View source for Albert Jolis

[[Albert Jolis]] was a World War Two [[OSS]] officer and diamond dealer.

==Background==
R. Harris Smith describes Jolis as an international jeweler and ex-journalist of Belgian descent.<ref>R. Harris Smith, OSS: The Secret History of America's First Intelligence Agency, University of California Press, 1972, p.228.</ref>
According to Edward Jay Epstein;
:: His father, [[Jac Jolis]], had once worked for [[De Beers]], and for three generations the Jolis family had a close business relationship with the Oppenheimers.<ref name=Epstein19>Edward Jay Epstein, [http://edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap19.htm Chapter Nineteen - The War Against Competitors], ''The Diamond Invention'', edwardjayepstein.com, accessed 16 August 2012.</ref>

The younger Jolis had close ties to the [[Ernest Bevin]] wing of the Labour Party.<ref>R. Harris Smith, OSS: The Secret History of America's First Intelligence Agency, University of California Press, 1972, p.228.</ref>

==OSS==
In January 1945, he was serving as assistant chief of the Secret Intelligence (SI) branch of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] in Paris. Along with [[Arthur Schlesinger]], he rejected [[Noel Field]]'s proposal to use Soviet backed exiles to infiltrate Germany.<ref>R. Harris Smith, OSS: The Secret History of America's First Intelligence Agency, University of California Press, 1972, p.228.</ref>

==International Rescue Committee and CIA==
After World War Two, Jolis was recruited to the board of the [[International Rescue Committee]] (IRC) by [[Sheba Strunsky]], "a very close personal friend". He recruited [[Arthur Schlesinger]] to the board in 1947.<ref>Eric Thomas Chester, ''Covert Network, Progressives, the International Rescue Committee and the CIA'', M.E. Sharpe, 1995, p.61.</ref>

Jolis served as a [[CIA]] operative during some of the agency's earliest years, and was seriously considered for a job as the CIA's liason with [[Averell Harriman]] in 1950.<ref>Eric Thomas Chester, ''Covert Network, Progressives, the International Rescue Committee and the CIA'', M.E. Sharpe, 1995, p.61.</ref>

When the IRC's [[Leo Cherne]] sought a meeting with incoming [[CIA]] director [[Allen Dulles]] in 1953, Dulles said he had already been receiving reports on the committee's work from Jolis and another OSS veteran on the board, [[William Casey]].<ref>Eric Thomas Chester, ''Covert Network, Progressives, the International Rescue Committee and the CIA'', M.E. Sharpe, 1995, p.117.</ref>

==Oppenheimer Venture==
According to Edward Jay Epstein:
:: in the late 1940s, Sir [[Ernest Oppenheimer|Ernest]] had encouraged Jolis's father to establish a diamond-cutting factory in Los Angeles, and he had promised him a supply of uncut diamonds for the venture. Then, without any prior warning, Oppenheimer decided against the Californian venture and refused to provide any diamonds for it. No explanation was ever tendered, and the Jolis family was expected to take the loss without asking any questions.<ref name=Epstein19>Edward Jay Epstein, [http://edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap19.htm Chapter Nineteen - The War Against Competitors], ''The Diamond Invention'', edwardjayepstein.com, accessed 16 August 2012.</ref>

==DDI==
Determined to break his family's dependence on De Beers, Jolis' firm, [[Diamond Distributors, Inc.]], or DDI, won a concession in the French African colony of Ubangi, later the Central African Empire, and established diamond-buying offices in Venezuala and Brazil.<ref name=Epstein19>Edward Jay Epstein, [http://edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap19.htm Chapter Nineteen - The War Against Competitors], ''The Diamond Invention'', edwardjayepstein.com, accessed 16 August 2012.</ref>

After Portugal withdrew from [[Angola]] in 1975, Jolis negotiated a concession with [[Kalandala Chipanda]], the natural resources minister in the transitional government. However, the deal fell through when [[Unita]], of which Chipanda was a member, was ousted from the government at the outset of the Angolan Civil War.<ref name=Epstein19>Edward Jay Epstein, [http://edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap19.htm Chapter Nineteen - The War Against Competitors], ''The Diamond Invention'', edwardjayepstein.com, accessed 16 August 2012.</ref>

In 1977, Central African dictator [[Jean-Bédel Bokassa]] declared himself emperor and asked Jolis, to present him with a diamond ring. Jolis succeeded in passing off a $500 dollar diamond as a $500,000 stone.<ref>[http://www.baunat.com/en/faq/famous-diamonds What are the most famous diamonds?], Baunat, accessed 16 August 2012.</ref>

==Affiliations==
*[[American Foundation for Resistance International]]

==External Resources==
*Namebase [http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb01?Na=Jolis%2C+Albert JOLIS ALBERT E (BURT)]
*[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2000/sep/30/20000930-012108-6853r/ Unselfish service of Bert Jolis], ''Washington Times'', 30 September 2000.

==Notes==
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[[Category:Spooks|Jolis, Albert]][[Category:OSS|Jolis, Albert]][[Category:CIA|Jolis, Albert]][[Category:Diamond Industry|Jolis, Albert]]