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Wartime Paris

Heroism, compromise and secrets swept under the rug
Anytime after the summer of 1941...

 

Join our journey back through time to uncover World War 2 in Paris. We take you to sites related to France's darkest period... that began before the German Occupation. 
to August 19, 1944

 

Our story is of collaborators, the Resistances (please notice the plural), D-Day and the Liberation of Paris. We follow the narratives of Brits, Americans, persecuted Jews, Russians on the Eastern front and Germans (Nazi or not), and emphasize the time's complexity.

 

 
Resistance, 1943
The Place de l'Opéra during the Battle of Normandy, June 6-August 21, 1944
Hitler's Commander surrenders. "I was a soldier, not a criminal," said the man who eluded the order to blow up Paris.
The Liberation's dark side

 

 

 

  • Sites visited, with the use of these and other photographs of the time

 

• Montparnasse and the Jean Moulin museum 

 

• The Hotel Lutétia

 

• The Senate and the Luxembourg gardens

 

• The Place Dauphine

 

• The Place de l'Opéra, the rue de Rivoli and the Place de la Concorde

 

 

• Costs, 1-5 visitors

 

° To guide, 190€ for a half day (3-4 hours), 290€ for a full day, and to PEF, 20% plus dues. Public transportation is included. For larger groups fees change, but remain reasonable.

 

° To driver (recomended), from 40-55€ per hour. 

 

 

 
  • Suggested preparation  

 

•Is Paris Burning? by Larry Collins's best-seller, or movie (1966).

 

•The prize-winning documentary, Weapons of the Spirit (1986), tells the story of Europe's only massive, collective rescue of Jews – which took place in France.  People who were directly involved could be interviewed still. We tell this story, adding unexpected information.

 

•Recommended French movies: Hiroshoma Mon Amour (1959) remains the only French movie to evoke the Liberation's dark side. The Army of Shadows (1969) is considered the best film on the Resistance. Lacombe Lucien (1974), equally excellent,  is alone in having its protagonist be a collaborator. Recent French movies break new ground in evoking foreigners' contributions (Days of Glory, 2006, on Algerians in the Free French forces and L'Armée du crime, on Armenian "terrorists", 2009). La Rafle (2010) is equally innovative in deals with the role of the French police in deporting Jews.

 

Photos / in "Paris sous l'Occupation" by Gilles Perrault, 1987, or taken from stacks of old magazine pages at a flea market.