An exhibition in Paris of color photographs of life under the German occupation has caused such a furore that it was nearly cancelled. The photographs, which were taken by an employee of a Nazi propaganda magazine, are now to be shown with new captions explaining their historical context. A controversial exhibition about Paris during World War II has caused such an uproar that it was almost cancelled. The Historical Library of the City of Paris is currently showing 270 photos taken during the German occupation from 1940 to 1944. However the library has come in for heavy criticism for not revealing that the photographer worked for a Nazi propaganda magazine and for failing to give any context to the images.
An exhibition in Paris of color photographs of life under the German occupation has caused such a furore that it was nearly cancelled. The photographs, which were taken by an employee of a Nazi propaganda magazine, are now to be shown with new captions explaining their historical context.
A controversial exhibition about Paris during World War II has caused such an uproar that it was almost cancelled.
The Historical Library of the City of Paris is currently showing 270 photos taken during the German occupation from 1940 to 1944. However the library has come in for heavy criticism for not revealing that the photographer worked for a Nazi propaganda magazine and for failing to give any context to the images.
Normal life continued. What a shock. Who doesn't know what else was going on at the time?
The photographs show a Paris that isn't that different from the one in the early 50's, with a few fascist posters added in. And it's not an invented Paris : there were people (not all) having fun in Paris in the early 40's... Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
Actually, most photos of occupied Paris were taken under the auspices of the Propagandastaffel (which had the film ), and either show German military having a good time, or life and business as usual. There were people having a good time, even an obscenely good time (have you read Patrick Modiano?), but unless you were on the make in some way, it was no doubt pretty dismal.
Yes, there's a French tendency to want to cling to a legend of WWII that is more flattering to the national ego, but there can be a contrary tendency to want to paint it all informers, collabos and champagne. As usual, I think things were in fact complicated.
I think that at all times in Paris you'd find people living in squalor and people living in luxury. The proportions certainly varied during the war, but the latter tend to be photographed more often...
And the polemic about the exhibition was about, "How dare you show picture of life going on while jews were being sent to the camps ?". Well, one of the problems of such situations is that quite often, life is going on more or less as normal. Not only for collaborators. Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
