TRAFFIC WITH ENEMY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 181, 2 August 1945, Page 5

TRAFFIC WITH ENEMY

Huge Profits Of 'Countess' From Wines And Art Treasures BOUGHT CASTLES IN GERMANY Rec. 12.30 p.m. PARIS, Aug. 1. The Lille Court has sentenced to death for collaboration a Germanborn woman, known as the "Countess of Palatinate," who during the German occupation of France conducted a wine and spirit business with a daily turnover of £5000, says Paris radio. She was stated to have sent wagon-loads of wines, liqueurs, furniture and art treasures to Germany, and bought castles in Dresden and Silesia. The "Countess," when the defeat of Germany was inevitable, ■ hid enormous quantities of wines, furs and linen in Belgian farmhouses. The Court also sentenced her brother to death and sentenced five confederates to terms of imprisonment. Martin Debriey, owner of the newspaper Echo de Nancy, has been sentenced to death and three others to long tenns of imprisonment and national degradation after they were found guilty of charges of collaborating with the Germans during the occupation. The newspaper was published under German control and issued to French war prisoners.