The Countess de Chambrun becomes head of Library

Eighteen months after Paris falls to the Nazis, Dorothy Reeder leaves France for America and is replaced by the Countess de Chambrun. In her memoir, Chambrun recalls the power transfer: “Miss Reeder […] left on the desk which was to become mine, a card solemnly delegating me to fill her place together with the verbal encouragement: ‘Of course you will never be able to keep open’.” The unfolding of events will prove her wrong.