Mandel Szkolnikoff

Mandel Szkolnikoff
Born	Template:Birth date Sharkawshchyna, Russian Empire (present-day Belarus)
Died	June 10, 1945(1945-06-10) (aged 50) Near Madrid, Spain
Other names	Michel Szkolnikoff
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Known for	Collaboration with Nazi forces during German Occupation of France

Mandel Szkolnikoff (28 January 1895 – 10 June 1945), also referred to as Michel Szkolnikoff, was a Belarusian-French entrepreneur and franc billionaire known for his collaboration with Nazi forces. Throughout the German Occupation of France, he accumulated substantial wealth by providing textiles predominantly to the Kriegsmarine and Schutzstaffel. Following the conflict, Szkolnikoff escaped to Francoist Spain but lost his life during an attempted capture by French intelligence agents.

Early life

Szkolnikoff was born on 28 January 1895 in Sharkawshchyna, located within the Russian Empire at the time (present-day Belarus). Of Jewish descent, he possessed a German passport.

Career

During World War II, Szkolnikoff emerged as a prominent economic collaborator in occupied France. Though less widely recognized than Joseph Joanovici, he amassed significant fortune through supplying textiles initially to the Kriegsmarine and subsequently to the SS. He gained notoriety as "the man who took black market dealings to an extreme." The wealth he generated was largely invested in expanding his real estate holdings.

Death

Szkolnikoff's death on 10 June 1945 near Madrid occurred under ambiguous conditions. The most accepted explanation is that he was unintentionally killed during a French intelligence mission targeting collaborators concealed in Spain. Deceived into traveling to Madrid, he resisted arrest, after which he was subdued, sedated, and placed inside a vehicle destined for France. He died during transit; his body was then incinerated and left in a field. A local farmer later found the partially burned remains.