitled “Les Raisins du Reich”, the journalist Antoine Dreyfus retraces the history of the collaboration of part of the French vineyards with Nazi Germany. In the Bordeaux region, it’s a past that we would like to forget …
For eleven months, the journalist Antoine Dreyfus investigated the history of the collaboration of part of the French vineyards with Nazi Germany during the Second World War. He drew a book from it, published by Flammarion on September 8, entitled “The Grapes of the Reich”.
In this book, he guides the reader through his investigation and his meetings, to discover the wine supply system of Nazi Germany and its actors of the time. “I did not want to do the work of a historian, but of a journalist”, he emphasizes, “to make this story accessible, and write a book for the general public”.
Bordeaux omerta
If this part of the history of the Second World War has already been the subject of academic work in the various wine-growing regions, these have remained relatively confidential. And the investigation carried out by Antoine Dreyfus gave rise to contrasting reactions.
“In Champagne, we prefer to put forward a ‘resistancialist’ vision, which does not always correspond to reality, but in any case, it is possible to dialogue with the current players in the sector. In Burgundy, we look at this question in face, it is not always pleasant but it is necessary to face it. On the other hand, in Bordeaux, it is the complete omerta ” he emphasizes.
The investigator explains that he thus had great difficulty in finding interlocutors in the region. He always got help from a few people, like Florence Mothe, “the goddaughter of Louis Eschenauer, the ex-king of Bordeaux trade, the friend of Heinz Boemers, the German patron of wine purchases in France”. A “buoy in this ocean of denial”, as the author points out in his book.
The ancestor of the CIVB created in 1943
Concretely, in Bordeaux, this collaboration with the Reich is economical: it involves the wine trade, of which very large quantities are sold to Germany, via Heinz Boemers, who settled Cours de l’Intendance, in the heart of of the Gironde capital.
At the same time, in 1943, the ancestor of the CIVB, the inter-professional Bordeaux wine council, which brings together the three families of the sector: viticulture, trading and brokerage, was born. “All the wine associations were created at that time, first in Champagne, then in Burgundy, and finally in Bordeaux, under the leadership of Vichy” Antoine Dreyfus notes.
This is what had already underlined in particular Bordeaux historian Sébastien Durand, author of a book entitled “Bordeaux wines put to the test of World War II, 1938-1950 (Memoring, 2017)”, resulting from his research work and quoted by Antoine Dreyfus.
→ Antoine Dreyfus was a guest of our regional edition on Wednesday October 6, interviewed by Vincent Dubroca:
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The mysterious Madame Kircher
Thanks to Florence Mothe, and to the documents she provides to the investigator during his visit, Antoine Dreyfus discovers a certain Madame Kircher. The latter was employed from 1941 as secretary to Heinz Boemers, the one responsible for the purchase in France of wines intended for the Reich.
At the Liberation, 23-year-old Gertrude Kircher delivers her boss’s archives to the French Interior Forces, which she was responsible for getting rid of. She also lists the Bordelais particularly close to Heinz Boemers, as Antoine Dreyfus details in his book.
After investigation, this will earn him the attribution of French nationality and a new name, Lucienne Dentz. What has become of her after these troubled years? Did she stay in the Bordeaux region? “I tried to find his trace, but I did not succeed” regrets Antoine Dreyfus.
Soon a documentary?
Since the publication of his book, Antoine Dreyfus has not yet been invited to present it in the Bordeaux region …“But I would come with pleasure, if I am offered it!”
His investigation could know a televisual extension, because a documentary project is under study.