The head of Gnome et Rhône facing the vise of June 1940
June 1940. runs Gnome et Rhône, Europe's leading aircraft engine maker, whose factories in the Paris region pass into the occupied zone. Born into an Alsatian Jewish family, he knows what the arrival of the Germans and the establishment of a new regime can mean for him.
In Bordeaux, amid the chaos of the exodus, his family obtains transit visas for Portugal on 22 June, issued by the consul . The road to exile is open: Lisbon, then America.
He himself hesitates. To leave is to save his life but abandon the company and the country. To stay is to attempt to preserve his role at the heart of a strategic industry, betting on his position and his connections.
A Jewish industrialist and head of Europe's largest aircraft engine manufacturer, as France collapses and his family obtains visas for Portugal, what does he decide for himself?
Weiller sent his family away; they reached Lisbon, then flew to New York in October 1940. He himself remained in France. He was arrested on 6 October 1940 at Royat, stripped of French nationality by Vichy and placed under house arrest in Marseille. He did not escape until January 1942, reaching Morocco, Cuba, then Canada. His mother was deported and murdered at Auschwitz in 1943. Gnome et Rhône, having passed under German control, was forced to produce the BMW 801 engine under licence.
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