Wine and War: How the Nazis Seized French Vineyards

During the Second World War, French wine was not a trivial product: it turned out to be, along with the defeat, the most precious loot of France in the eyes of the Nazi leaders. As early as 1940, "Weinführer," official delegates appointed as wine experts by Berlin, were deployed in all the wine regions of France to coordinate the most intense looting the country had ever experienced. With the very ambiguous support of the Vichy government and the collaboration of many French professionals with the occupier, this immense wine capture system was a tragedy that has been preferred to be forgotten. More than seventy years after the end of the conflict, the time has come to reveal what really happened. Through a thorough investigation and relying exclusively on previously untapped sources, Christophe Lucand unveils the story of a French wine world subjected to the test of war, occupation, and all compromises.