Ronald C. Rosbottom

An excellent example of two phenomena: the human desire to describe past events as simple stories, and that when one examines an historical event or period more and more closely, our preconceptions are challenged by the complex nature of reality. Prof. Rosbottom has written an account of the German occupation of Paris, 1940 - 1944, that does not seem to have any clear prejudices. Consequently the story is confusing, the accounts of resistance are minimized and one cannot know if anyone is truly responsible for anything or if a complex organic situation (á la Camus) defines our actions. In a story like this one, even the bravest, those who sacrifice themselves, may seem selfish or naive. What did they ultimately accomplish? Who paid a price for their activities? [A gift from Dr. D.]… (more)

Rosbottom offers us a deep view of what Paris was like for the occupied and the occupier during the German occupation - 1940 - 1944. He looks at the individuals who comprised the Resistance (he takes a closer look at the youths who made up the majority of the resistance in, Sudden Courage) and the circumstances and reasoning that motivated them. A large number of them ended up executed. The "Brigades," French civilian clothes policemen would, Rosbottom explains, spend months tailing and staking out suspects, even allowing acts of resistance to occur if they thought they could snare important Resistance leaders. The Resistance covered those who simply distributed encouraging underground newspapers to those individuals committing sabotage and assassination. When the author informs us that the The Brigades caught 1500 members in a given time, the reader understands the claim that life expectancy for active Resistance members was six weeks. The most painful part of the book related to families. During the sweeps of July 16-17, 1942, the French police rounded up children between the ages of two to sixteen. "It was," says Rosbottom, "the most significant mistake of the Vichy government...." Rosbottom is saying something of great import here. The Nazis could not have apprehended, deported and murdered foreign and French Jews without the help of the French police. And tragically, the French police accommodated the occupiers efficiently. "It is the separation of children from their parents that most affects the French population...." Rosbottom quotes a report. The recuse by many gentile French citizens of their Jewish neighbors and friends does not balance the unforgivable collaboration by the French police. "Paris will never be able to erase its responsibility for the roundups," Rosbottom concludes. And even here, when 13,000 Jews were rounded up by the French police on July 16th, "the German authorities, surreptitiously evaluating the results,were apoplectic." They expected 27,500.
On a personal note, I must offer this anecdote. Serving as a translator, my father entered Paris soon after the liberation. There he listened to French families tell him details of their four-year ordeal. Later on, after my father had shipped back home and was demobilized, after I was born, he could not help repeating over and over to his six-year-old son: "It could happen here." Reading Rosbottom's book, recalling my father's words, I cannot help but understand the reaction: "Never forget."… (more)

Thorough coverage of this painful era of world history, and an important read for anyone who cares for Paris. Early on, Rosbottom bends over backwards to be "fair," with lengthy descriptions of the poor, lonely, sad, despised German soldiers stationed in a city where no one wanted to even look at them. This is a surprise? Nazi administrators are politely accommodating to the brothel madam who complains about the quality of her new clientele. So, it looks like it wasn't really all that bad, then, was it? The tone shifts when the horrific roundups begin to occur, with full assistance from the French police. The nightmare of collaborationists, moles, spies, and concierges who send tips to the Nazis (while others helped shift Jewish families from one empty apartment to another to hide and protect them) unspools. Keeping your head down and your mouth shut and following the rules was no guarantee of safety. Unless, of course, you were wealthy or creative or somehow special with friends in useful places (Cocteau and Chanel, for two rather shameful examples, who partied their way through the war in Paris while others fled for their lives or were shipped away to the end of theirs). The reckless courage of many young men and women in the loose resistance movement is impressive, and he does a good job here - and has written another book devoted to them (Sudden Courage: Youth in France Confront the Germans, 1940-1945).

Finally, the Germans begin to lose the war. Paris is liberated. And it gets uglier. The suppressed fury of the Parisians is unleashed in violent reprisals - against fellow Parisians believed to have collaborated or supported the occupiers. Women are shaved, burned, stripped and humiliated; men are shot in secret "black sites" or just dark alleys. Skeletal, traumatized PoWs or camp survivors begin to trickle back to families who barely recognize them. Vichy politicians begin to worm their way back into government; factions of Communists and Resistance fighters are at odds with each other and everyone else. It takes a long time for life to resume, and the heroes and villains are still being sorted out.

Disturbing, disheartening, tragic. But we must not forget. Not any of it.… (more)