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When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944
The spellbinding and revealing chronicle of Nazi-occupied Paris.
On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a silent and nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. Subsequently, an eerie sense of normalcy settled over the City of Light. Many Parisians keenly adapted themselves to the situation-even allied themselves with their Nazi overlords.
At the same time, amidst this darkening gloom of German ruthlessness, shortages, and curfews, a resistance arose. Parisians of all stripes -- Jews, immigrants, adolescents, communists, rightists, cultural icons such as Colette, de Beauvoir, Camus and Sartre, as well as police officers, teachers, students, and store owners -- rallied around a little known French military officer, Charles de Gaulle.
When Paris Went Dark evokes with stunning precision the detail of daily life in a city under occupation, and the brave people who fought against the darkness. Relying on a range of resources -- memoirs, diaries, letters, archives, interviews, personal histories, flyers and posters, fiction, photographs, film and historical studies -- Rosbottom has forged a groundbreaking book that will forever influence how we understand those dark years in the City of Light.
On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a silent and nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. Subsequently, an eerie sense of normalcy settled over the City of Light. Many Parisians keenly adapted themselves to the situation-even allied themselves with their Nazi overlords.
At the same time, amidst this darkening gloom of German ruthlessness, shortages, and curfews, a resistance arose. Parisians of all stripes -- Jews, immigrants, adolescents, communists, rightists, cultural icons such as Colette, de Beauvoir, Camus and Sartre, as well as police officers, teachers, students, and store owners -- rallied around a little known French military officer, Charles de Gaulle.
When Paris Went Dark evokes with stunning precision the detail of daily life in a city under occupation, and the brave people who fought against the darkness. Relying on a range of resources -- memoirs, diaries, letters, archives, interviews, personal histories, flyers and posters, fiction, photographs, film and historical studies -- Rosbottom has forged a groundbreaking book that will forever influence how we understand those dark years in the City of Light.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published August 5, 2014
About the author
Ronald C. Rosbottom
5 books24 followersRonald C. Rosbottom is a Professor at at Amherst College. He has edited three essay collections and has written two monographs on French novelists.
At Amherst, Ron is the holder of the Winifred Arms Professorship in the Arts and Humanities and professor of French and European studies. He has also been an academic administrator and planner and former dean of the faculty. His classes have included the 18th-century British and French novel, the history of ideas, literary criticism, art history of the early modern and modern periods, the history of the European city, especially of Paris, fictional and documentary film, Napoleon and his legends, the literature of World War I, and, most recently World War II and the European imagination. Ron has published well over a hundred articles and book reviews, has edited three essay collections and has written two monographs on French novelists.
At Amherst, Ron is the holder of the Winifred Arms Professorship in the Arts and Humanities and professor of French and European studies. He has also been an academic administrator and planner and former dean of the faculty. His classes have included the 18th-century British and French novel, the history of ideas, literary criticism, art history of the early modern and modern periods, the history of the European city, especially of Paris, fictional and documentary film, Napoleon and his legends, the literature of World War I, and, most recently World War II and the European imagination. Ron has published well over a hundred articles and book reviews, has edited three essay collections and has written two monographs on French novelists.
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February 27, 2022
“The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay,
I heard the laughter of her heart in ever street café.
The last time I saw Paris, her trees were dressed for spring,
And lovers walked beneath those trees and birds found songs to sing.
I dodged the same old taxicabs that I had dodged for years,
The chorus of their squeaky horns was music to my ears.
The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay,
No matter how they change her, I’ll remember her that way.”
- Jerome Kern, The Last Time I Saw Paris
“For the majority of us, Paris is an unknown land. We approach her with mixed feelings: superiority, curiosity, and nervous anticipation. The name of Paris evokes something special. Paris – our grandfathers saw it at the time of the war that offered the imperial crown to the kings of Prussia. And in their mouth, the word ‘Paris’ had a mysterious, extraordinary sound. Now we are there and we can enjoy it at our liberty.”
- The German Guide to Paris: What to Do in Paris (1940)
Taking on the German occupation of Paris during World War II is a pretty tall task. It’s not a single historical incident, or even a series of incidents. There are, of course, individual moments that can be covered in the traditional way of histories, but the Occupation comprised so much more than discrete moments. It was an experience, a sensation, a mood. The most remarkable thing about Ronald Rosbottom’s When Paris Went Dark is how well it captures the elusive nature of this four year period, when one of the most famous cities on Earth was under the jackbooted heels of the world’s nastiest squatters.
Rosbottom studied at the Sorbonne, speaks French, and has an enormous affection for Paris that is evident on almost every page. His love for the city drives his narrative, as does his intimate knowledge of its physical layout, its customs, and its history.
When Paris Went Dark unfolds in overall chronological fashion (and includes a timeline, which is helpful!), but is interspersed with a number of thematic chapters that look closer at specific subjects. In telling this story, Rosbottom employs a multidisciplinary approach. As you would expect, he relies on primary sources – eyewitness testimonials, diaries and journals, official reports – to tell individual stories. (This includes the observations of Nazi occupiers, which are both chilling and oblivious, which is about what I’ve come to expect from Nazis).
Rosbottom also interprets the Occupation through the prism of the arts and architecture, from the relatively pain-free experience of Pablo Picasso, to the posthumously-published novels of the drastically-less fortunate Irene Némirovsky, who wonderfully captured the flight of refugees from Paris before being arrested, deported, and dying of typhus in Auschwitz. Oftentimes, Rosbottom discusses the Occupation using verbiage recognizable by anyone who has read Jane Jacobs. Paris becomes a living organism, and the Nazis a vector-borne disease. Of course, the Nazis being German, they couldn’t help but be a model of efficiency, even in the realm of imposing themselves on unwilling populations:
My favorite parts of When Paris Went Dark consist of Rosbottom’s attempts to evoke how terribly odd it must have been to have been subjected to this “uncanny” appropriation: to see the familiar streets of your hometown filled with foreign soldiers and weaponry; to see familiar buildings draped in strange banners and flags; to suddenly be cut off from certain avenues, certain stores, even entire neighborhoods. It is hard to imagine how arbitrary it must have all seemed, especially because this was Paris, the capital of Europe. Rosbottom really tries to give you an inkling of the day-to-day details. He discusses what it must have been like to stand in long lines with your ration cards, never knowing what would be available. He notes how difficult it would have been to even sit at a café, realizing that anybody might be listening. He tries to envision the thoughts of an ordinary Parisian as he or she made the morning commute on the Paris Métro with a bunch of gray-coated, hard-faced soldiers who held enormous inherent leverage over their very existence.
For obvious reasons, large parts of When Paris Went Dark are given over to the reactions of Paris’s citizens, those who resisted, those who collaborated, and the vast majority, who didn't fit neatly into either box. This is a topic that has long been historically sensitive, and remains so to this day. The notion of resistance – and specifically, La Résistance – carries great importance to French identity, helping to salve the wounds of their epic, Jean-van-de-Velde-at-the-’99-Open-Championship-like collapse in 1940.
Rosbottom is not writing a history of the Resistance, but he does a solid job with the materiel. He takes the modern view that the Resistance provided more symbolic than military value. His views on so-called collaborators is more pointed. He is extremely skeptical of French treatment of the Jews, both foreign and French-born. Specifically, he has nothing but scorn for the extremely aggressive Vichy police and their gleeful anti-Semitic roundups, which certainly did not seem to require much in the way of Heinrich Himmler’s encouragement. (To this end, Rosbottom also includes a fascinating section on the oftentimes life-or-death role played by concierges). On the other hand, he is far more nuanced about the issue of every day collaboration, asking the question: Where is the line? Did you collaborate if you smiled at a German? Said thank you? Sold a German a drink? Worked in one of their offices? Went on a date? Engaged in collaboration horizontale?
(For whatever reason, prostitutes did not pay much of a price for intimate associations with Germans, perhaps because they came at a price. As Rosbottom notes, other women accused of sexually engaging the enemy suffered much worse, targeted for misogynistic retributions, usually at the hands of France's emasculated males).
The question, implicit in a book like this, becomes: What would you do? It is easy to say that you would have knocked out a German infantryman, stolen his MP 40, used that gun to wipe out a platoon, used those weapons to arm your secret cell, hide out from the Nazis, blow up a train, and then race to Normandy in time to give the Allies a high-five as they came ashore on Omaha Beach. The reality, though, if you put yourself in those shoes, is that you probably would have done what most people did, and that is simply survive, whatever that took. As Rosbottom shows, when you’re coexisting with the Nazis, that is no easy task.
I heard the laughter of her heart in ever street café.
The last time I saw Paris, her trees were dressed for spring,
And lovers walked beneath those trees and birds found songs to sing.
I dodged the same old taxicabs that I had dodged for years,
The chorus of their squeaky horns was music to my ears.
The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay,
No matter how they change her, I’ll remember her that way.”
- Jerome Kern, The Last Time I Saw Paris
“For the majority of us, Paris is an unknown land. We approach her with mixed feelings: superiority, curiosity, and nervous anticipation. The name of Paris evokes something special. Paris – our grandfathers saw it at the time of the war that offered the imperial crown to the kings of Prussia. And in their mouth, the word ‘Paris’ had a mysterious, extraordinary sound. Now we are there and we can enjoy it at our liberty.”
- The German Guide to Paris: What to Do in Paris (1940)
Taking on the German occupation of Paris during World War II is a pretty tall task. It’s not a single historical incident, or even a series of incidents. There are, of course, individual moments that can be covered in the traditional way of histories, but the Occupation comprised so much more than discrete moments. It was an experience, a sensation, a mood. The most remarkable thing about Ronald Rosbottom’s When Paris Went Dark is how well it captures the elusive nature of this four year period, when one of the most famous cities on Earth was under the jackbooted heels of the world’s nastiest squatters.
Rosbottom studied at the Sorbonne, speaks French, and has an enormous affection for Paris that is evident on almost every page. His love for the city drives his narrative, as does his intimate knowledge of its physical layout, its customs, and its history.
When Paris Went Dark unfolds in overall chronological fashion (and includes a timeline, which is helpful!), but is interspersed with a number of thematic chapters that look closer at specific subjects. In telling this story, Rosbottom employs a multidisciplinary approach. As you would expect, he relies on primary sources – eyewitness testimonials, diaries and journals, official reports – to tell individual stories. (This includes the observations of Nazi occupiers, which are both chilling and oblivious, which is about what I’ve come to expect from Nazis).
Rosbottom also interprets the Occupation through the prism of the arts and architecture, from the relatively pain-free experience of Pablo Picasso, to the posthumously-published novels of the drastically-less fortunate Irene Némirovsky, who wonderfully captured the flight of refugees from Paris before being arrested, deported, and dying of typhus in Auschwitz. Oftentimes, Rosbottom discusses the Occupation using verbiage recognizable by anyone who has read Jane Jacobs. Paris becomes a living organism, and the Nazis a vector-borne disease. Of course, the Nazis being German, they couldn’t help but be a model of efficiency, even in the realm of imposing themselves on unwilling populations:
The Germans were nothing if not planners. Even before the Occupation their spies had long been at work in Paris, and Berlin had been studying the public records of the city of Paris’s architectural office for months in advance. They knew who lived in which apartment houses, which buildings were publicly owned, and which were private. They knew the location of every bank, art gallery, record-keeping depot, insurance company, and warehouse. They had studied blueprints and site drawings so they knew which buildings had multiple entrances. They knew the sewer system and the underground railroad and even understood the labyrinthine nature of Paris’s mined-out limestone quarries. They knew the specialties and locations of all major hospitals and clinics. They had learned which lycées and schools had extensive playing fields. They had a list of all the bordellos of Paris and had already selected those that would be reserved for their own men. They had decided which restaurants and which cinemas would be open only to German authorities. They had the names of every wealthy Jewish family and which bank vaults contained their most valuable belongings. They knew which works of art had been removed from which museums and in most cases where those works had been taken. They knew of the census that the French had taken of foreign immigrants. They knew the numbers of rooms that each hotel contained. They knew the telephone and pneumatic-tube systems of the city. They knew who had telephones and where the switchboards were. They knew the intricacies of the river that passed through Paris, its docks and warehouses.
My favorite parts of When Paris Went Dark consist of Rosbottom’s attempts to evoke how terribly odd it must have been to have been subjected to this “uncanny” appropriation: to see the familiar streets of your hometown filled with foreign soldiers and weaponry; to see familiar buildings draped in strange banners and flags; to suddenly be cut off from certain avenues, certain stores, even entire neighborhoods. It is hard to imagine how arbitrary it must have all seemed, especially because this was Paris, the capital of Europe. Rosbottom really tries to give you an inkling of the day-to-day details. He discusses what it must have been like to stand in long lines with your ration cards, never knowing what would be available. He notes how difficult it would have been to even sit at a café, realizing that anybody might be listening. He tries to envision the thoughts of an ordinary Parisian as he or she made the morning commute on the Paris Métro with a bunch of gray-coated, hard-faced soldiers who held enormous inherent leverage over their very existence.
For obvious reasons, large parts of When Paris Went Dark are given over to the reactions of Paris’s citizens, those who resisted, those who collaborated, and the vast majority, who didn't fit neatly into either box. This is a topic that has long been historically sensitive, and remains so to this day. The notion of resistance – and specifically, La Résistance – carries great importance to French identity, helping to salve the wounds of their epic, Jean-van-de-Velde-at-the-’99-Open-Championship-like collapse in 1940.
Rosbottom is not writing a history of the Resistance, but he does a solid job with the materiel. He takes the modern view that the Resistance provided more symbolic than military value. His views on so-called collaborators is more pointed. He is extremely skeptical of French treatment of the Jews, both foreign and French-born. Specifically, he has nothing but scorn for the extremely aggressive Vichy police and their gleeful anti-Semitic roundups, which certainly did not seem to require much in the way of Heinrich Himmler’s encouragement. (To this end, Rosbottom also includes a fascinating section on the oftentimes life-or-death role played by concierges). On the other hand, he is far more nuanced about the issue of every day collaboration, asking the question: Where is the line? Did you collaborate if you smiled at a German? Said thank you? Sold a German a drink? Worked in one of their offices? Went on a date? Engaged in collaboration horizontale?
(For whatever reason, prostitutes did not pay much of a price for intimate associations with Germans, perhaps because they came at a price. As Rosbottom notes, other women accused of sexually engaging the enemy suffered much worse, targeted for misogynistic retributions, usually at the hands of France's emasculated males).
The question, implicit in a book like this, becomes: What would you do? It is easy to say that you would have knocked out a German infantryman, stolen his MP 40, used that gun to wipe out a platoon, used those weapons to arm your secret cell, hide out from the Nazis, blow up a train, and then race to Normandy in time to give the Allies a high-five as they came ashore on Omaha Beach. The reality, though, if you put yourself in those shoes, is that you probably would have done what most people did, and that is simply survive, whatever that took. As Rosbottom shows, when you’re coexisting with the Nazis, that is no easy task.
September 7, 2018
A well-researched and unbiased book which allowed me to compare the type of occupation introduced in Paris, of which I knew little, with the occupation in Warsaw, Poland, of which I know quite a lot. A very recommendable read.
December 16, 2014
I rarely, rarely, write negative reviews about books I've read. I figure that taste is subjective, and just because I didn't like something doesn't mean it's "bad." But I take exception with this book; it infuriated me. It is not necessarily history, but a 400-page long reflection on communal psychology with some anecdotes thrown in. I know everyone can't be Hampton Sides or Erik Larson, but this is not a book about what it was like to live in Paris under Nazi Occupation. It is what Mr. Rosbottom believes it would be like. Major episodes in history are glossed over--take the Velodrome Rafle, for example, in which 13,000 Jews were rounded up and kept for over a week in a racing stadium with no food or water before they were shipped off to Drancy and then Auschwitz--the author gives this two and a half pages, while he dedicates a chapter about the essence of the Paris apartment, and an excessively long segment about Camus' The Plague that he dissects in microdetail. The nuggets of first-hand accounts are sparse, interesting but also a bit obvious--quoting Irene Nemirovsky, for example, or Dora Bruder, both basic texts about this time period. Again, I hate to complain, but there are better books out there. Americans in Paris by Charles Glass gives a much more interesting look at the city under Occupation, and it's engaging, factual and exceptionally researched. This book, I'm afraid, limps sadly in its shadow. When Paris Went Dark is not historic non-fiction; it is an essay. One very long, tedious essay.
August 19, 2015
Last month, I attended a book reading at a local bookstore that was given by the author, who later graciously autographed my copy of this book. For personal reasons, Paris is a city that thrills and excites my imagination and interest. (I grew up on stories of "la Ville-Lumière" from my father, who had spent considerable time in Paris, where he had received his discharge from the U.S. Army in July 1946.) I feel lucky to have twice visited there and walked along many of its grand boulevards and streets. It is a place where the past is not dead, but rather coexists with the present.
In reading this book, I came to know of a Paris during the darkest period of its history, when it was under German control between June 14, 1940 and August 25, 1944. I like to cite some passages that helped to make it so startlingly clear in my mind how a city so renowned for its culture, architecture, and free spirit was declared an open city by the French government, and gradually absorbed by its German conquerors:
1) “… almost four million inhabitants fled Paris and its environs in late May and early June [1940] rather than await the increasingly inevitable occupation of their precious capital. Several memoirists mention that Parisian boulevards soon resembled empty movie sets... Groceries and bakeries were closed, their entrances barricaded; automobiles had vanished;"
2) In mid-June of 1940, the German army arrived before Paris, exuberant but stunned. They could see in the distance the Eiffel Tower, standing as confidently over the world's most recognized cityscape as when it had first appeared there just fifty-one years earlier. The Wehrmacht had been almost as surprised as the French at the ease of their foray into the Low Countries and France."
3) "About 6:00 [AM} on Friday, June 28, 1940, a convoy of convertible Mercedes limousines ... entered nearly abandoned Paris, zigzagging around military barriers and passing a few staring Parisian police officers and bystanders. They had come from the northeast, speeding down Avenue de Flandre, then Rue La Fayette, to ... the Opéra de Paris. Adolf Hitler was tense with excitement." (The author provides a diagram, showing the route that Hitler and his entourage followed that day. In all, Hitler spent 4 hours in Paris, marvelling over its architecture and showing no interest in its neighborhoods or restaurants, markets, and cafés. It would prove to be his one and only trip to the city.)
4) "The German occupiers wanted to unmake dynamic Paris, to create a static simulacrum, preserving its most banal characteristics for their own enjoyment. They thought they could persuade the world that they, too, were culturally and aesthetically sensitive, while keeping Parisians literally in line. For a time, the strategy seemed to work."
5) "The Parisian apartment figures prominently in recollections of the Occupation. An apartment was more than a place of expected physical comfort; it was also a site of psychological retreat from confusion and uncertainty. Yet... the apartment could be a trap, and many wrote of feeling closed in there by events and police, always worrying about how they would escape should there be an ominous knock at the door."
"When Paris Went Dark" is highly readable and full of personal accounts -- from both sides of the Occupation, French and German, Jew and Gentile -- which help to give the reader a tangible sense of immediacy to an era now fast fading into history as the Second World War generation becomes fewer in number. It also offers an examination into France's continuing efforts to come to grips with this dark chapter in its history with which it remains in many respects unreconciled. I'm so glad I read this book because I now want to learn so much more about this epoch.
In reading this book, I came to know of a Paris during the darkest period of its history, when it was under German control between June 14, 1940 and August 25, 1944. I like to cite some passages that helped to make it so startlingly clear in my mind how a city so renowned for its culture, architecture, and free spirit was declared an open city by the French government, and gradually absorbed by its German conquerors:
1) “… almost four million inhabitants fled Paris and its environs in late May and early June [1940] rather than await the increasingly inevitable occupation of their precious capital. Several memoirists mention that Parisian boulevards soon resembled empty movie sets... Groceries and bakeries were closed, their entrances barricaded; automobiles had vanished;"
2) In mid-June of 1940, the German army arrived before Paris, exuberant but stunned. They could see in the distance the Eiffel Tower, standing as confidently over the world's most recognized cityscape as when it had first appeared there just fifty-one years earlier. The Wehrmacht had been almost as surprised as the French at the ease of their foray into the Low Countries and France."
3) "About 6:00 [AM} on Friday, June 28, 1940, a convoy of convertible Mercedes limousines ... entered nearly abandoned Paris, zigzagging around military barriers and passing a few staring Parisian police officers and bystanders. They had come from the northeast, speeding down Avenue de Flandre, then Rue La Fayette, to ... the Opéra de Paris. Adolf Hitler was tense with excitement." (The author provides a diagram, showing the route that Hitler and his entourage followed that day. In all, Hitler spent 4 hours in Paris, marvelling over its architecture and showing no interest in its neighborhoods or restaurants, markets, and cafés. It would prove to be his one and only trip to the city.)
4) "The German occupiers wanted to unmake dynamic Paris, to create a static simulacrum, preserving its most banal characteristics for their own enjoyment. They thought they could persuade the world that they, too, were culturally and aesthetically sensitive, while keeping Parisians literally in line. For a time, the strategy seemed to work."
5) "The Parisian apartment figures prominently in recollections of the Occupation. An apartment was more than a place of expected physical comfort; it was also a site of psychological retreat from confusion and uncertainty. Yet... the apartment could be a trap, and many wrote of feeling closed in there by events and police, always worrying about how they would escape should there be an ominous knock at the door."
"When Paris Went Dark" is highly readable and full of personal accounts -- from both sides of the Occupation, French and German, Jew and Gentile -- which help to give the reader a tangible sense of immediacy to an era now fast fading into history as the Second World War generation becomes fewer in number. It also offers an examination into France's continuing efforts to come to grips with this dark chapter in its history with which it remains in many respects unreconciled. I'm so glad I read this book because I now want to learn so much more about this epoch.
October 23, 2018
An excellent report on what it was like to be in Paris during the Nazi occupation ... and a convincing denunciation of the way the French gave in to the Nazis at every step of the way and became unresisting (enthusiastic?) collaborators in the deportation of Jews to their deaths
... In March 1942, the Germans, with the close support of the French police, began putting Jews on to trains and shipping them from Bobigny and Drancy to an "unknown destination" in Germany or Poland … primarily to Auschwitz
... the Grand Rafle (July 1942) … over two days and in dozens of Parisian neighborhoods, 13,000 Jews were taken from their homes, from the hiding places, from hospitals, from schools, retirement homes and even asylums … this included more then 4,000 children aged 2-14, abducted from classrooms and nurseries ... Some children who were not taken returned home to find their parents gone and their apartments sealed
... There is no way Germans could have succeeded as well as they did in rounding up Jews if it had not been for the help of local police forces … the Nazis did not have enough personnel to track and keep files on Jews or plan and carry out raids and arrests ... nor did they know the labyrinth of the streets of Paris ... About 4500 French policemen organized and participated in the operation ... The Germans were nowhere to be seen ... There exists no record of even a single French policeman having refused to participate in his assignment
... In March 1942, the Germans, with the close support of the French police, began putting Jews on to trains and shipping them from Bobigny and Drancy to an "unknown destination" in Germany or Poland … primarily to Auschwitz
... the Grand Rafle (July 1942) … over two days and in dozens of Parisian neighborhoods, 13,000 Jews were taken from their homes, from the hiding places, from hospitals, from schools, retirement homes and even asylums … this included more then 4,000 children aged 2-14, abducted from classrooms and nurseries ... Some children who were not taken returned home to find their parents gone and their apartments sealed
... There is no way Germans could have succeeded as well as they did in rounding up Jews if it had not been for the help of local police forces … the Nazis did not have enough personnel to track and keep files on Jews or plan and carry out raids and arrests ... nor did they know the labyrinth of the streets of Paris ... About 4500 French policemen organized and participated in the operation ... The Germans were nowhere to be seen ... There exists no record of even a single French policeman having refused to participate in his assignment
January 28, 2016
It is almost impossible to think of the Swastika flying over the Eiffel Tower but it happened from 1940 - 1944 when the Nazis occupied the City of Light. Paris was declared an open city to save it from destruction and so began a very strange and tense relationship among the citizens, the occupiers, the collaborators, and Vichy.
How does one occupy a city as large and diverse as Paris...the Hague Convention of 1907 defined the behaviour expected with phrases such as "take all the measures in his (the occupier) power to restore and ensure, as far as possible, public order and civil life while respecting unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country". Of course, the phrase "as far as possible" gave the Nazis a loophole to do as they pleased and still declare that they were abiding by the Convention.
Initially the Parisians pretty much ignored the Nazis until food shortages, restrictions and the rounding up of the Jews began. That is when the resistance sprang to life, although there is much myth about the organized resistance and how much difference it made.
The author tackles some difficult questions.....such as the role of Maréchal Petain and collaboration vs cooperation. He is very straight forward in his analysis and raises issues that still haunt the country of France. I would recommend this book for the WWII history buff.
How does one occupy a city as large and diverse as Paris...the Hague Convention of 1907 defined the behaviour expected with phrases such as "take all the measures in his (the occupier) power to restore and ensure, as far as possible, public order and civil life while respecting unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country". Of course, the phrase "as far as possible" gave the Nazis a loophole to do as they pleased and still declare that they were abiding by the Convention.
Initially the Parisians pretty much ignored the Nazis until food shortages, restrictions and the rounding up of the Jews began. That is when the resistance sprang to life, although there is much myth about the organized resistance and how much difference it made.
The author tackles some difficult questions.....such as the role of Maréchal Petain and collaboration vs cooperation. He is very straight forward in his analysis and raises issues that still haunt the country of France. I would recommend this book for the WWII history buff.
August 13, 2023
When I was in Paris on my honeymoon in 1976, I went with my husband, who is a military history buff, to the War Museum at the Invalides in Paris. When we came to the part in the exhibit that covered Frances surrender to the Germans in 1940, we were stunned to find that the surrender and the subsequent occupation was termed "France Changes her Tactics." We were further surprised to find Charles DeGaulle portrayed as leading the D-Day invasion. At the time we just thought the French were being weird, but later we discovered that apparently these seemingly farcical statements in a museum were part of a much larger rationalization for both the collapse of France in 1940 and its subsequent behavior during the 4-year German occupation. Ronald Rosbottom's excellent When Paris Went Dark explores the blows to the proud French psyche that both the defeat in 1940 and the long occupation of the capital caused.
Using interviews with people who lived in Paris during the war as well as diaries, memoirs and other primary sources, the author dispels the myth of the "Heroic Resistance" and shows how the French police were willing collaborators with the occupation forces (a fact that the French government did not admit to until 1995). He also shows how the almost orgiastic revenge on suspected collaborationist citizens (primarily women who had sexual relations with the German occupiers) was in large part to assuage the larger communal guilt of having been defeated.
This is an enlightening story of feckless government and military officials, the venality of opportunistic Parisians, the daily grind of wartime survival and the few brave who individuals who did fight against the Nazis.
Using interviews with people who lived in Paris during the war as well as diaries, memoirs and other primary sources, the author dispels the myth of the "Heroic Resistance" and shows how the French police were willing collaborators with the occupation forces (a fact that the French government did not admit to until 1995). He also shows how the almost orgiastic revenge on suspected collaborationist citizens (primarily women who had sexual relations with the German occupiers) was in large part to assuage the larger communal guilt of having been defeated.
This is an enlightening story of feckless government and military officials, the venality of opportunistic Parisians, the daily grind of wartime survival and the few brave who individuals who did fight against the Nazis.
September 7, 2018
This was okay. Fairly interesting at times. Tale of how Parisians coped with occupation. Mostly anecdotal. But how else would the tale of Parisians coping with occupation be told? History is anecdotal. I once had a history professor who said we need stories to hang our hats on. We need the stories to add validity to the experience. They make the facts real. And Rosbottom acknowledges, as many don't today, that we have to look at the experience through the eyes of the '40s and not those of the 21st century.
Why do Americans smile so much?
Why do Americans smile so much?
September 14, 2014
I absolutely loved the subject matter of this book--my favorite city in its blackest hour. It was actually difficult to read at times because I like to forget how terrible the French were to each other and how quickly the French police joined the Germans in hunting down Jewish families. Rosbottom did a fine job at showing the complexities of living in Paris at the time and his book left me with a sense of the monumental waste of war and the amazing gift of liberty I enjoy as an American. I was a bit disappointed in Rosbottom's decision to write topically instead of chronologically. I know why he did it this way, but it didn't quite work for me. Overall, however, this is a must read for anyone who is interested in Paris's brutal, confusing, and mythologized role in World War II.
September 19, 2019
Comprehensive view of Paris in desperate times
When Paris Went Dark is a fascinating look at this city under its years of Nazi occupation during World War 2. It presents a very thorough view of life in that city under very trying and desperate times. While Paris managed to escape many of the horrors that befell other Nazi occupied cities (the utter destruction of Warsaw, Poland comes to mind), the impact was still deep. The effects of this time are still felt to this day as the French still struggle to come to terms with the war and its impact on their national psyche, either as a defeated people, collaborators, members of the resistance, or the passive citizens who were none of the above. This books pointed out that the Parisian police were definitely not neutral but were largely Nazi collaborators who arrested and deported many prisoners to concentration camps, almost without a German presence to help them. Psychologically some Parisians resisted the Germans. Others gave varying degrees of support to their Nazi overlords. Other French citizens were victims of outright enslavement and transported to Germany to work on industry while German men were in the army prosecuting a brutal war.
I’ve read a few books about the effects of the war on France. I felt unsatisfied with most of these books because I didn’t really get a sense of what the real impact of the war was on everyday people. The success of this book was that it didn’t seek to focus on politicians and the military, but instead it focused on everyday people, including sometimes (to a small extent) how Germans in Paris felt as well (when viewed as occupiers). While the occupation of France is a very complex situation, this book does help make the French reaction to the situation that befell them much clearer and more understandable. It’s well worth the read.
When Paris Went Dark is a fascinating look at this city under its years of Nazi occupation during World War 2. It presents a very thorough view of life in that city under very trying and desperate times. While Paris managed to escape many of the horrors that befell other Nazi occupied cities (the utter destruction of Warsaw, Poland comes to mind), the impact was still deep. The effects of this time are still felt to this day as the French still struggle to come to terms with the war and its impact on their national psyche, either as a defeated people, collaborators, members of the resistance, or the passive citizens who were none of the above. This books pointed out that the Parisian police were definitely not neutral but were largely Nazi collaborators who arrested and deported many prisoners to concentration camps, almost without a German presence to help them. Psychologically some Parisians resisted the Germans. Others gave varying degrees of support to their Nazi overlords. Other French citizens were victims of outright enslavement and transported to Germany to work on industry while German men were in the army prosecuting a brutal war.
I’ve read a few books about the effects of the war on France. I felt unsatisfied with most of these books because I didn’t really get a sense of what the real impact of the war was on everyday people. The success of this book was that it didn’t seek to focus on politicians and the military, but instead it focused on everyday people, including sometimes (to a small extent) how Germans in Paris felt as well (when viewed as occupiers). While the occupation of France is a very complex situation, this book does help make the French reaction to the situation that befell them much clearer and more understandable. It’s well worth the read.
February 17, 2019
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Wish this had been around for my WWII students. If I'd read this as a paperback it would have been festooned with Post-it Notes, suffice to say that it has garnered more Highlights on my Kindle than any other book read in the past few years. There's so much I want to say about this book that I will have to gather my thoughts into a decent review before I write any more.
However, I will say that Rosbottoms portrayal of the role of the French Resistance in Paris during WWII is absolutely spot on. Do read this book to find out what really happened in those years and how Parisians coped with life in their occupied city.
This is not a book for those seeking a chronology of facts about the Occupation of Paris, nor is it a military history. If you don't know much about that aspect of the history of Paris there are many books out there that will help flesh out those facts for you. 'When Paris Went Dark ...' is a social and cultural history of Paris from 1940-1944 and it is wonderful.
However, I will say that Rosbottoms portrayal of the role of the French Resistance in Paris during WWII is absolutely spot on. Do read this book to find out what really happened in those years and how Parisians coped with life in their occupied city.
This is not a book for those seeking a chronology of facts about the Occupation of Paris, nor is it a military history. If you don't know much about that aspect of the history of Paris there are many books out there that will help flesh out those facts for you. 'When Paris Went Dark ...' is a social and cultural history of Paris from 1940-1944 and it is wonderful.
May 10, 2016
Enjoyable. Quite a bit of information. At times, you want a bit more, but it does give a pretty good view.
September 1, 2018
Rosbottom, a French instructor at Amherst College, offers a flawed account of Paris under National Socialist rule. Rather than delve into the role of communist party in the French resistance or the response of civil institutions, such as the church, trade unions, or veteran organizations, to occupation, Rosbottom devotes much space to the idea of "spatial anxiety" and "engagement with the urban landscape." In exploring the above-mentioned themes, he often plays fast and loose with his sources, for example sometimes referencing novels set in the 1940s (but written many years later) as historical evidence for his conclusions.
This is not to say that the book is without merit. It eloquently captures teenage boredom and rebellion, women's experience of standing in long lines for basic goods, and the divide within the Jewish community about how to respond to occupation. But most of these insights are not new, but rather taken from the works of authors such as Irene Nemirovksy, Charles Glass, Frederick Spott, and Rene Poznanski.
This is not to say that the book is without merit. It eloquently captures teenage boredom and rebellion, women's experience of standing in long lines for basic goods, and the divide within the Jewish community about how to respond to occupation. But most of these insights are not new, but rather taken from the works of authors such as Irene Nemirovksy, Charles Glass, Frederick Spott, and Rene Poznanski.
August 15, 2017
National Book Award Nominee for Nonfiction 2014. Rosbottom draws on Parisian memoirs, novels and interviews to convey how ordinary Parisians coped with the Germans. At first, the residents treated the German occupation as a minor annoyance. But, as the German war machine relied on the ‘bread basket’ of Europe to feed their soldiers, the French population faced ever increasing shortages and rationing. Jewish neighborhoods suffered creeping discrimination—travel restrictions, forced registrations, wearing of stars designating their faith, and so on—before mass round-ups and transportation to concentration camps.
The Germans designated parts of Paris and the country as unoccupied and were governed by the Vichy government. These areas did offer French citizens a degree of greater freedom, but were still answerable to the German government. As hardships increased for the Parisian people, so did their resistance to the German authorities—with predictable German retaliation. However, these efforts were never as prevalent as post-WWII mythologies suggest. Instead, the French population was much harsher on each other after the war. Nearly 20,000 women were shorn of their hair and humiliated for their accommodation/collaboration with their German occupiers. And then, the residents had to deal with their returning men from POW camps, and then realizing that many residents would never be returning.
Interestingly, I found The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah much more relatable as to how the German occupation impacted an average family.
The Germans designated parts of Paris and the country as unoccupied and were governed by the Vichy government. These areas did offer French citizens a degree of greater freedom, but were still answerable to the German government. As hardships increased for the Parisian people, so did their resistance to the German authorities—with predictable German retaliation. However, these efforts were never as prevalent as post-WWII mythologies suggest. Instead, the French population was much harsher on each other after the war. Nearly 20,000 women were shorn of their hair and humiliated for their accommodation/collaboration with their German occupiers. And then, the residents had to deal with their returning men from POW camps, and then realizing that many residents would never be returning.
Interestingly, I found The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah much more relatable as to how the German occupation impacted an average family.
January 17, 2016
Rosbottom’s book was not written to flatter the French. It was not written to satisfy those who cherish the idea that Parisians were resolutely brave and moral during the German occupation.
It was written to give the reader a clear-eyed view of what the occupation was really like: the continual confusion and anxiety; the increasing discomforts; the daily balancing act between collaboration and patriotic self-pride. It also details how the French view of the Occupation evolved over time, as it slowly grew more controlling and evil.
There were some gentiles in Paris who nobly tried to help French Jews. But most did not. Some fought bravely in the French underground. But the underground was never as well-organized, nor as successful, as was later believed.
Rosbottom does not end his book with de Gaulle’s triumphant return to Paris, but examines the ugliness that followed: violent retribution against “collaborators,” especially women; governmental unrest; the quick replacement of unattractive reality with soothing myths.
It was a terrible time. People experienced terrible things and often behaved in terrible ways. It is important to know the truth – and Rosbottom provides it.
It was written to give the reader a clear-eyed view of what the occupation was really like: the continual confusion and anxiety; the increasing discomforts; the daily balancing act between collaboration and patriotic self-pride. It also details how the French view of the Occupation evolved over time, as it slowly grew more controlling and evil.
There were some gentiles in Paris who nobly tried to help French Jews. But most did not. Some fought bravely in the French underground. But the underground was never as well-organized, nor as successful, as was later believed.
Rosbottom does not end his book with de Gaulle’s triumphant return to Paris, but examines the ugliness that followed: violent retribution against “collaborators,” especially women; governmental unrest; the quick replacement of unattractive reality with soothing myths.
It was a terrible time. People experienced terrible things and often behaved in terrible ways. It is important to know the truth – and Rosbottom provides it.
February 18, 2020
If you are curious about Rosbottom's speculations on occupier-occupied psychology, this book is for you. Many of this book's pages are devoted to the author's view on the communal psychology between the Nazis and Parisians between 1940-44. He delves into remarkably freudian speculations about Nazi sexual frustrations and the complex interactions between existing social structures and the German incursion. As interesting as these thoughts might be to some, I was hoping to read more about the historical development of the Nazi occupation of Paris. After all, that is what the book's title and synopsis seemed to offer. I cannot recommend this book to fellow WWII history buffs.
November 9, 2018
3.5 stars.
I liked this. It is nonfiction. This wasn't what I expected, but overall, it had a "lightness" that worked. It was full of history but what was absent was key individual people to carry the info. Instead it had many many snippets about a community and how they, as a whole, dealt with German occupation and then later, liberation. Some of the stories I have never heard before.
This was not a deep and intense look at the horrors of war, but more about French attitude and how they coped while occupied. So 3 stars.
I liked this. It is nonfiction. This wasn't what I expected, but overall, it had a "lightness" that worked. It was full of history but what was absent was key individual people to carry the info. Instead it had many many snippets about a community and how they, as a whole, dealt with German occupation and then later, liberation. Some of the stories I have never heard before.
This was not a deep and intense look at the horrors of war, but more about French attitude and how they coped while occupied. So 3 stars.
February 3, 2015
A very interesting treatment of everyday life in Paris and how it was transformed during the course of German occupation, this book qualifies as pretty good sociology as well as history. We learn how micro-sociological features such as the nature and organization of Parisian apartments, the role of the concierge, the need to wait in line, shortages in food, and changes in public transportation impacted the psyche of Parisians. Of particular interest to me are the implications of the requirement that Jews wear a yellow star which evoked both solidarity with the victims among some Parisians and a justification for prejudice among others. At the heart of this work is the ambivalence many Parisians felt toward their conquerors and the shame engendered by the rapid German advance and victory. This book provides insight into the role of the resistance. While there is no doubt as to the heroism of the resistors, the mythology of their overall importance in freeing the city is placed in a more realistic light. Lastly, the book covers the Jacobin like reaction that occurred after the city was liberated, Gaullist denials, and the on-going issues with which France continues to struggle, especially in so far as the 'Vel d'Hiv Roundup' is concerned.
January 31, 2015
A well researched history of Paris during the 2nd World War.
Very sad to discover how much of the rounding up of jews, communists, and others was done by the French police and how little active resistance to German occupation went on. Also sad to read how much illegal retribution took place after Liberation. Unfortunately Petain and the French Government of 1940 handed over a working government to the invaders. At that point, I assume, no-one knew what evil the Nazis would perpetrate- although jewish pogroms have previously blighted Europe and Russia for centuries and Nazi propaganda already suggested that more might follow.
The author also claims that the Liberation of Paris took sufficient resources away from the Allies that the German army was able to regroup behind the Siegried Line so that the war carried on into the next year with massive loss of life.
The city survived but its soul was lost. Apparently the French are still coming to terms with this history.
Well written. Thoroughly lucid.
I recommend it to anyone who might visit Paris or who takes an interest in the effects of war.
Very sad to discover how much of the rounding up of jews, communists, and others was done by the French police and how little active resistance to German occupation went on. Also sad to read how much illegal retribution took place after Liberation. Unfortunately Petain and the French Government of 1940 handed over a working government to the invaders. At that point, I assume, no-one knew what evil the Nazis would perpetrate- although jewish pogroms have previously blighted Europe and Russia for centuries and Nazi propaganda already suggested that more might follow.
The author also claims that the Liberation of Paris took sufficient resources away from the Allies that the German army was able to regroup behind the Siegried Line so that the war carried on into the next year with massive loss of life.
The city survived but its soul was lost. Apparently the French are still coming to terms with this history.
Well written. Thoroughly lucid.
I recommend it to anyone who might visit Paris or who takes an interest in the effects of war.
September 6, 2014
This is just an amazing book. I have a great understanding of the German Occupation of Paris. Mr. Rossbottom did a great job of explaining
the suffering and humiliation the Parisians experienced for the 1500 days of the Occupation. The picture that the Author painted when Hitler
entered Paris in the beginning of the Occupation will forever be seared into my memory!
To Mr. Rossbottom: thank you,thank you for writing this great book!,
the suffering and humiliation the Parisians experienced for the 1500 days of the Occupation. The picture that the Author painted when Hitler
entered Paris in the beginning of the Occupation will forever be seared into my memory!
To Mr. Rossbottom: thank you,thank you for writing this great book!,
September 27, 2014
Solid, well-researched book about the Nazi occupation of Paris, though the structure of the book--mostly thematic--and the lackluster writing take away some of the sweep of the story.
March 24, 2021
An easily readable and well-researched book. Though I haven't been to Paris and I don't plan on going too soon either, I was and still am very interested in the Occupation of the City of Light. This book provided an interesting glimpse into that dark period.
Overall, I found the book to be pretty balanced, not taking either side too much, and it helped me get a better picture of Paris during those years than merely throwing dates, figures and facts.
Overall, I found the book to be pretty balanced, not taking either side too much, and it helped me get a better picture of Paris during those years than merely throwing dates, figures and facts.
September 5, 2019
What a great book! What a horrible time, the occupation. Especially after the liberation. Great pictures, great quotes, great use of fiction in the research, too. Highly recommended!
May 24, 2015
A slog. Begins and ends with all manner of Foucaultian theory, a snooze in itself. The middle section, describing the occupation itself, is quite interesting. Yet, Rosbottom seems more interested in the meta psychology than the simple telling. All made worse by the fact that he's simply not a good writer.
"[For the Nazis,] to admire Paris was fine, but to admire the French ingenuity that created was not. . . The German occupiers wanted to unmake dynamic Paris, to create a static simulacrum, preserving its most banal characteristics for their own enjoyment."
Requiring Jews to wear the yellow star "created a mobile ghetto."
A description by a young woman of American liberation:
"Tall, big men, are relieved of every vain worry in your presence. You climb the stairs to our apartment, our doors are open, you bring packages, all as it should be. That's it, the overwhelming advantages behind which you hide your weaknesses. And what are they? No inferiority complex about their inferiority. They say "I don't much like that!" ( Literature, music, art…)… They manage so well the immensity of their ignorance, as if it were a light feather."
Interestingly, only about 47 percent of the women shorn of all hair after the occupation were accused of "collaboration horizontale." "The rest were women betrayed by their female peers because they had worked with or served the Germans, because they had ended the war a bit better off than their compatriots, or they had in other ways insulted common mores."
Possibly most interesting is his repeated praise for Jacques Chirac, for (especially in his speech of 16 July 1996), insisting that all Parisians and all French citizens "recognize the mistakes of the past--and especially those committed by the Vichy state. Nothing must block out the dismal hours of our history if we are to defend a certain idea of humanity, of liberty, and dignity. In so doing, we struggle against those dark forces that are constantly at work. This ceaseless combat is mine as much as it is yours."
"[For the Nazis,] to admire Paris was fine, but to admire the French ingenuity that created was not. . . The German occupiers wanted to unmake dynamic Paris, to create a static simulacrum, preserving its most banal characteristics for their own enjoyment."
Requiring Jews to wear the yellow star "created a mobile ghetto."
A description by a young woman of American liberation:
"Tall, big men, are relieved of every vain worry in your presence. You climb the stairs to our apartment, our doors are open, you bring packages, all as it should be. That's it, the overwhelming advantages behind which you hide your weaknesses. And what are they? No inferiority complex about their inferiority. They say "I don't much like that!" ( Literature, music, art…)… They manage so well the immensity of their ignorance, as if it were a light feather."
Interestingly, only about 47 percent of the women shorn of all hair after the occupation were accused of "collaboration horizontale." "The rest were women betrayed by their female peers because they had worked with or served the Germans, because they had ended the war a bit better off than their compatriots, or they had in other ways insulted common mores."
Possibly most interesting is his repeated praise for Jacques Chirac, for (especially in his speech of 16 July 1996), insisting that all Parisians and all French citizens "recognize the mistakes of the past--and especially those committed by the Vichy state. Nothing must block out the dismal hours of our history if we are to defend a certain idea of humanity, of liberty, and dignity. In so doing, we struggle against those dark forces that are constantly at work. This ceaseless combat is mine as much as it is yours."
August 16, 2014
Although this book is history it is not merely dry facts and dates. This is story. Rosbottom used memoirs, diaries, letters, interviews and his own love of Paris to tell the story of the hearts, minds and souls of the city and people who lived through the occupation. He also tells some of the story of the occupiers using some of the same resources. The reader begins to understand that Paris, as symbol, and Parisians suffered from not just the scarcity of food and coal but also from a subtle breakdown of their very spirit. The Germans were happy to be in Paris not just because they had won the battles but because Paris was for them a symbol of culture and refinement; they believed that their own superior culture added to the mix would most certainly win over the Parisians. Of course, as Rosbottom illustrates, the people of the city were not, in most cases, very easily won. The book looks at the development of feeling and sense of resistance in the Parisians as the occupation wore on. People who first tried to simply endure progressed to stages of depression and some, then, to resistance. Though often quoting from materials written by both the French and the Germans during and after the occupation, Rosbottom is careful to remind the reader to read critically, to remember that the writer may have reason to present him/herself in a certain light. Read and think about these sources critically, he says, while also noting that the very desire to create a certain view may have been shaped by the occupation.
The book is well sourced and offers a thorough bibliography. It reads like story so those who think they don’t like to read history may find it surprising. Although I already knew the bare facts of the occupation I found myself anxious to keep reading—for the story. For anyone interested in this era, I highly recommend it. I received this book as a Giveaway from Goodreads.
The book is well sourced and offers a thorough bibliography. It reads like story so those who think they don’t like to read history may find it surprising. Although I already knew the bare facts of the occupation I found myself anxious to keep reading—for the story. For anyone interested in this era, I highly recommend it. I received this book as a Giveaway from Goodreads.
August 7, 2017
In July of 1940, with the Germans flanking the Maginot Line that stopped them in WWI, Paris was declared an open city to save it from destructive battle. France capitulated shortly after, and the Vichy government was established to help the Germans govern the once proud military nation. The next 4 years was a battle for survival, both mental and physical. Rosbottom discusses the psychological toll that the nation and people suffered to spare their city violent bombing, during a long occupation by a hereditary enemy, and reconciling the complicity of citizens and government after the war.
We don't think about the psychological toll of waiting in line. But it takes one when you have to do it every day to get rations that aren't enough. Rosbottom discusses how the Germans used lines to control the French, among many other seemingly ordinary activities. I never thought about how the layout of an apartment building could help dissidents escape or hide, or how a concierge could hold the lives of their tenants in their hands. Rossbottom covers the major events and people as well, using journals, letters, and memoirs as sources. What I found most interesting was the fine line between survival and collaboration. Dancing with that line was the key to survival during the occupation, and avoiding reprisals after the war. France is still trying to find a way to come to terms with the actions of the Vichy government and collaborator citizens. Not your typical book about war time France, but very interesting.
We don't think about the psychological toll of waiting in line. But it takes one when you have to do it every day to get rations that aren't enough. Rosbottom discusses how the Germans used lines to control the French, among many other seemingly ordinary activities. I never thought about how the layout of an apartment building could help dissidents escape or hide, or how a concierge could hold the lives of their tenants in their hands. Rossbottom covers the major events and people as well, using journals, letters, and memoirs as sources. What I found most interesting was the fine line between survival and collaboration. Dancing with that line was the key to survival during the occupation, and avoiding reprisals after the war. France is still trying to find a way to come to terms with the actions of the Vichy government and collaborator citizens. Not your typical book about war time France, but very interesting.
February 14, 2016
Phew! This book took a long time to read, but it was worth it. It did not read like a novel, like Erik Larson's books do, but it was always readable. It was more academic than Larson's books, covering a wide range of topics within the main subject, and did not spend a lot of time following any particular character. Lots of the most interesting information in the footnotes. A really fascinating read, on a topic that I did not know a whole lot about before-- daily life in Paris during the German occupation. I learned a lot, from the story behind those famous photos of Hitler touring Paris, to the way that perceived collaborators were punished and publicly humiliated after the war was over, and everything in between. I enjoyed that the author quoted extensively from contemporaneous and firsthand accounts, journals, and letters. It is the kind of book that you don't necessarily have to read cover to cover, and can pick and choose the most interesting chapters. It did drag at times, but overall, I found it enjoyable and illuminating.
April 13, 2015
When Paris Went Dark is an engaging, approachable history of daily life during the 1,500 days Paris was occupied by Nazi Germany. No dry stuff here, the author does an excellent job quoting primary source material from a wide variety of people such as the authors Colette and Simone de Beauvoir, a retired school teacher, a teenage resistance fighter, a brothel madame, young jewish women and many others. Examining daily life in occupied Paris from a social, economic and psychological standpoint, this volume brings to light a dark time in world history. Rosbottom has empathy for the Parisians yet is also balanced in his analysis of French collaboration, especially the arrest of the nation's Jews.
June 28, 2016
Very well written book on a subject that has long interested me. Because I've read so much about the Occupation over the years, there wasn't that much new here, but it was well done and had some great photos as well. As usual when I read this kind of book, I wondered how i would have behaved under the circumstances. Nice to think I'd have been a resistance hero (ha!) but I'm pretty sure I would have just tried to keep my head down and to survive as quietly as possible, just like the majority of the French.
June 25, 2015
The author put together a book about the feeling of being inside the occupied city of Paris. Both the German occupiers and the citizens are shown to be quite miserable in this Paris that is not Paris. The discussion of the spectrum of "collaboration" is worth the price of admission. And The Nazis used their genius at getting the oppressed to run the machinery of oppression. Living in Paris during the occupation was to be presented with intolerable compromises at the point of a gun.
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