pozarski
12.01.09, 20:30
When Paris fell to the Wehrmacht in June 1940, Robert de Rothschild, the
French scion of the famed Jewish banking family, managed to escape to New
York. His mansion on Avenue Marigny, like many of the choicest properties in
the city, was commandeered by the invaders—in this case, by General
Friedrich-Carl Hanesse, an officer in the Luftwaffe. In his wartime diaries,
Jean Cocteau recalled visiting the former Rothschild mansion for one of its
new master’s parties, and finding that the same butler was still on duty. “I
am not unhappy here with Monsieur le baron—excuse me, General Hanesse,” the
butler confided. “He receives all the same people as Monsieur le baron.”
