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Coco Chanel: Nazi Collaborator or Spy?

Coco Chanel and Her String of Pearls
Coco Chanel and her string of pearls. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

Five years ago, I wrote a blog by the same name. It was back in the days when I purposely limited my blogs to no more than five or six hundred words (my Millennial friends told me this was the “norm”). I’ve re-read some of those blogs and frankly, I’m embarrassed. First, my writing style has evolved (and hopefully, improved). Second, I could have added so much more interesting information had I not listened to my friends. Another difference between then and now is the number of images we used. Our blogs today use as many images as I can find that add value to the story. In the past, one or two images made it into the story. I guess this is what you call progress. So, we’ve gone back into the archives and picked out some of the more popular past blogs and I will be re-writing them to present to you with expanded content. We started with the blog, The Last Train Out of Paris (click here to read the blog) and today, you’ll visit with an icon of the fashion industry, Coco Chanel (1883-1971). She is clearly someone who many people have put on a pedestal as a result of her achievements. But hold on before you worship at the Chanel altar. Coco Chanel spent many of her later years trying to hide her secrets from the public and I suppose she succeeded since not many people are aware of her espionage activities with the Gestapo or her virulent anti-Semitic views. Read More Coco Chanel: Nazi Collaborator or Spy?

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Statuemania

“So, you read the title of this blog and automatically assumed I was going to share my opinion with you concerning recent events around our country. You were interested to know what I thought about the desire and the movements to destroy or relocate certain statues, paintings, or other memorials that certain people might find offensive.

No, I wanted to talk with you today about the deliberate destruction of approximately 1,750 bronze statues throughout France during the German Occupation of World War II. Not since the French Revolution had so many statues been destroyed (albeit for different reasons).”

These were the first two paragraphs to my blog, Statuemania, we published on 2 September 2017 ⏤ almost three years ago. Frankly, I had forgotten about the reason why I first wrote the blog or the first paragraph; which now takes me back to the events that inspired me to write the original blog.

Pedestal without a statue, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris. Photo by Coyau (May 2011). PD-GNU Free Documentation License v.1.2. Wikimedia Commons.
Pedestal without a statue, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris. Photo by Coyau (May 2011). PD-GNU Free Documentation License v.1.2. Wikimedia Commons.

I guess my reason to re-post the blog is pretty much the same reason I gave three years ago. While I don’t necessarily oppose certain statues, busts, or flags being taken down or done away with (e.g., statues or busts of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the flag he represented, and the Washington Redskins name), I do think we go overboard sometimes. Shouldn’t we step back and determine if we can turn something negative into a positive? I’m speaking about the lost opportunities to help educate, raise awareness, and try to make sure certain events or thought processes never happen again. I think it’s a better and more positive approach than pure destruction. Hate confronting hate doesn’t solve problems. Read More Statuemania