Josée Laval

She was born as Josette Pierrette Laval in Paris, the only daughter of Pierre Laval (1883–1945) and Jeanne Claussat (1888–1959), daughter of the Radical-Socialist mayor of Châteldon (1881-1891) Joseph Claussat (1846-1910) and sister of the député and mayor of Châteldon (1908-1925) Joseph Claussat (1874–1925).[1]

During her childhood, she developed a great admiration towards her father.[2]

On 19 August 1935 in the basilica Sainte-Clotilde in Paris Josée Laval married Count René de Chambrun, an aristocrat and direct descendant of the American Revolutionary War hero, the Marquis de Lafayette. The groom was the son of Aldebert de Chambrun and Clara Eleanor Longworth, and thus a relative of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Among the witnesses were general Pershing and Alice Roosevelt Longworth (who was married to Nicholas Longworth, René's maternal uncle).

The newlyweds became friends with such fashionable celebrities as Louise de Vilmorin, Marie-Laure de Noailles, Florence Gould, André Fraigneau, Coco Chanel, Stanislas and Armand de La Rochefoucauld and Henri Sauguet.

During the war, Josée Laval used her father Pierre Laval's important position in the Vichy government to lead a life of luxury and sophistication, dividing her time between Paris and the family castle of Châteldon, while her husband, as an envoy from the Vichy government, would be able for some time to persuade Franklin Roosevelt that Vichy would remain friendly to the United States.

Josée maintained a literary salon frequented by collaborationists Xavier Vallat, René Bousquet, Fernand de Brinon and Otto Abetz.[3][4] Her friend, the writer and anti-Semite Paul Morand, bestowed on her the nickname 'Chérie-chérie'. During this time Josée and her husband acquired looted artworks confiscated from Jews.

After the Liberation, they took refuge in the outskirts of Paris and tried vainly to obtain a quick release for her father and clear his reputation;[2] but they could not prevent his execution on 15 October 1945 in the Fresnes Prison. Marked by this ordeal, Josée preferred to forget the war.

In the 1950s, the heirs of Adolphe Schloss discovered at the Chambrun's one of the 333 master paintings of the Northern schools that had been part of their father's collection, hidden by them in 1939 at the Château de Chambon (Corrèze), where on 10 April 1943 it was confiscated by four members of the Carlingue (French Gestapo) accompanied by the German police lieutenant Hess, and then, despite an intervention by the Vichy government with a view to a sale, finally delivered to the Germans on 10 August 1943 by decision of Abel Bonnard. On 11 June 1974 at the Hôtel des Ventes de Versailles, a painting by Braque, Le guéridon au paquet de tabac (1930), put up for sale by Josée de Chambrun, was seized in his presence by Paul Rosenberg, who had come expressly from New York City, many of whose paintings had similarly been confiscated from Floirac in September 1940.

Although the origin of ownership of these two valuable works by the Chambruns is not known, it may have something to do with the relations between Pierre Laval and Otto Abetz, who organized spoliations from Jewish collectors or French administrations as early as July 1940.

In 1955, Josée undertook with her husband the renovation of the Château de la Grange-Bléneau, the last residence of the marquis de La Fayette. In the course of the work, the many archives that were unearthed led to the creation of the Fondation Josée-et-René-de-Chambrun, which was recognized as being of public utility on 19 October 1959.

In addition to the conservation of the Château de la Grange-Bléneau and the château de Châteldon, the foundation militates for the rehabilitation of Pierre Laval.[5]

In 2017, the foundation will lend works and souvenirs of La Fayette to the exhibition La Fayette La traversée d'une vie at the Musée Hèbre in Rochefort-sur-Mer (17).

Josée Laval, Countess of Chambrun, died in January 1992, at the age of 80. She is buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.[6]