René de Chambrun

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René de Chambrun
Born
René Aldebert Pineton de Chambrun

(1906-08-23)23 August 1906
Paris, France
Died19 May 2002(2002-05-19) (aged 95)
Paris, France
Resting placeMontparnasse Cemetery
NationalityFrance
United States
Alma materSciences Po
University of Paris
Occupation(s)Lawyer, businessman
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1935; died 1992)​
Parent(s)
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette (great-great-grandfather)
Nicholas Longworth (maternal great-great-grandfather)
Nicholas Longworth II (maternal grandfather)
Nicholas Longworth (maternal uncle)
Adolphe de Chambrun (paternal grandfather)
Charles de Chambrun (paternal uncle)
Pierre de Chambrun (paternal uncle)
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (paternal uncle)
Pierre Laval
(father-in-law)

René Aldebert Pineton de Chambrun (French pronunciation:

Court of Appeals of Paris and the New York State Bar Association. He was the author of several books about World War II and his father-in-law, Vichy France Prime Minister Pierre Laval, to whom he served as legal counsel. He defended Coco Chanel in her lawsuit against Pierre Wertheimer over her marketing rights to Chanel No. 5. He was the chairman of Baccarat, the crystal
manufacturer, from 1960 to 1992.

Early life

René de Chambrun was born on 23 August 1906 in Paris, France.

Pineton de Chambrun family. Moreover, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was one of his paternal uncles.[3] Chambrun's godfather was Philippe Pétain.[4]

Chambrun was a great-great-grandson of

US House of Representatives in 1942 for his support of his father-in-law, Pierre Laval.[7]

Chambrun graduated from Sciences Po.[1] He received a PhD in Law from the University of Paris.[1]

Career

Chambrun was a lawyer at the

Court of Appeals of Paris and the New York State Bar Association.[5] By 1935, he helped establish a Franco-American cultural center in New York City to promote bilateral relations. The center was aimed at students and businessmen.[8]

When the

Second World War broke out, Chambrun served as a captain, but with the collapse of France looming by mid-May 1940, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud sent Chambrun
as a special emissary to Washington to stiffen President Roosevelt's resolve to help the Allies. Between his first meeting with Roosevelt on 16 June and his last on 1 August, Reynaud's government had fallen. Later that year, Chambrun published the book I Saw France Fall, which helped to alert American opinion about the fate of his country.

After the Liberation of France and the consequent fall of Laval's collaborationist government, Chambrun was a defender of Laval:

Father-in-law wants a big trial which will illuminate everything, if he is given time to prepare his defence, if he is allowed to speak, to call witnesses and to obtain from abroad the information and documents which he needs, he will confound his accusers.[9]

The Chambruns threw themselves into the task of assisting Laval in his defense before the High Court of Justice. After Laval's sentence and execution in October 1945, Chambrun was put on police watch in Paris on the suspicion that he may have helped the Nazis during the war.[10] In 1942, Chambrun had been named on a list of French collaborators with Germany to be killed during the war or tried after it.[11] By 1947, Chambrun officially applied for a US passport.[12][13]

Meanwhile, Chambrun and his wife devoted their energies over the following decades to the cause of his rehabilitation in the eyes of history.

Dwight Eisenhower in which he objected to his characterisation of Laval as "Hitler's most evil puppet" in his 1948 memoir entitled Crusade in Europe.[15][16] Chambrun based his argument on another book, authored by Spanish Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer, in which the latter quoted Hitler describing Laval as "no better than De Gaulle."[15] By 1949, Eisenhower agreed to remove the passage from subsequent reprints.[15][16] A decade later, in 1959, his wife wrote the foreword of Tout ce qu'on vous a cache, a book based on "German secret files" authored by Jacques Baraduc, Laval's lawyer.[17] The book attempted to show that Laval "refused repeatedly to yield to German demands for a reduction in the number of United States agents in French North Africa and a limitation on their activity."[17]

In 1969, Chambrun made an appearance in

collaboration between the Vichy government and Nazi Germany during World War II, The Sorrow and the Pity (Le chagrin et la pitié). Chambrun wrote three books on the subject between 1983 and 1990. The Chambruns set up a foundation, the Josée and René de Chambrun Foundation, which collected documents on Laval for publication by the Hoover Institution. After Laval's death, the Chambruns brought flowers to his grave every 15 October to commemorate the day that he was executed.[18]

After World War II, Chambrun was hired by

Somerset Maugham's daughter to prove that she was indeed his daughter.[22]

Chambrun served as the chairman of Baccarat, the crystal manufacturer, from 1960 to 1992.[1][23][18]

Personal life and death

6 bis, Place du Palais-Bourbon.
The Château de la Grange-Bléneau in 2008.

Chambrun married Josée Laval (1911–1992), the only daughter of Pierre Laval in 1935.[6][24] Their wedding was held at the town hall of the 7th arrondissement of Paris, followed by the Sainte-Clotilde the next day.[25] They resided 6 bis, Place du Palais-Bourbon in the 7th arrondissement.[26][27] In 1935, he bought the Château de la Grange-Bléneau, a castle in the commune of Courpalay in the Seine-et-Marne département of France, from his cousin, Louis de Lasteyrie, a descendant of La Fayette, with a life tenancy.[28]

Upon Louis de Lasteyrie's death in 1955, Chambrun discovered the large cache of documents in the attic of the castle

microfilmed at La Grange in 1995 and 1996, for the Library of Congress.[32] It took two years and several microfilm teams from the Library of Congress to film the 50,000 pages.[33] There are now two major "Lafayette collections" in the world: one is at the Fondation de Chambrun; the other, originally assembled by Elie Fabius, at Cornell University Library. Chambrun purchased a sword used in battle by Lafayette in 1976,[34] outbidding the Smithsonian Institution.[35]

Chambrun served as the honorary president of the

Légion d'honneur
.

Chambrun died on 19 May 2002 in Paris, France.

Diana Mitford, the widow of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley.[3] He was buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery.[24]

Works

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "René de Chambrun (1906-2002)". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  2. Newspapers.com
    . The bridegroom is a nephew of Nicholas Longworth, speaker of the house of representatives and husband of the former Alice Roosevelt.
  3. ^
    doi:10.3167/hrrh.2012.380108
    .
  4. OCLC 910239494
    . René de Chambrun, who was in fact Pétain's godson, and his wife, Josée, were often to be seen at Abetz's parties at the German embassy, in the Hôtel de Beauharnais, at 78, rue de Lille.
  5. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  6. ^
    doi:10.3917/hp.010.0013
    .
  7. Newspapers.com
    . Members of congress are toying with the idea of removing honorary U. S. citizenship from Laval's son-in-law, Count Rene de Chambrun. As a descendant of Lafayette, de Chambrun automatically is entitled to U. S. citizenship, but close affinity with papa-in-law may remove it...
  8. Newspapers.com
    .
  9. ^ Naud, Albert, Pourquoi je n'ai pas défendu Pierre Laval, Paris: Fayard 1948
  10. Newspapers.com
    . The young Chambrun, who has been on police watch for months, was said to have disappeared early this week from his Paris residence.
  11. ^ deRochemont, Richard (24 August 1942). "The French Underground". LIFE.
  12. Newspapers.com
    . One thing that gripes heroic European leaders of the underground is the way collaborationists are now welcomed to the U.S.A. Rene de Chambrun, son-in-law of traitor Pierre Laval, is now applying for a passport, while Karol Sidor, one of Czekaslovakia's collaborationists, has already been granted one...
  13. Newspapers.com
    . One thing that gripes heroic European leaders of the underground is the way collaborationists are now welcomed to the U.S.A. Rene de Chambrun, son-in-law of traitor Pierre Laval, is now applying for a passport, while Karol Sidor, one of Czechoslovakia's collaborationists, has already been granted one...
  14. Newspapers.com
    . The Chambruns have given much of their time since World War II in trying to clear the reputation of Laval, Hitler's French collaborator, who was executed by a French firing squad for his crimes after the defeat of the Nazis.
  15. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  16. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  17. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  18. ^
    OCLC 351324701
    .
  19. Newspapers.com
    .
  20. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  21. Newspapers.com
    .
  22. Newspapers.com
    .
  23. OCLC 4492062
    .
  24. ^ a b Demonpion, Denis (31 May 2002). "La vie mondaine des collabos". Le Point. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  25. Newspapers.com
    .
  26. Newspapers.com
    . She was staying at the home of her daughter, Jose de Chambrun, wife of Count Rene de Chambrun, in Place de Palais-Bourbon.
  27. OCLC 63390753
    . His address is 6 bis place du Palais Bourbon, VII.
  28. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  29. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  30. Newspapers.com
    .
  31. ^ René de Crambrun, Introduction, Adrienne: The Life of the Marquise de la Fayette, André Maurois; McGraw-Hill, 1961, p. x
  32. ^ "Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  33. ^ "The Story Behind CSU'S Lafayette Collection, Tama Lea Engelking, Cleveland State University". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  34. Newspapers.com
    .
  35. Newspapers.com
    .
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