When Paris went dark: the City of Light under German occupation, 1940-1944

Chronology of the Occupation of Paris

Major personalities

Introduction : Faux Paris ; Sequestering Medusa ; Paris was different

A nation disintegrates : Preludes ; Three traumas

Waiting for Hitler : "They" arrive, and are surprised ; One who stayed, one who left ; "They" settle in ; Hitler's own tour ; The Führer's urbanophobia

Minuet (1940-1941) : How do you occupy a city? ; For some, Paris was a bubble ; Dancing the minuet ; Correct, but still Nazis ; "To bed, to bed!" ; An execution in Paris

City without a face: the occupier's lament : Paris had already welcomed the Nazis

before the occupation ; The occupiers are surprised, too ; A dreamer in exile ; Sexually occupied ; A "better" German ; Recollected solitude

Narrowed lives : Narrowing and boredom ; The apartment ; A crowded Métro ; The informer ; The queue

Dilemmas of resistance : Quoi faire? ; Resistant Paris ; Bébés terroristes ; The red poster ; A female resistance ; Who got the credit?

The most narrowed lives: the hunt for Jews : Being Jewish in Paris ; Three girls on the move ; A gold star ; The big roundup

How much longer? (1942-1944) : "You can come over now!" ; The plague ; Observers from the palace ; Signs of defeat

Liberation: a whodunit : Is Paris worth a detour? ; The beast of Sevastopol arrives ; "Tous aux barricades!" ; Why do Americans smile so much? ; Whodunit?

Angry aftermath: back on Paris time : Rediscovering purity ; "Kill all the bastards!" ; The return of lost souls

Is Paris still occupied? : De Gaulle creates a script ; Stumbling through memory ; Should we blame Paris? ; "The landscape of our confusions"

Appendix. De Gaulle's speech on the Liberation of Paris.

A nation disintegrates

Waiting for Hitler

Minuet (1940-1941)

City without a face: the occupier's lament

Narrowed lives

The dilemmas of resistance

The most narrowed lives: the hunt for Jews

How much longer? (1942-1944)

Liberation: a whodunit

Angry aftermath: back on Paris time

Is Paris still occupied?