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Wine and War
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure | Donald Kladstrup, Petie Kladstrup
41 posts | 8 read | 9 to read
The remarkable untold story of Frances courageous, clever vinters who protected and rescued the countrys most treasured commodity from German plunder during World War II. "To be a Frenchman means to fight for your country and its wine." Claude Terrail, owner, Restaurant La Tour dArgent In 1940, France fell to the Nazis and almost immediately the German army began a campaign of pillaging one of the assets the French hold most dear: their wine. Like others in the French Resistance, winemakers mobilized to oppose their occupiers, but the tale of their extraordinary efforts has remained largely unknownuntil now. This is the thrilling and harrowing story of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring measures to save their cherished crops and bottles as the Germans closed in on them. Wine and War illuminates a compelling, little-known chapter of history, and stands as a tribute to extraordinary individuals who waged a battle that, in a very real way, saved the spirit of France. From the Trade Paperback edition.
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keithmalek
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#12BooksOf2021 One of the 12 best books I read in 2021. April.

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keithmalek
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Pickpick

Hopefully, there are words in French or German that can convey how good this book is. But in English? They don't exist.

Aims42 A great read!! 😍🍷❤️ 3y
BarbaraBB Fabulous review! Fascinating subject too. I never wondered how those old vineyards survived the war. (edited) 3y
15 likes2 comments
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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After one taste of a great French wine, Hitler is reported to have pushed it away, calling it " nothing but vulgar vinegar."

JenniferEgnor This was such a great book. 3y
keithmalek @JenniferEgnor Yes, I'm only about 50 pages in, but really enjoying it! 3y
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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Leftcoastzen 😁🥂 3y
3 likes1 comment
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TrishB
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Mehso-so

I think this is probably a really good read if you love non fiction and reading about wine. I‘m not a massive NF fan and prefer drinking the wine 🍷.
It was entertaining though and I did learn some new stuff.
#whineorwine #booked2020

squirrelbrain 🤣🤣🤣 4y
MsMelissa Yes, I would prefer the actual drinking to the reading about drinking too 😂 4y
Cinfhen ♥️🍷 4y
See All 9 Comments
Cathythoughts I still am looking for a book for this prompt! ......... it‘s almost Friday 🍷🍷🍷 4y
Cathythoughts Bring on the IRL glass 🍷 4y
Cathythoughts And another prompt done ✅ ! Another ball in the back of the net 😁 4y
TrishB @Cathythoughts not a bad read, just wasn‘t totally engrossing we‘ve just put some 🥂 in the fridge for tomorrow! 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Sounds like a story we‘ve seen told before, but kind of new angle. Sorry it wasn‘t more compelling! 🍷 4y
84 likes9 comments
blurb
TrishB
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I‘m assuming the contents will be a bit more fun than the cover!
Reading for #wineorwhine #booked2020

AceOnRoam 😆 4y
RachelAmphlett I read this book - must be 10 years ago now - and it‘s wonderful. Really clever what the French wine producers got up to during WW2 to hide their best stuff, and some funny moments too 4y
JenniferEgnor The cover I had was an actual photograph from that time. I loved this book. 4y
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TrishB @RachelAmphlett @JenniferEgnor I think it‘s some dodgy kindle cover. I‘m looking forward to the book though. 4y
GingerAntics Fingers crossed. That cover is boring. I guess they‘re really pushing for the whole “don‘t judge a book by its cover” thing. I don‘t understand why kindle would have such different covers. Apple Books covers match the physical copies. 4y
TrishB @GingerAntics the pic wasn‘t like this on amazon 🤷‍♀️ 4y
GingerAntics @TrishB that is so weird. So it shows up like that when you open the book? That drives me nuts. I swear. Why bother putting something like this inside an ebook. Just put the title page and move on instead. Eh. I‘m a cover art fan, obviously. 🤣 4y
81 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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Cuilin
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Have not got to this yet. #wineonthecoveraboutwine. #bibliomaynia

OriginalCyn620 👍🏻📚🍷 4y
Eggs My choice too 🤗 4y
26 likes2 comments
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Eggs
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The French, The Nazis, and the battle for France‘s Greatest Treasures

#wineonthecover
#bibliomaynia
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

OriginalCyn620 Sounds good! 4y
60 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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lahousewyfe
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My next project for self-isolating - drinking the leftovers from our wine shop. It's almost too old to enjoy, but this 2007 Kongsgaard Chardonnay is still drinkable. When I saw your description @Lannerz I thought you'd appreciate it!

Lannerz amazing!! 4y
28 likes2 comments
review
JenniferEgnor
Pickpick

This is an wonderful book with some amazing stories. I will never think of French wine the same way again!
If you like wine and history, this book is for you. And if you don‘t want to see the horrors of the past ever happen again, this book is definitely for you. Santé!

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JenniferEgnor
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Wine was one of the first signs of civilization to appear in the life of human beings. It gives spirit to those who know how to taste it, but it punishes those who drink it without restraint.

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JenniferEgnor
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The wind of the apocalypse that blew from the east for sixty months, driving away laughter and happiness from the kingdom of vines, and leaving only the silence of death, has finally ended. —Georges Faiveley

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JenniferEgnor
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As Alsatians reclaimed the French identity, it was also safe to speak French. Instead of having to greet friends on the street by saying “Heil Hitler,” people could now say “Bon jour.”

keithmalek My grandmother was Alsatian and always told me about how she was forced to learn German back then. 4y
JenniferEgnor @keithmalek thank you for sharing that with me! 4y
3 likes2 comments
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JenniferEgnor
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I came back not young anymore.

Claud Fourmon, wine seller, Holocaust Survivor, after liberation. He was 30 years old when he said this. Cruelty takes a heavy toll on the body and the mind.

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JenniferEgnor
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It occurred to Hitler that the mountain could be tunneled in such a way that he could be propelled up to the summit in an elevator, thus permitting him to survey the surrounding landscape like a god surveying all the kingdoms of the earth.

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JenniferEgnor
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To talk about wine, that is a wonderful thing, but drinking it, that is much better.

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JenniferEgnor
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This evening will give us time to recall and glory in one of Franc‘s purest treasures, our wine, and to alleviate the misery with which we have had to live for so long. A party to celebrate wine? No, it is not just that. It is also a celebration of us and how we have survived. With this little glass of wine that we are going to drink together tonight, we will savor not only a rare fruit but also the joy of a satisfied heart.

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JenniferEgnor
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Once upon a time in Burgundy, the wolves ran free. They prowled the forests and, in times of famine, roamed the streets of towns and villages. In the 10th century, it is said, their packs were so enormous and so vicious that they drove the Dukes of Burgundy from the windswept capital in Auxerre to the safer climes of Dijon. It was the curse of the wolves, the Duke declared; evil lurked wherever the beasts were found.

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JenniferEgnor
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Over the next two years, Monmousseaux conducted a traffic in human beings, ferrying Resistance leaders in and out of the Occupied Zone in his wine barrels. As each mission was completed, he would put his barrels back together, fill them with wine and return home. The Germans never discovered what he was doing.

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JenniferEgnor
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Weinführer: a German-sounding word made up by the French to designate the men sent by the Nazis to buy French wine and oversee its distribution

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JenniferEgnor
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No region suffered more pillaging of its wine than Champagne. Nearly two million bottles were grabbed by German soldiers during the first weeks of the occupation alone.

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JenniferEgnor
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About the only one in the top leadership who was not interested in wine was the Führer himself. After one taste of great French wine, Hitler is reported to have pushed it away, calling it “nothing but vulgar vinegar”.

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JenniferEgnor
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To be a Frenchman means to fight for your country and its wine.

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JenniferEgnor
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Many of the refugees were soldiers who once guarded the Maginot Line. “It was a retreat without glory.” Engel, who fought in World War I, recalled soldiers discarding their weapons as they passed his house, fleeing through the vineyard because the roads were so congested. “It was a sight that we, veterans of Verdun, watched with a heavy heart.”

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JenniferEgnor
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That life was one of legend and myth, a life which, in many ways, had changed little since the Middle Ages . “It was a simpler time in the vineyards,” Maurice‘s son Robert recalled years later. “We had a way of living, a way of making wine that was natural and tres ancienne.”

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JenniferEgnor
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For the second time in little more than a generation, French wine growers faced the agonizing prospect of trying to get the harvest in before vineyards were turned into battlefields.

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JenniferEgnor
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We know our land was here before we came and that it will be here long after we are gone. With our wine, we have survived wars, the Revolution and phylloxera. Each harvest renews promises made in the spring. We live with the continuing cycle. This gives us a taste of eternity.

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JenniferEgnor
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...how important wine is to France. It is not just a beverage or commercial product to be poured from a bottle. It is much more than that. Like the flag, the Tricolore, it goes to the country‘s heart and soul. “Wine makes us proud of our past...it gives us courage and hope.”

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JenniferEgnor
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... Hitler‘s cave was much more than a wine cellar; it was a symbol of cruelty and greed, of Nazi Germany‘s hunger for wealth and riches.

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JenniferEgnor
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What was also hard to believe was that all this precious wine—sitting in a cave near the top of a mountain—belonged to a man who could not have cared less about it. In fact, he did not even like wine.
That man was Adolf Hitler.

🍇🍷😮😱

review
Aims42
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Pickpick

This was a very interesting read! I enjoyed learning about this aspect of WWII which is typically overlooked. Definitely recommended for any WWII fans and wine fans 👍🏻❤️🍷

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MichaelK
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Pickpick

Book done and bottle of🍷done. Great book about how a countries passion for their food and wine gave them hope in the darkest of times.

Aims42 I just bought this book at my library‘s used book sale!! Glad you enjoyed it, hoping I do too when I get to it ☺️ 5y
MichaelK @Aims42 you have to drink french wine while you read it. It's the rule... Sorry 😜 5y
Aims42 @MichaelK Haha! Well if it‘s the rule, then it‘s meant to be followed 😆👍🏻 5y
29 likes3 comments
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MichaelK
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The rule is that I have to drink french wine while reading this book, right?

Crazeedi Yes 5y
MichaelK @Crazeedi 🍷 🍷 🍷 5y
Crazeedi Cin-cin!!❤️ (edited) 5y
30 likes3 comments