The Liberation
Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
What's fascinating is that the buildings havent changed, just been cleaned up a bit !
Here is a picture dating from the construction year of "Beaubourg" (Centre Georges Pompidou by Piano and Rogers) showing that most hadn't yet changed (nor be cleaned)!
"What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
The second is the Rue de Rivoli looking towards the Louvre. The whole area and its luxury hotels (the Ritz included) was requisitioned for German superior officers.
I think the third is the entrance to the Petit Palais, where there was indeed an art exhibition for German soldiers organized by the Strength Through Joy movement.
The fourth is a parade on the Champs Elysées.
These three (2, 3, 4) are official military or Propagandastaffel photos.
I've no idea where the last one is, but they've had time to get themselves a heap of American flags! Wonder where they came from?
That said, the Americans did come prepared. They even had banknotes printed and ready to put into circulation under the name of the military territorial authority FDR wanted to take over governing France. The enthusiastic welcome and support the population gave De Gaulle shelved those plans.
(excuse the reflection on this one.)
(this is from a magazine; cropped to make presentable.)
(the new mode.) Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
Great-grandmother Gerda sometime in the 1920's. She lived to be 90 and died in 2000, so I knew her well. Great-grandfather Paavo and his taxicab in Helsinki, sometime in the 1920's: Paavo was born in 1902 and died in 1986; I remember him also. He and great-grandma Gerda lived in the then working-class, now trendy part in Helsinki called Kallio. They had a room and a kitchen where two people could not stand without bumping into each other. When the kids, grandkids and us great-grandkids visited, it would get really crowded. Although there weren't that many of us. It was just a really, really small apartment.
During their working lives Paavo drove a cab and Gerda worked as a saleslady. When I was born, they were already retired. When I visited, I'd try to read Gerda's Swedish-language magazines or chat with Paavo, who would lift me up high in the air to look at a clock that he had on the wall. For some reason, I was very fascinated with that clock. It is now in my basement; I cannot keep it in my apartment because it's too loud.
Paavo in his Winter War uniform, 1940: Gerda, Paavo and an unknown person in 1940: You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--
My father - the Ref You can't be me, I'm taken
He was also the secretary of the Leicester Cricket Asscociation which kind of got me hooked on cricket. I sometimes worked on the scoreboard at Grace Road which meant running out on a roof over the main stand with these large metal number plates that were hung on hooks.
I suppose my aversion to exercise comes from a rebellion against the physical fitness standards that my father imposed. All I can remember of early family parties was my father and his brother doing balancing acts on the lounge carpet.
But I was happy to learn later from an eminent back surgeon that sex and dancing is all you need. You can't be me, I'm taken
I like cricket a lot, but it does take a lot of time to follow a game. The Finnish Film Producers Association team wanted me to coach them, but their first quaestion was 'what is an over?' and I realised here wa too much work. You can't be me, I'm taken
