Paris in World War II
The city of Paris started mobilizing for war in September 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union attacked Poland. The first defense exercise took place on the 2nd of February 1939. City workers began digging 20 kilometers of trenches in city squares and parks to be used as bomb shelters. On the 10th of March, the city distributed gas masks to civilians. Signs were posted on the 19th of March guiding Parisians to the nearest shelters. On the 23rd of August, Parisians read that German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Russian minister Vyacheslav Molotov had signed a non-aggression pact. L'Humanité, the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party, welcomed the pact. Police seized copies of the newspaper and suspended its publication. On the 31st of August, the government began evacuating 30,000 children out of the city to the countryside. That night, street lights were turned off as a measure against German air raids. News reached Paris on the 1st of September that Germany had invaded Poland. France promptly declared war on Germany.
After eight months of relative calm known as the Phoney War, the Germans struck France on the 10th of May 1940. They bypassed the Maginot Line and slipped through the Ardennes. By the 15th of May, German panzer divisions were only 35 kilometers from Laon. On the 28th of May, British soldiers withdrew from Dunkerque beaches. Paris was flooded with refugees from the battle zone. On the 3rd of June, Germans bombed Paris for the first time, targeting the Citroën automobile factory. Two hundred fifty-four people died, including 195 civilians. Prime Minister Paul Reynaud dismissed his supreme military commander Maurice Gamelin. He replaced him with Maxime Weygand, who was 73 years old. He also named Philippe Pétain, an 84-year-old hero of World War I, as deputy prime minister. Neither leader felt the Germans could be defeated. On the 8th of June, distant artillery fire could be heard in the capital. Trains filled with refugees departed Gare d'Austerlitz. On the 10th of June, the French government fled Paris to Tours and then Bordeaux. Thousands followed them out of the city. The slow-moving river of refugees took ten hours to cover 30 kilometers. Within a few days, wealthier arrondissements were nearly deserted. The population of the working-class 14th arrondissement dropped from 178,000 to 49,000.
A curfew was in effect from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.; at night, the city went dark. Rationing of food, tobacco, coal and clothing was imposed from September 1940. Every year supplies grew more scarce and prices higher. A million Parisians left the city for the provinces where there was more food and fewer Germans. Finding food soon became the first preoccupation of the Parisians. All trucks manufactured at the Citroen factory went directly to Germany. Most shipments of meat, wheat, milk produce and other agricultural products also went to Germany. What remained for the Parisians was strictly rationed following the creation on the 16th of June 1940 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Supply. Bread, fat, flour products, rice, sugar were rationed as early as the 2nd of August 1940. Butter, cheese, meat, coffee, charcuterie, eggs, oil followed on the 23rd of October 1940. Chocolate, fish, dried vegetables, potatoes, fresh vegetables, wine, tobacco came later. Products could be bought only upon presentation of coupons attributed to specific items. A new bureaucracy employing more than 9,000 city employees administered the program. The system resulted in long lines and frustrated hopes since promised products often never appeared. Thousands made the long journey by bicycle to the countryside hoping to return with vegetables, fruit, eggs and other farm products.
One of the greatest art thefts in history took place in Paris during the occupation. Nazi leaders looted the art of Jewish collectors on a grand scale. Hermann Göring visited the Jeu de Paume on the 3rd of November and spent the entire day picking out works for his private collection. He selected 27 paintings including works by Rembrandt and Van Dyck owned by Edouard de Rothschild. Fifteen railroad boxcars full of artworks were sent to Germany with Göring's personal train. Georges Braque returned to Paris in autumn 1940 and quietly continued working. Pablo Picasso resumed working in his studio on Rue des Grands-Augustins. He frequently received visitors at his studio including Germans some admiring and some suspicious. He had postcards made of his famous anti-fascist work Guernica to hand out as souvenirs to visitors. Maurice Chevalier performed a new revue in the Casino de Paris in 1941 called Bonjour Paris. The songs Ça sent si bon la France and La Chanson du maçon became hits. The Nazis asked Chevalier to perform in Berlin but he refused. He did perform for French prisoners of war in Germany and succeeded in obtaining the liberation of ten prisoners.
On the 18th of October 1940, German occupation authorities decreed that Jews would have a special status and be barred from liberal professions such as commerce and industry. On the 23rd of May 1942, Adolf Eichmann gave secret orders for the deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp. On the 29th of May all Jews over age six were required to wear the yellow Star of David badge. In July Jews were banned from all main streets movie theaters libraries parks gardens restaurants cafés and other public places. They were required to ride on the last car of metro trains. On 16, the 17th of July 1942, 13,152 Jews including 4,115 children were rounded up by the French police. Unmarried persons and couples without children went to Drancy some 20 kilometers north of Paris. Eight thousand one hundred sixty men women and children comprising families went to the Vélodrome d'Hiver stadium on Rue Nelaton in the 15th arrondissement. They were crowded together in the heat of summer with hardly any food water or hygienic facilities for five days before being sent to internment camps preludes to Auschwitz extermination camp.
On the 18th of June 1940 Parisians listening to the BBC heard Charles de Gaulle make an appeal to continue resistance against Germans. The first illegal demonstration took place on the 11th of November 1940. Students circulated handbills calling for a boycott of classes. Some 20,000 students laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe. At midday the demonstration became more provocative when some carried a floral Cross of Lorraine symbolizing De Gaulle's Free France. German soldiers arrived at 6 p.m. surrounded the students and closed metro station entrances. They charged students with fixed bayonets firing shots in air. A 28-year-old French engineer named Jacques Bonsergent was arrested after punching a German soldier. He was executed by firing squad on the 23rd of December becoming the first civilian in France executed for resistance. The first significant Resistance organization formed in September 1940 by scholars connected with Musée de l'Homme. On the 15th of December they published Résistance a four-page newspaper using the museum mimeograph machine. Boris Vildé led the group. Five students of Lycée Buffon protested teacher arrests in spring 1942. About 100 students participated chanting the teacher's name and throwing leaflets. Police tracked down and arrested five student leaders who were tried and executed on the 8th of February 1943.
On the 19th of August against opposition of De Gaulle representative Jacques Chaban-Delmas, the National Council of Resistance called for an immediate uprising. It was commanded by Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy leader of communist-led FFI. Paris police joined the uprising; a thousand policemen occupied the Prefecture of Police. On morning of the 20th of August Marcel Flouret led a small group into City Hall demanding transfer of operations. Rol-Tanguy commanded from bunker 26 meters beneath statue of Lion de Belfort Place Denfert-Rochereau communicating with catacombs. Parisians cut trees and tore paving stones to build barricades. Scattered sniping broke out between Germans Milice and Resistance. The Allies sent French 2nd Armored Division of General Leclerc to Paris. They set out early morning the 23rd of August with 16,000 men 4,200 vehicles and 200 tanks. Main force entered city morning the 25th of August. By end of morning Germans overcome and large tricolor flag hoisted on Eiffel Tower. German commander Dietrich von Choltitz signed surrender at Montparnasse train station about 3 p.m. in billiards room. De Gaulle arrived two hours later gave speech concluding Paris liberated by herself. About 2,000 Parisians killed in liberation along with 800 Resistance fighters and over 100 Free France US soldiers.
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Common questions
When did Paris start mobilizing for war in 1939?
The city of Paris started mobilizing for war in September 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union attacked Poland. The first defense exercise took place on the 2nd of February 1939.
What happened to Jewish people during the German occupation of Paris?
On the 29th of May all Jews over age six were required to wear the yellow Star of David badge. On the 16th and the 17th of July 1942, 13,152 Jews including 4,115 children were rounded up by the French police and sent to internment camps preludes to Auschwitz extermination camp.
Who led the resistance organization formed in September 1940 in Paris?
Boris Vildé led the group that formed the first significant Resistance organization in September 1940 by scholars connected with Musée de l'Homme. They published Résistance a four-page newspaper using the museum mimeograph machine.
How many civilians died when Germans bombed Paris for the first time on June 3rd 1940?
Two hundred fifty-four people died when Germans bombed Paris for the first time on the 3rd of June 1940, targeting the Citroën automobile factory. This attack included 195 civilian casualties.
When did Charles de Gaulle make his appeal to continue resistance against Germans from Paris?
On the 18th of June 1940 Parisians listening to the BBC heard Charles de Gaulle make an appeal to continue resistance against Germans. The first illegal demonstration took place on the 11th of November 1940.