Illa Meery
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Illa Meery (1915–2010) was a Russian-born French adventuress, singer, film actress and possibly Soviet spy who became involved in the French black market under German occupation.


Émigrée

She was the daughter of count Alexandre Alexandrovitch Tchernychev-Bezobrazov and Marie Nicolaïevna née Chtcherbatova. She arrived in France in 1919 with her parents and older brother as refugees from the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, first in
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, then
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. She attended the Russian school in rue Daru.


Film actress and Chanel model

She appeared in several early French films in the 1920s, notably in '' Zouzou'' as Barbara, the topless foil for sensation
Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
, who in that film became the first black woman to star in a French feature film.Katherine Groo. “Shadow Lives: Josephine Baker and the Body of Cinema
” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, vol. 54, no. 1, 2013, pp. 7–39. Page 19. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.13110/framework.54.1.0007. Accessed 1 Aug. 2023
She later became a model for
Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...
, then Schiaparelli. At that time she was living with the painter , a friend of
Philippe de Rothschild Philippe, Baron de Rothschild (13 April 1902 – 20 January 1988) was a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty who became a Grand Prix motor racing driver, a screenwriter and playwright, a theatrical producer, a film producer, a poet, and one ...
. She became his mistress and he got her a part in the film '' Lac aux dames'' (Lake of Ladies), a film he financed, based on a screenplay by
Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...
and directed by
André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...
's former lover
Marc Allégret Marc Allégret (22 December 1900 – 3 November 1973) was a French screenwriter, photographer and film director. Biography Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer in ...
. Later she met professional crook Joseph Goldstein a.k.a. Dorélis. They became a couple and she was soon threatened with expulsion as a stateless person holding a
Nansen passport Nansen passports, originally and officially stateless persons passports, were internationally recognized refugee travel documents from 1922 to 1938, first issued by the League of Nations's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees to stateles ...
. On 19 July 1939 she married the actor Henri Garat. In 1940, the couple took refuge in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and lounged on the beach there ith the exiled
Carol I of Romania Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...
. Google Books version has no page numbers but multiple pages at the beginning of that chapter are devoted to her


Mobsters and Nazis

On her return to France in 1942, she developed ties with the Occupation authorities and
black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
figures, and was associated with various scandals under the name of Madame Garat. She became the mistress of
Henri Lafont Henri Lafont (born Henri Chamberlin, 22 April 1902 – 26 December 1944) was a French criminal based in Paris who headed the French Gestapo during the Nazi German occupation in World War II. He was executed by firing squad on 26 December 1944 ...
, head of the French Gestapo, and was one of the women known as the Countesses of the Gestapo. She had many affairs with German officers, notably with members of the SD. As the mistress of Hans Leimer, an SS officer tasked with shipping requisitioned artwork and other goods to Germany, she was arrested in July 1944 by the Gestapo, and her lover was sent to the Russian front. She herself was sent to Germany to be judged in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.


Fourth Republic criminal justice

Arrested by the Americans in May 1945, she was returned to French authorities and imprisoned in Fresnes on 6 September. On 5 June 1945, she was sentenced by the to two years in prison and the confiscation of one third of her assets. She was also sued in the civil courts by someone who said she had appropriated assets, in litigation that went on for years. She claimed to have been a Soviet agent since 1935 and to have penetrated German counterintelligence around 1942, but no evidence was found to support this.


Selected filmography

* ''
Princess Olala ''Princess Olala'' (German: ''Prinzessin Olala'') is a 1928 German silent drama film directed by Robert Land and starring Carmen Boni, Walter Rilla, Marlene Dietrich and Hans Albers.Wood p.65 It is also known by the alternative title of ''Art ...
'' (1928) as Hedy * '' The Abduction of the Sabine Women'' (1928) as Ria, a showgirl * ''
Cagliostro Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (, ; 2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795) was the alias of the Italian occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (; in French usually referred to as Joseph Balsamo). Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled magician. ...
'' (1929) as Jeanne de la Motte * ''
Lake of Ladies ''Lake of Ladies'' or ''Ladies Lake'' (French: ''Lac aux dames'') is a 1934 French drama film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Rosine Deréan, Simone Simon and Illa Meery.Bergfelder, Harris & Street p.78 The film's sets were designed by ...
'' (1934)Bergfelder, Tim & Harris, Sue & Street, Sarah. ''Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination: Set Design in 1930s European Cinema''. Amsterdam University Press, 2007. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46mscn. Accessed 1 Aug. 2023 as Anika * '' Zouzou'' as Barbara (1934)


References


Bibliography

* Chandler, Charlotte.
Marlene: Marlene Dietrich, A Personal Biography
'. Simon and Schuster, 2011. * Reissued: ** * * * * * * * * (about Roger Griveau) * Patrice Rolli, La Phalange nord-africaine (ou Brigade nord-africaine, ou Légion nord-africaine) en Dordogne: Histoire d'une alliance entre la Pègre et la Gestapo; 15 March-19 August 1944, Éditions l'Histoire en Partage, 2013, 189 pages (mostly about Alexandre Villaplane and Raymond Monange) Collaborators during World War II occupations Black markets Prostitutes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meery, Illa 1915 births 2010 deaths French women singers French film actresses French silent film actresses 20th-century French actresses Russian women singers Russian film actresses Russian silent film actresses Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Actresses from Moscow Singers from Moscow Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States