Impact on Employees and Jewish Business Partners

The human cost of Chanel's wartime decisions extended far beyond her personal moral compromises. When she closed the fashion house in 1939, she laid off approximately 3,000 employees without severance or support. Her claim that this was a patriotic gesture rings hollow given that other fashion houses found ways to maintain some employment during the war years. The closure left thousands of women without income at a time of national crisis.

The impact on her Jewish employees and associates was particularly severe. While no evidence suggests Chanel actively persecuted Jews, her indifference to their fate and her attempts to profit from anti-Semitic laws reveal a troubling moral blindness. Several Jewish employees of the fashion house were deported to concentration camps; Chanel made no recorded efforts to help them, despite her connections to German authorities.

Her treatment of the Wertheimers during this period deserves particular scrutiny. Beyond attempting to steal their business, she showed no concern for their safety or that of their families. The Wertheimers spent the war years in American exile, working to maintain the perfume business while knowing their French partner was attempting to exploit their absence. Pierre Wertheimer's decision to maintain the business relationship after the war shows remarkable pragmatism or forgiveness.

Some former employees reported small acts of kindness from Chanel during the occupation—food packages, temporary financial help—but these isolated gestures cannot offset the broader pattern of self-interest. The contrast with other fashion figures who actively helped employees and refugees highlights Chanel's moral failures. While designers like Lucien Lelong worked to maintain French fashion and employment during the occupation, Chanel pursued personal advantage.