Philippe de Gunzburg

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Le Mans 24 hour race 1933 . The runner-up Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 from Luigi Chinetti and Philippe de Gunzburg; at the wheel Luigi Chinetti

Baron Philippe Georges Varent de Gunzburg , also Philippe de Gunzbourg , MBE , (born February 17, 1904 in Paris , † July 10, 1986 there ) was a French nobleman, resistance fighter in World War II and a racing car driver .

family

Philippe de Gunzburg was a member of the Günzburg Jewish-Russian banking family . He was the grandson of Naphtali Herz Günzburg , a Russian banker born in Swenyhorodka in 1833 . His father was Pierre de Gunzburg (1872-1948), his mother Yvonne Fanny Deutsch de la Meurthe (1882-1969). Yvonne was the daughter of Émile Deutsch de la Meurthe , who was also his grandfather.

He was married to Antoinette Nicole Eugenie Kahn. Antoinette's cousin André “Dédé” Strauss was married to his younger sister Aline de Gunzburg (1915–2014) for the first time. Aline de Gunzburg was an amateur golfer and in the 1960s, as Lady Berlin - she was married to nuclear physicist Hans von Halban and third to philosopher Isaiah Berlin - was the center of London's literary societies .

Resistance fighters in World War II

Philippe de Gunzburg, who had studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Oxford , left Paris after the armistice of Compiègne in 1940 and moved with his family to his country estate in Pont-du-Casse near Agen , in the unoccupied zone of France . 1941 began his intelligence work for the Special Operations Executive . When German troops marched into the unoccupied zone in 1943, his wife and two children fled to Switzerland and de Gunzburg went underground. He organized SOE operations in the Lot-et-Garonne and Dordogne departments . In 1944 he was a member of the Réseau Hilaire-WHEELWRIGHT resistance unit . The British demolition expert George Starr also belonged to this unit . During Operation Overlord , the unit deliberately destroyed the infrastructure to delay the advance of the SS disposal division into the combat area.

After the war he devoted himself to his agricultural possessions and was honored many times. He was a Knight of the Legion of Honor , received the Médaille de la Résistance and the Order of the British Empire . A place in Bergerac was named after him.

Racing career

In the early 1930s, de Gunzburg drove amateur races and was a partner of Luigi Chinetti in the factory in 1933 - Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 at the Le Mans 24-hour race . Most of the time during the 24 hours , Chinetti was in the car, but de Gunzburg had his share in one of the tightest finish lines in Le Mans history. Only on the last lap was the race decided in favor of Tazio Nuvolari and Raymond Sommer .

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate placement Failure reason
1933 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Soc. On. Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 MM-LM Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Luigi Chinetti Rank 2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rene de Gunzburg
  2. ↑ Lady Berlin
  3. ↑ On the death of Lady Berlin
personal data
SURNAME Gunzburg, Philippe de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gunzburg, Philippe Georges Varent de (full name); Gunzbourg, Philippe de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French nobleman, resistance fighter in World War II and racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 1986
Place of death Paris