Hôtel des Ambassadeurs

The Hotel des Ambassadeurs (French for "Ambassadors' Hotel") is a former hotel in Vichy, now transformed into a private residence. During World War II, the hotel housed the diplomatic missions that moved from German-occupied Paris to Vichy.

Hôtel des Ambassadeurs
The former hotel in 2012
General information
LocationVichy, France
Address1 Rue du Parc
Coordinates46.1228°N 3.4189°E / 46.1228; 3.4189
Technical details
Floor count6

Location

The hotel is located near the Allier river, in the spa district of the city, at 1 rue du Parc[1] and place Joseph-Aletti opposite the opera, adjacent to the Aletti Palace and in the immediate vicinity of the Parc des Sources.

Description

Some rooms on the ground floor with their decor have been registered since March 4, 1991 as a Monument historique of France: the large entrance hall with its lights, staircase and glassware by Francis Chigot, the large living room, the small living room with its painted decoration, the old dining room and the patio.[1]

History

It was built in 1858 but in 1866 it was enlarged and restructured. A renowned hotel, it appeared in the first tourist guides of the time. In 1890, it was one of the first to be equipped with an elevator and a telephone. It then has a hall that can accommodate more than 500 people. In 1897, the rooms were equipped with heating (most hotels operating during the summer season were not equipped with it). In 1900, its owner, Mr. Roubeau, installed electric lighting there. It has adjoining villas around the hotel where whole families can be accommodated while benefiting from the hotel's services, such as the Castel flamand at 1 and 2 rue de Belgique, and three villas on rue de Russie, connected to the hotel through underground passages. During World War I, the hotel was transformed into a military hospital.[2]

The hotel on August 26, 1944, during the arrival of the French Forces of the Interior.

The hotel played an important role during World War II. After Germany occupied France and established a government based in Vichy, the German government requested that the diplomatic missions based in Paris move to the new provisional capital. Several governments accepted the request and established their missions in the hotel, with over twenty embassies and over forty accredited foreign diplomats moving into the hotel's rooms.[3][4][5] Among those missions were:

In 1942, the Japanese ambassador to France, Sotomatsu Katō, fell from the window of the Japanese embassy.[24] His funeral was attended by the local diplomatic corps, as were other events, such as the marriage of Dominican envoy Porfirio Rubirosa and Danielle Darrieux or an Orthodox mass held for King Peter II of Yugoslavia.[25] The hotel closed definitively in 1989 and was transformed into a building with private apartments in 1998.[2]

  • The first hotel before its renovation
    The first hotel before its renovation
  • The large entrance hall with its lights, staircase and glassware by Francis Chigot.
    The large entrance hall with its lights, staircase and glassware by Francis Chigot.
  • The great hall seen from the staircase.
    The great hall seen from the staircase.

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hôtel des Ambassadeurs (Vichy).

Notes
  1. Despite Japanese pressure, the French government did not recognise the Japanese-backed government of Wang Jingwei, instead continuing its relations with the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek.[7]
  2. Denmark was a protectorate of Germany since 1940. Nevertheless, a legation operated in the hotel until the German occupation of the Zone libre in 1942.[6][9][10]
  3. The mission moved down the road from the hotel in 1941, near what was then the embassy of Mexico.[15]
  4. The legation moved next-door on February 2nd, 1943 to the Villa Ica after the U.S.' departure.[18][19][20]
  5. Also representing the  United Kingdom[22]
  6. The United States severed its relations with the Vichy government in 1942.[6]

References
  1. "Ancien hôtel des Ambassadeurs (Notice № PA00093401)". POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine. Ministère de la Culture.
  2. Renault-Jouseau, Delphine (2010). Vichy : invitation à la promenade (in French). Lyon: Lieux Dits. pp. 95, 160. ISBN 978-2-914528-96-2.
  3. Tola, Raúl (2017). La noche sin ventanas (in Spanish). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Perú. pp. 377–378. ISBN 9786124349133.
  4. Grancher, Marcel E. (1955). Le temps des « Colonels » (in French). FeniXX. p. 186. ISBN 9791041008865. Quelques «sorties» à l'Hôtel des Ambassadeurs qui a le rare privilège d'abriter 26 ambassades ou légations.
  5. Callil, Carmen (2006). Bad Faith: A History of Family and Fatherland. Random House. p. 255. ISBN 9781473511859.
  6. Decaux, Alain. "Ambassades et Légations près de l'Etat Français à Vichy". Les 1502 jours du chef de l'Etat français.
  7. Young, Ernest (2013), Ecclesiastical Colony: China's Catholic Church and the French Religious Protectorate, Oxford University Press, pp. 250–251, ISBN 978-0199924622
  8. Dormandy, John (2018). A History of Savoy: Gatekeeper of the Alps. Fonthill Media. p. 584. Forty countries sent ambassadors to Vichy France including, initially, the United States, Soviet Union, China, Japan, and the Vatican. They were all put up in the Hotel des Ambassadeurs.
  9. Kraks blaa bog (in Danish). Vol. 32. Ove Holger Krak. 1941. p. 1205. Adresse: Légation de Danemark, 77 Avenue Marceau, Paris XVI, (foreløbig Hotel des Ambassadeurs, Vichy)
  10. Rathsman, Siri (1945). Vichy hat das Spiel verloren: Schilderungen aus dem geschlagenen Frankreich (in German). Europa Verlag Zürich/New York. p. 170. Aber sobald die Deutschen in die freie Zone einrückten, installierte sich eine Reihe deutscher Offiziere mit ihrem Gefolge im Hotel des Ambassadeurs; und zwar nicht nur in den Zimmern, die vorübergehend bewohnt wurden, sondern auch in denen der Diplomaten. So mußten z . B. Mitglieder der dänischen Legation ausziehen.
  11. Collado, Lipe (2001). La Impresionante Vida de Un Seductor, Porfirio Rubirosa (in Spanish). Editora Collado. p. 92. ISBN 9789993429203. Aproximadamente en octubre de 1940 la legación dominicana -neutral en el conflicto- se instaló en el Hotel des Ambassadeurs, cerca del Hotel Du Parc.
  12. KÜM Közlemények (Bulletin du ministère des Affaires étrangères) de l’année 1947. Cf. également Annuaire diplomatique et consulaire de la République française de 1954.
  13. Novak, Fabián (2005). Las relaciones entre el Perú y Francia (1827–2004) (in Spanish). PUCP. p. 209. ISBN 9972-42-721-8.
  14. Seruya, Teresa (2018). Misérias e Esplendores da Tradução no Portugal do Estado Novo (PDF) (in Portuguese). Universidade Católica Editora. p. 128. ISBN 9789725406236. Assim, Paulo Osório, agora Adido de Imprensa daLegação de Portugal na França ocupada [Encontra-se em Vichy, no Hotel des Ambassadeurs], pede instruções a Ferro sobre sedeve fazer propaganda do segundo volume dos Discursos (30/8/1940).
  15. Séguéla, Matthieu (1992). Pétain-Franco: les secrets d'une alliance (in French). A. Michel. p. 50. ISBN 9782226058959. Logés à l'hôtel des ambassadeurs, les diplomates espagnols ne trouve- ront qu'en octobre 1941 un bâtiment pour accueillir la légation d'Espagne, grâce à l'intervention du Maréchal, peiné devant le nomadisme de Lequerica. L'ambassade espagnole se situait au 46 de l'avenue Lyautey, près de l'Hôtel du parc et de l'ambassade du Mexique.
  16. Loiseau, Ivan (1974). Souvenirs et témoignages (in French). Éditions des "Cahiers bourbonnais". p. 233. Voici le récit du témoin le plus intéressé, le Docteur Roubaud, propriétaire de l'hôtel des Ambassadeurs: «Hier soir, vers 9 heures 30, trois individus accompagnés d'une femme, les uns et les autres parlant fort mal le français, se présentèment à l'hôtel, demandèrent à parler au portier qui les renvoya à un secrétaire de l'Ambassade d'Espagne . Il s'agissait tout simplement du désir exprimé par certains Espagnols faisant partie de l'Armée secrète , de voir disparaître des fenêtres de l'hôtel des Ambassadeurs les drapeaux espagnols, sous prétexte que ces drapeaux étaient ceux de «Gouvernement de Franco» et non ceux de la République Espagnole de 1936.
  17. Serrano, Secundino (2005). La última gesta: los republicanos que vencieron a Hitler (1939–1945) (in Spanish). Punto de Lectura. p. 511. ISBN 9788403096066. En efecto, entre los refugiados, siempre ha sido dominante la idea de que el regresar a España significaba la prisión y hasta el fusilamiento. V.E. recordará el despacho núm. 757 en el que relataba el incidente de la bandera en el Hôtel des Ambassadeurs, de Vichy, y la conversación del señor Raero con quienes quisieron quitarla. En el curso de la entrevista, uno de los españoles presentes manifestó creer a pies juntillas que los pasaportes que se otorgaban a los refugiados llevaban una señal especial que los condenaba a la cárcel o al patíbulo.
  18. Jerusalmi, René (1995). Les relations économiques franco-suisses (1939–1945): un aspect insoupçonné de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (in French). P. Lang. p. 221. ISBN 9783906754147. Légation de Vichy / Hotel des Ambassadeurs (1940-1942), puis Villa Ica (1943-44)
  19. "Image: "The Villa Ica, Seat Of The Swiss Legation In Vichy In 1943"". Getty Images. 1943-01-02.
  20. Mallet, Audrey. "The Villa Ica". Vichy 1939–1945.
  21. de Broglie, Gabriel (2005). L'histoire et le roman aujourd'hui: actes du colloque tenu le 20 avril 2005 à la Fondation Singer-Polignac (in French). Paris: Fondation Singer-Polignac. pp. fr. L'ambassadeur de Turquie avait abrité à l'hôtel des Ambassadeurs le jeune Oury qui, du coup, se souvenait d'y avoir vu Porfirio Rubirosa de la légation de Saint-Domingue, ou tel autre ambassadeur.
  22. Verhoeyen, Etienne (2011). Spionnen aan de achterdeur de Duitse Abwehr in België, 1936–1945 (in Dutch). Maklu. p. 460. ISBN 9789046604274.
  23. "An American Diplomat in Vichy France". Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. 2013-07-18.
  24. "JAPANESE AMBASSADOR. Fatal Fall From Window". The West Australian. 1942-02-14.
  25. Mataix, David (2006). L'Europe des révolutions nationales, 1940-1942 (in French). L'Harmattan. p. 363. ISBN 9782296019881. All the testimonies show the boredom that affected all the characters in the capital. Journalists, foreigners, certain politicians often met in the evening in the salon of the Hotel des Ambassadeurs, but it must be clear that nothing was happening there. Austerity in Vichy was in order, out of solidarity with the prisoners and those who suffered throughout the country, but also as a consequence of the restrictions and supplies that appeared in the winter of 1941, an exceptionally cold winter. From 1941, Pétain even had to organize two ceremonies to present his vows. In addition, the clergy had regained power in this capital and participated in the control of good morals. Christmas 1940, which the journalists celebrated loudly and with a lot of alcohol, caused a scandal. All the people occupied themselves as they could by participating in charities, galas, the funeral of the Japanese ambassador, the Orthodox mass on February 6, 1942 in honor of the seventeenth birthday of King Peter II of Yugoslavia or at the wedding of Danièle Darrieux with an attaché at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic.
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