L'Oreal Took My Home: The Secrets of a Theft - Hardcover

Waitzfelder, Monica; Bush, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1905147112 ISBN 13: 9781905147113

Publisher: Arcadia Books Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

Behind one of the world's largest beauty and cosmetics companies lay some ugly secrets, which Monica Waitzfelder attempts to uncover in this compelling personal account. During World War II, as Jewish homes were being seized one after another, the Rosenfelder family was forced to flee the nation, leaving behind their jobs, their possessions, and their family home. After the fighting ended, the family discovered that they were unable to return to what had rightfully been their property; cosmetics giant L'Oreal had taken over the building and made it their head office. Refusing to recognize the building's original owners, the corporation was brought to court by the Rosenfelder's young daughter, Monica, an ordeal that she chronicles in this honest, personal tale of one family's ongoing struggle to regain what it lost during the war.

About this title

About the Author

Monica Waitzfelder, born Monica Rosenfelder in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1953, has lived in Paris since 1984. She has directed opera at the Paris National Opera, the Theatre du Chatelet, and at other French and international venues. Serge Klarsfeld is one of the foremost historians on the fate of the Jews in France during the Second World War. He has published a dozen books on the subject and has been active in bringing Nazi and Vichy officials to trial for the crimes they committed.

Review

"A story both gripping and horrifying, the more so because the reader cannot help admire the persistence and diligence with which the author pursued her quest, and, under the circumstances, the restrained and dignified way in which she tells the story." --Hugo Vickers, author, "The Private World of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor" and "The Kiss"

"A shocking book. The cosmetics group L'Oreal ("Because you're worth it") sells beauty but, behind its massive campaign to arrest women's ageing process, there are accusations of an ugly story of theft, denial and profiteering. But Waitzfelder's fight isn't over: she is taking the claim to the European Court of Human Rights. In the meantime, I have thrown all my L'Oreal products into the dustbin'." --Julia Pascal, "Independent"

"Monica Waitzfelder tells a powerful story, and asks the perfectly obvious question--why won't L'Oreal recognise what they did before and during the war, and compensate her mother for their house in Karlsruhe?" --Rabbi Julia Neuberger

Edition details

• Publisher: Arcadia Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1905147112
• ISBN 13: 9781905147113
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 220