Les Parisiens sous l'Occupation

[Anne]

The Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris currently has an exhibition of 250 hitherto unpublished coloured photos of Paris during the German occupation and the Libération :

www.photosapiens.com/Les-Parisiens-sous-l-Occupation.html

The photographer was a collaborator (he was "epurated" after the Libération), his photos were "authorized" by the Germans, so don't expect any denounciation of the German occupancy here, still his pictures are a nice testimony of what Paris looked like at that time .

The exhibition will be on until the 1st of July

Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris
24 rue Pavée
4ème arr, métro St Paul
Every day except Mondays, from 11am to 7pm

[Happygoin]

I'd go to this exhibition in a heartbeat if I was to be in Paris while it was on. I would dearly love to see it. I wonder if it might travel anywhere after the exhibit, such as WWII museums?

[luckyluc]

Merci Anne, that is exactly the type of exhibit my WWII obsessed hubby live for! So we will visit for sure during our May trip.

This time we are bringing his sister, a first time visitor, so we will have to joggle main tourists attractions with more interesting (for us!) visits...

[luckyluc]

Happy, you would enjoy the Paris under the occupation walk from Classic Walk, our guide a young American girl was very engaged and interesting. The walk is about 2hrs and you don't need to reserve just to show up. It is in English. Here is the link:

www.classicwalksparis.com/tour/walking-tours/the-world-war-ii-walk.shtml

[Jody]

If you are not there for the exhibition, perhaps you'd like to go to the Memorial de Marechal LeClerc and the Musee Jean Moulin. Lot of audio-visuals and displays of the Resistance, Occuaption and Liberation. A walk thru thr Jardin Atlantique is always pleasant.


en.parisinfo.com/shows-exhibitions-paris/exhibitions-1/guide/paris-city-museums_paris-city-museums1/museum-monuments/289/memorial-du-marechal-leclerc-de-hauteclocque-musee-jean-moulin

www.paris.fr/portail/Culture/Portal.lut?page_id=6923

[joan1]

Souynds like a very interesting exhibit, seems so many of the interesting ones end just before I arrive!!

[Happygoin]

Thank you Luc and demarais for both those posts. I have always meant to get to the Leclerc memorial in Montparnasse and haven't gotten there yet. The Classic Walk is definitely on the list for the Nov trip. I'll get there just before they stop doing the walks for the winter.

[MaisonMetz]

I wish we were going to be in Paris before the exhibit ends, but unfortunately our next trip is in October.

If anyone is interested in a do-it-yourself Paris occupation walk, you might try following in the footsteps of the author of this July 2007 Sydney Morning Herald article, "Paris under the jackboot."

www.smh.com.au/news/france/paris-under-the-jackboot/2007/07/19/1184559941270.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

[Jody]

There is an interesting article in today's Independent. The ticket office is issuing a booklet along with the tickets, explaining that things were not as they might seem in these pictures. The last sentences in the article really seem to convey the true temper of the times.

If anything, the exhibition should be praised for portraying an awkward, but important, historical truth. There is a kind of courage in even the most banal and contented photographs in the exhibition. The determination of Parisians to be themselves, to get on with their lives, was, itself, a kind of resistance to Nazi

www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/paris-1942-la-vie-en-rose-806331.html

[luckyluc]

Desmarais, merci for the link, I just printed the article for my war obsessed hubby.

It reminds me of the scene in Truffaut's Dernier Métro when one of the character goes around the theater singing on the air of the Cucaratcha "Paris Radio ment, Paris Radio ment, Paris Radio est Allemand"

[Happygoin]

Thanks, demarais. I enjoyed the article. I've always thought that the French quite deliberately kept their joie de vive on display during the war as their own way of coping as well as showing the Nazis that they might control the city, but they couldn't control everything. Interesting article.