How Paris "suffered" during the German occupation: photos that were banned in France

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Album of photographs of Paris, occupied by the Germans, 1942.

Photos from the album of André Zucca of the correspondent of the German magazine "Signal" in Paris 1940-44, "Parisians under occupation" ("Les Parisiens sous l 'Occupation"). These are the only color photographs taken in Paris during this period. Color film, sunny days, smiles of the French, welcoming the invaders.

The French do not like these photographs, as they show the carefree life of Paris and the Parisians' acceptance of German rule. The Paris City Hall categorically forbade advertising the exhibition of these photographs, which took place in the summer of 2008, on the streets and demanded that it be accompanied by special explanations about how Parisians had to endure the Nazis.

They say there is a long history that happened when the Germans signed the act of surrender:

The captured Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, seeing the French General Tassigny, asked Zhukov: "We lost the war to Russia, England and America. But it turns out that France also defeated us. Where and when?"

Paris occupied 1941 - 44

Poster of the exhibition at the Arc de Triomphe at the corner of Tilsit and Champs Elysees

Market day in the Nation quarter

Baths on the Seine

At the Vincennes Zoo

At the Vincennes Zoo

The caption to the photo says that the fuel for this bus was "city gas"

Cycle taxi in Paris

Cycle taxi in front of the Maxim restaurant on Mira street

Weighing jockeys at Longshan Racecourse

View of Notre Dame Cathedral from the Saint Bernard embankment

Showcase with a photograph of Collaborating Marshal Pétain

Lovers in the Luxembourg Gardens

The Nazis walk the streets of Paris

Jewess on Rue de Rivoli

A propaganda poster issued after the bombing of Rouen by British aircraft in April 1944. In Rouen, as you know, the British executed the national heroine of France, Jeanne d'Arc. The inscription on the poster reads: "Murderers always return … to the scene of the crime."

Famous milliners Rosa Valois, Madame le Monier and Madame Agnes at the Longshan hippodrome

Les Halles

Les Halles

Les Halles

Les Halles

Les Halles

Cinema on rue Rivoli in Paris

Cinema

Commandant's office at the corner of 4 September Street and Opera Avenue

Fashion glasses

The top photo shows a car fueled by charcoal. The bottom picture shows a car running on compressed gas.

In the Trocadero square

On the Rue de Rivoli in Paris

The inscription on the poster reads: "If you want to earn more … come to work in Germany"

Nazi propaganda on the Champs Elysees, the text on the poster in the center: "They donate blood, and you give labor to save Europe from Bolshevism"

Germans at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe

Orchestra on Republic Square

Parisians playing cards in the Luxembourg Gardens

Parisians rest at the fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens

Parisian

Parisian women in the garden of the Palais Royal

Paris rickshaw

Parisian cafe

Concorde Square

Beach near the Carrousel Bridge

Fishermen on the River Seine in Paris

Parisian fiberglass shoes with wooden last

Street sign

Paris street

Rue Rosier in the Jewish quarter of Marais, during the occupation, Jews wore a yellow star on their chest

Fair in the Nation quarter

For comparison: Berlin and Stalingrad

Berlin in July 1945

The founder of the German company Chronos-Media, which has the largest archive of old videotape, Konstantin von zur Müelen posted a unique color recording made in July 1945. It captures Berlin just two months after the surrender of Nazi Germany.

At this time, the German capital was already divided by the allies into four zones of influence. In Berlin, street signs began to appear in Russian, and a poster with the image of Generalissimo Joseph Stalin was installed in the city center.

The destroyed Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, the ruins around Alexanderplatz, the central square of Berlin, the remains of bombed-out military equipment on the streets of the city, residents raking the rubble - this is how the capital of the Third Reich appears to the viewer after the surrender of the Nazis.

At the end of the video footage is shown taken from the plane. They show a more complete picture of the destruction of Berlin as a result of the Allied bombing. Ruins of houses are visible along one of Berlin's main boulevards, Unter den Linden, leading from the Brandenburg Gate.

The final Act of Germany's unconditional surrender, obliging German servicemen to end resistance, surrender personnel and transfer materiel of the armed forces to the enemy, that is, actually marking Germany's withdrawal from the war, was signed on May 8 in the Karlshorst suburb of Berlin at 22:43 central - European time (May 9 at 0:43 Moscow time).

The document on behalf of the German Wehrmacht was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Von Friedeburg, and Colonel-General of Aviation Hans-Jürgen Stumpf. The USSR was represented by the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov, the Allies - by the Chief Marshal of the British Air Force Arthur Tedder.

Revival of Stalingrad

Documentary footage of the restoration of the city after the great battle. The film was filmed in 1947-48.