Neuilly house was a Nazi salon during Occupation
Reviewing our recent work a couple of days ago, I noticed that our source for the address of the Neuilly villa also included the information that during the years of the Nazi occupation the house was leased a Walter Kleinknecht. I looked him up: Kleinknecht was a German banker with operations in Amsterdam and said to be a German intelligence agent. He was married to a glamorous former chorus girl who hosted many parties there.
A review of the book "Queen of the Occupation: The incredible life and adventures of Laure Dissard" (2005) refers to throngs of Nazi's at her Paris salon. She and her husband were implicated in the July 20 plot against Hitler, in which he was to have been replaced by a general in Paris. He was killed by the Gestapo. She successfully passed herself off as a member of the Resistance, and soon became the escort of a top American spy.
After the war, she earned a fortune in the import-export business.
The book is in French only and is hard to find. Could be fun reading.
Here is an article from 1948 Der Spiegel about her. I'll put up some highlights in the following post.
