BOURDARIAT Albert (EN)

Before the war, Albert Bourdariat was a decorator, dealer in antiques and expert in works of art. Late 1940, he met Dr. Wolff at the Hôtel Drouot and became involved in the affair in which Margot Jansson negotiated contracts with decorator firms such as Fabre & Fils for the furnishing in French style of the reception rooms of the Reichsbank in Berlin. As an expert, Bourdariat was in charge of evaluating the majority of objects sent by Margot Jansson to Germany.

Expertise for the Reichsbank

Albert Bourdariat was born 10 May 1880 in the 8^th arrondissement of Paris. He was the son of Joseph Bourdariat, hairdresser, and Anaïs Louise de Marguerie.¹ On 16 June 1913 he married Renée Chartier in the 17^th arrondissement. At the time of his marriage, he declared himself as an annuitant, while his father, domiciled boulevard Malesherbes, exercised as an antiques dealer.² Albert Bourdariat was still an annuitant when his first son was born, 27 October 1913,³ but in November 1941, on the marriage of his second child, he declared himself as “decorator.”⁴ At that time, he was living at 100, rue de l’Université in the 7^th arrondissement.

There are few sources concerning Bourdariat’s activity in antiques before the Occupation. He was known primarily as co-founder in 1903 of the Fédération française des sociétés de boxe, and was its president at the time of the Libération. In order to follow his activities as dealer and expert at the hôtel Drouot, we have to look at the dossiers involving him at the time of the Libération, in particular that of the Comité de confiscation des profits illicites kept in the Paris Archives.⁵

In these archives, we find a “Report concerning M. BOURDARIAT Albert 100, rue de l’Université PARIS (7°)” dated 10 October 1945, inquiring into his activity and containing his prolific answers.⁶ The investigator began by asking about the sources of Bourdariat’s income, which he said was very low before the Occupation, mentioning “minor profits before the war.” Bourdariat declared an activity as antiques dealer and expert in objets d’art, but asserted having ceased his activity during the war, refusing in particular to deal with Germans.

However, on 22 September 1942, he bought a building for the sum of 750,000 F. It should be mentioned that Bourdariat was called before to the Comité de confiscation des profits illicites because of his involvement in purchases of objects by the Reichsbank, as evaluator and expert for the majority of objects sent to Germany by Margot Jansson. Expertise files in his name transmitted to the authorities by Jannson’s former secretary prove Bourdariat’s role in these transactions.

On that subject, Bourdariat replied to investigators that at the end of 1940, he met Dr Wolff at the hôtel Drouot, and the latter asked him for the names of antiques dealers where he could find objects to furnish the main office of the Reichsbank in Berlin; at the same time Wolff showed him photographs of objects for his advice. According to Bourdariat, shortly after this meeting, he was asked by Jansson to accompany her to Fabre & Fils, for his opinion on furniture she wanted to buy. On 25 January 1941, Bourdariat received two commissions corresponding to sales made by Fabre & Fils, purchases made by Jansson & billed to Wolff. According to Fabre, several pieces of furniture were sent to Bourdariat in order for Jansson to make her choice rue de l’Université.

Another point raised was that of a direct sale made by Bourdariat, rather than one made as an intermediary. Investigators found an expertise note written in German on 15 February 1941 concerning a tapestry, Hercule chassant les oiseaux des lacs de Stymphale. A tapestry of the same name was found in Bourdariat’s inventory, which he had declared to the Mairie of the 7^th arrondissement as having been lost during the 1940 Exodus. Investigators accused Bourdariat of having sold at least one object of his personal stock to the Germans, which he denied, arguing the existence of several tapestries of the same name.⁷

Affair of the de Sèze tapestries

Furthermore, Bourdariat’s role in the de Sèze tapestries affair is mentioned in the report. In 1941, Bourdariat was mandated by Jansson to buy two tapestries in the Bort château in Saint Priest Taurion in the Haute-Vienne department, property of the de Sèze couple, for the Reichsbank and at the request of Dr Wolff, head architect of the Reichsbank. Bourdariat then went to Eugène Pouget for help in that mission. Indeed, according to Bourdariat, Pouget had known of these tapestries since 1919 or 1920, when he had tried to buy them from their owner. In September or October 1941, Pouget and Bourdariat went to the château on the false pretext of writing a work on the tapestries.¹ According to Mme de Sèze, they said they were functionaries of the Beaux-Arts general secretariat, which Bourdariat denied.²

The two men returned there three months later (according to the 1945 declaration), or three weeks later (according to the 1942 declaration) with a photographer, to take photos of the two tapestries. From then on, they traveled regularly to the château to convince the de Sèze couple, Mme de Sèze in particular, she being owner of the tapestries, to sell the two objects.³ M. de Sèze finally agreed to the sale.

However, it seems quite clear that a trap had been set to arrest the two men, as confirmed by André Castier, commissioner in charge of arresting Pouget and Bourdariat on 9 April 1942. The two were arrested in possession of 20 million francs, the amount, a considerable sum at the time, allocated by Dr Wolff and entrusted to them by Jansson for the purchase of the two tapestries.⁴ During their interrogations, they asserted that the tapestries were a gift of the Reichsbank for Marshall Göring.⁵ The two men were then kept in Limoges for a fortnight before being released.⁶

According to Pouget, he had met Jansson thanks to Bourdariat in March 1941.⁷ In 1945, he explained that he knew the de Sèze family would not sell the tapestries but that it was a good opportunity to travel to the free zone and “help out quite a few people.”⁸

Post-war fiscal procedures

By decision of the Comité de confiscation des profits illicites of 7 December 1945, the amount of confiscated profits came to 1,142,600 F, and the fine to 2,285,200 F. Furthermore, the accusations against him, the amounts of the fine and the confiscation, were to be published at his expense in the newspapers Front National, Paris-Presse et Le Populaire, as well as in the Mairie of the 7^th arrondissement.¹

By decision of 10 May 1946, the Comité rejected Albert Bourdariat’s request for payment delays.² The Comité de confiscation des profits illicites then studied new elements brought by Bourdariat and on 15 April 1948 decided to decrease the confiscated amounts to 942,600 F and the fine to 1,885,000 F.³ In a letter dated 26 February 1951, Bourdariat sent new information in view of a request for revision.⁴

This consisted, in particular, of testimonies of those close to him showing his devotion to France and its patrimony. In his letters, Bourdariat described his role in the donation to the Louvre of the Schlichting collection and that of the Princesse de Polignac. He explained that it was thanks to him that the Tissandier collection belonging to M. de Dominicis had escaped German requisition and forced sale. He also explained that he had taken advantage of his trips to Limoges in the de Sèze tapestries affair to help Jews and those refusing to participate in the Service de travail obligatoire (STO), that he had also helped people pass the demarcation line, supplied work certificates and false papers. However, on 18 February 1952 he desisted from this request; in fact, he had sent the Comité des profits illicites a false document for proof of a financial transaction.⁵

Bourdariat requested the revision of the decision of 15 April 1948 with a letter dated 17 May 1954.⁶ He based it on his acquittal by the military court on 20 January 1954 in the context of legal proceedings for intelligence with the enemy. For the Comité de confiscation des profits illicites, that decision by the military court concerning the role of Bourdariat in the tapestries de Sèze affair was not linked to the confiscation decision. In addition, Bourdariat claimed to have received the Passeurs medal on 14 June 1953, which should prove his activity in the resistance during the Occupation. However, these elements were not considered to be new information, and this petition was refused by the decision of 27 January 1955.⁷ Bourdariat lodged a last appeal to the Conseil supérieur de confiscation des profits illicites on 9 March 1955, but it too was rejected.⁸

Bourdariat died in Paris in the 6th arrondissement on 3 April 1974.⁹