Established in 1898 in the heart of Paris on Place Vendome, the Hotel Ritz instantly became an icon of the city frequented by film stars and celebrity writers, American heiresses and risque flappers, politicians, playboys, and princes. When France fell to the Germans in June 1940, it was the only luxury hotel of its kind allowed in the occupied city by order of Adolf Hitler.

Tilar J. Mazzeo traces the history of this cultural landmark from its opening in fin de siecle Paris. At its center, The Hotel on Place Vendome is an extraordinary chronicle of life at the Ritz during wartime, when the Hotel was simultaneously headquarters to the highest-ranking German officers, such as Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering, and home to exclusive patrons, including Coco Chanel. Mazzeo takes us into the grand palace’s suites, bars, dining rooms, and wine cellars, revealing a hotbed of illicit affairs and deadly intrigue, as well as stunning acts of defiance and treachery, where refugees were hidden in secret rooms, a Jewish bartender passed coded messages for the German resistance, and Wehrmacht officers plotted to assassinate the Fuhrer. Yet, as she makes clear, not everyone at the Ritz in the spring of 1940 would survive to the war’s end.

Rich in detail, illustrated with black-and-white photos, The Hotel on Place Vendome is a remarkable look at this extraordinary place and the people and events that made it legend; the crucible where the future of post-war France-and all of post-war Europe-was transformed.