Béatrice Reinach was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 socialite

Socialite

A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....

 and a Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

 victim.

Life

Born into the Camondo family

Camondo family

The Camondo family was a prominent European family of Jewish financiers and philanthropists.Part of the Sephardic community in Spain, after the 1497 Spanish decree that ordered the expulsion of all Jews who refused conversion to Catholicism, the Camondo family settled in Venice...

 of Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, she was the daughter of Moïse de Camondo

Moïse de Camondo

Count Moïse de Camondo was an Ottoman Empire born Italian origin French banker. As a child, Camondo moved with his family, from their home in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, to Paris where he grew up and continued his father's career as a banker...

 and Irène Cahen d'Anvers, both of whom were from prominent Jewish

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 banking families. One of two children, her older brother Nissim

Nissim de Camondo

Nissim de Camondo was a French banker. Named for his grandfather, he was born into the Camondo family of Paris, the son of the prominent and wealthy Jewish banker, Moïse de Camondo. As the only son of two children, Nissim de Camondo was expected to take over the family business...

 served as a fighter pilot during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and in 1917 was killed in action.

In 1918 Béatrice de Camondo married composer Léon Reinach (1893-1944), the son of Théodore Reinach

Théodore Reinach

Théodore Reinach was a French archaeologist, mathematician, lawyer, papyrologist, philologist, epigrapher, historian, numismatist, musicologist, professor, and politician....

. They had the following children:

1. Fanny (born 26 July 1920 in Paris - died in 1944)
2. Bertrand (born 1 July 1923 in Paris - died in 1944)

On her father's death in 1935, Béatrice inherited a large fortune. Her father bequeathed his Paris home, including its contents and a major collection of art, to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

Musée des Arts Décoratifs, a museum of the decorative arts and design, 107 rue de Rivoli, Paris 1er, France. It is part of Les Arts Décoratifs.-The museum:...

 to be used to create the Musée Nissim de Camondo

Musée Nissim de Camondo

The Musée Nissim de Camondo is a non-profit house museum located in the Hôtel Camondo, 63, rue de Monceau, at the edge of the Parc Monceau, VIIIe arrondissement, Paris, France....

 in his son's honor.

In 1943, under the German occupation of France

Vichy France

Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Béatrice, her husband and their two children were forcibly removed from their Paris home and taken to the Drancy deportation camp north of the city. From there, they were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz concentration camp

Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...

where they were all killed.