1. “France Is a Battlefield Again”: Le Matin, June 7, 1944, front page.

2. It was a grim moment: CARAN, F/7/14939. Chanel’s name appears on a list in an F.F.I. report dated “27.12.43.”

3. On the English coast: Stephen E. Ambrose, The Supreme Commander: The War Years of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, p. 419.

4. Whereas, in Berlin: William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 1041.

5. Von Rundstedt was sacked: Ibid. For Rommel’s suicide and funeral, pp. 1078–80.

6. As Allied bombers struck: Paris-Soir, June 7, 1944, front page. Soot from burning documents: Centre historique des archives nationales, La France et la Belgique sous l’Occupation allemande 1940–1944, p. 46. Living at rue Cambon: Telephone interview with Gabrielle Palasse Labrunie, February 12, 2010.

7. In Berlin: Until Germany surrendered a year later, Schellenberg never ceased trying to find a way out for himself and Himmler. They knew what fate was reserved for them at the hands of the Allies. See Doerries, Hitler’s Intelligence Chief, Walter Schellenberg, pp. 302, 327. Hal Vaughan, Doctor to the Resistance, p. 158.

8. With his partisan fighters: Cyril Eder, Les Comtesses de la Gestapo, p. 208.

9. “He had something”: CARAN Z/6/672 greffe 5559

10. Chanel’s friend: Lifar rehearsals, evacuation, and at Chanel’s apartment, see David Pryce-Jones, Paris in the Third Reich, p. 188.

11. “I couldn’t walk”: Galante, Mademoiselle Chanel, p. 185.

12. “Feelings of hatred”: Frederic Spotts, The Shameful Peace: How French Artists and Intellectuals Survived the Nazi Occupation, p. 254.

13. “Paris ravaged!”: Éric Roussel, Charles de Gaulle, p. 450; my translation.

14. To watch de Gaulle’s march: see Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale, Misia, p. 292.

15. Two weeks later: Charles-Roux, Chanel, p. 345.

16. After the liberation: Pryce-Jones, Paris in the Third Reich, p. 206.

17. Among them: SSF.

18. During the occupation: Ibid.

19. After the war: Report of von Schoenebeck family, interviews by Sally Gordon-Mark, Griesser Haus, Hinterstoder, Austria, July 1–3, 2009.

20. A secret postwar French intelligence report: SSF.

21. She had not lived in hiding: Ibid.

22. To gain her release: Ibid. Among others who furnished a favorable reference was Catherine Jouhakoff, who furnished women’s lingerie to Catsy.

23. “Dincklage was an active”: Gabrielle Chanel’s name as originally written, mistakenly, on her birth certificate of 1883.

24. “Catsy’s friend”: Abetz’s telephone warning to Catsy von Schoenebeck was given to Catsy’s maid, Mme Bartuel, at her apartment at 77, rue de Longchamp, Paris.

25. The Schoenebeck family: Interview with Schoenebeck family, Sally Gordon-Mark, Hinterstoder, Austria, July 3, 2009. 186 Since 1942: CARAN F/7/14939.

26. Now, in the first week: Chanel was suspected by French intelligence services of supplying “intelligence for the enemy.” APP BA 1990. Letter from CARAN junior archivist to Sally Gordon-Mark, Paris, July 2, 2008.

27. Chanel’s biographers report: Galante, Mademoiselle Chanel, p. 186; Marcel Haedrich, Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets, p. 148; Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 262.

28. “Churchill had me freed”: Gabrielle Palasse Labrunie, telephone interview with author, November 8, 2009.

29. “protect Chanel”: Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 178. Edmonde Charles-Roux confirmed Duff Cooper’s intervention. Edmonde Charles-Roux, telephone interview with author, Paris, January 12, 2010.

30. Chanel’s maid Germaine: Gabrielle Palasse Labrunie, telephone interview with author, February 12, 2010. Labrunie reconfirmed that Chanel’s maid, Germaine, had told her of Ambassador Cooper’s message from Westminster.

31. “had Chanel been made to stand trial”: Charles Higham, The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life, pp. 359–62.

32. “By one of those”: Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 263.

33. Chanel made frequent trips: Gold and Fizdale, Misia, pp. 300–1.

34. “When Madame Lombardi”: Sir Winston Churchill Archive Trust, CHAR 20/198A, letter from P.N. Loxley, December 28, 1944.

35. “December 1941”: This date is an error. Lombardi didn’t get to Paris until late October 1943.

36. “from the outset”: CHAR 20/198 letter, Pierson Dixon to Rowan, September 30, 1944.

37. “Allied Forces Headquarters”: Telegram, Foreign Office to Madrid, D. 3:10. p.m. January 4, 1945. CHAR 20/198.

38. “I have shown the Prime Minister”: See January 8, 1945, Top Secret to Colonel Hill-Dillon. CHAR 20/198.

39. “My Dear Winston”: CHAR 20/198.

40. General Schellenberg: SS General Schellenberg took over the Abwehr after the arrest of Admiral Canaris for treason in 1945.

41. According to the Swiss Aliens Police: Swiss Federal Archives, letter of the United-Silk Weaving Mill Ltd., Kreefeld, Berlin, November 21, 1944, to Swiss Legation, Bern. Translation by Michael Foedrowitz.

42. The Swiss authorities saw: Résumé of Dincklage matters, Swiss National Archives, JAEGGI, November 1950, and Bern, January 15, 1950.

43. “the special French court”: Letter from CARAN senior archivist to Sally Gordon-Mark, Paris, July 2, 2008.

44. Nevertheless, court mandates: CARAN Z/6/672 greffe 5559.

45. “Spatz … was her living hell”: “Derrière l’empire Chanel,” Charles-Roux, L’Irrégulière, pp. 646–48; my translation. 194 Pierre Reverdy knew of Chanel’s: Charles-Roux, L’Irrégulière, p. 649; my translation.

46. The interrogation: For various reasons, Vaufreland was freed and rearrested during this five-year period. The jury was selected because they had no record of collaboration with the enemy. The procedures of trial for collaborators with the Nazi regime during the occupation were decided by General Charles de Gaulle’s provisional government in September 1944.

47. Her interrogation by Leclercq: Memorandum prepared by Jules-Marc Baudel, Esq., who analyzed French legal documents to assist the author.

48. “Chanel began by telling”: Testimony of Gabrielle Chanel, June 4, 1948, Cour de Justice, Paris, before Judge Fernand Paul Leclercq. CARAN Z/6/672 greffe 5559.

49. There is no record: Cyril Eder, Les Comtesses de la Gestapo, p. 204

50. “Before the war”: CARAN Z/6/672 greffe 5559, Testimony of André Palasse, forty-two years old, nephew of Chanel, before Judge Roger Serre on November 20, 1947.

51. six years in prison: Ibid.

52. “The answers Mademoiselle Chanel gave”: Ibid.

53. “The days of the German occupation”: Based on numerous statements made to the author in 1953 and later.

54. Hans Schillinger, a friend: Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 264.

55. Suddenly the two men: Interview with Volkmar von Arnim by Michael Foederwitz, Schinkel, Germany, August 11, 2008. Also BNA Foreign Office file.

56. He was found to be carrying: BNA Foreign Office file. Beglaubigte Abschrift (authenticated transcript), Certificate, signed Capt. A. H. Haynes, December 3, 1945.

57. He and Schillinger were arrested: BNA, March 16, 1948, War Office letter. To a Mrs. Pollack.

58. During questioning: BNA. Letter from Major General to German Internal Affairs Department, Foreign Office, London, November 13, 1947.

59. “Mademoiselle Chanel has stated”: Great Britain, Zonal Executive Offices, B.A.O.R. 1, Letter from Major General to Foreign Office, London, Feb. 25, 1948.