The Secret History of L’Oréal

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L’Oréal, the cosmetic giant, has just announced that it will restructure its capital. Thus the holding company established by Eugene Schueller during the Second World War will be wound up. The founder of this group was also one of the main financiers of the plot by La Cagoule and French Nazis. When France was liberated from German occupation, L’Oréal and its foreign subsidiaries provided refuge to criminals on the run. Today, the heiress of this group, Liliane Bettencourt, has become the richest woman in France. L’Oréal’s history reveals the hidden face of contemporary French politics. Through a brief communiqué, published on the night of 3 February 2004, L’Oréal, the cosmetic giant announced a capital restructuring [1]. The Bettencourt family and Nestlé, which still today hold a majority stake in L’Oréal through the intermediary of the holding company, Gasparal, will hold it directly. Given that this ruse is accompanied by an undertaking to retain holdings, the Bettencourt family will benefit from a 50% reduction on the tax on its fortune. Family members will not be liable for the expenses of this transaction thanks to new provisions introduced in the “Law on Economic Initiative” on 1 August 2003 that operate in their favour [2]. Today L’Oréal is valued at 43.6 billion euro. The Bettencourts hold 11.99 billion; Nestle 11.5 billion; and the remaining 20.11 billion floats on the Stock Exchange. In 2002, the personal fortune of Liliane Bettencourt, heiress of the founder of L’Oréal, was estimated at 17.2 billion euro. This makes her the richest person in France. A Company that wants to buy out the Republic In 1907, a small entrepreneur, Eugene Schueller, establishes L’Oréal. Later on, in 1928, he buys up Monsavon, then the Valentine paintings, the Dop shampoos and the magazine Votre Beauté. Gradually shifting his position to the extreme right, Schueller becomes known for his economic theories on a “proportional salary”. In a society liberated from liberal capitalism and trade unions, workers would receive a triple salary: a salary based on activity; a salary based on the number of children in their family and a salary based on productivity. On 6 February 1934, in reaction to a resounding political-financial scandal, the leagues of veterans that fought in the Great War demonstrate before the Chambre des députés in Paris seeking the resignation of the Daladier government. Due to fascist ringleaders, the gathering turns into an insurrection and tries to topple the Republic to the benefit of Colonel de La Rocque who, however, refuses to play the role that one wants him to play. Various other skirmishes follow in the weeks that follow including an attempt to lynch Léon Blum during the funeral of a historian sympathetic to the monarchy. As a consequence, on 18 June, the government declares the dissolution of the leagues of veterans. At once, a group of fascist militants, most of whom came from section XVII of the “Camelots du Roi”, break with Charles Maurras, a monarchist philosopher and decide to go underground. They form a Secret Organization for National Revolutionary Action (OSARN by its French acronym). To this organization, gravitating around Eugène Deloncle, are: Aristide Corre, Jean Filliol, Jacques Corrèze. They are soon to be joined by Gabriel Jeantet, François Méténier and Dr Henri Martin. Colonel de La Rocque warns former league members that their movement may be infiltrated by “traitor groups”, that is by fascists acting on behalf of foreign states, such as Italy and Germany [3]. In any event, OSARN is quickly restructured into local groups and hierarchized into a system that is highly subdivided, so that apart from the leaders, other members of the organization are unaware of the organization’s extent, its real objectives, the resources and support it has. Some cells participating in the plot, including the so-called, “Knights of the Gladiator”, led at Nice by Joseph Darnant and François Durand de Grossouvre, adopt a ritual and costume inspired by the US-based Klu Klux Klan. It will be for this reason that OSARN will be nicknamed by monarchists as La Cagoule [4]. Eugene Schueller, a close friend of Eugene Deloncle, contributes his personal assets to the plot. Several meetings of the management team take place in his office at L’Oréal’s headquarters. A group of youngsters, living in a dormitory of the Marista Fathers (104, rue de Vaugirard, Paris), touch base with the leaders of the plot and participate in some of their activities without, however, formally joining the OSARN. We are talking of Pierre Guillain de Benouville, Claude Roy, André Bettencourt and François Mitterrand. Robert Mitterrand, François’s brother, marries Eugene Deloncle’s niece. Failures and Divisions Based on Anti-Semitism In one and a half years, OSARN formalises its relations with the government of Benito Mussolini in Italy, and later with Adolf Hitler in Germany. On their behalf, it transports weapons to Francisco Franco in Spain and eliminates political refugees in France. In exchange, it is given considerable financial and logistical support. On the night of 15 November 1937, continuing into 16 November 1937, the organization attempts a coup d’État which ultimately fails. The following day and in the weeks that follow, sunlight is shed on the plot. Searches uncover caches of weapons distributed throughout the entire territory. The weapons discovered total hundreds of machine-guns, thousands of guns and uniforms, tens of thousands of grenades, hundreds of thousands of munitions, all imported from Italy and Germany. The President of the Council, Edouard Daladier, halts the inquiry when […]

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