Eiffel Tower: V for Verloren

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During the WWII German occupation of Paris (1940–1944), the Eiffel Tower became a symbol of resistance and a key military asset. French patriots cut the elevator cables to force Nazis to climb the stairs. In 1940 German soldiers had to climb to the top to hoist the swastika, but the flag was so large it blew away just a few hours later and was replaced by a smaller one. Later the Nazis used the tower for television and radio transmissions. The Germans hung a massive “V” (for Viktoria) on the tower which refer to Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858–1921), the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Had the Germans wanted to proclaim victory, they would have put a large S for Sieg. Adolph Hitler had a painting of Prussian King Frederick the Great by Anton Graff in his Berlin underground bunker. However Hitler despised the monarchy believing they caused the defeat of Germany in World War One.

Parisians interpreted it to mean “Victoire” (Victory). The Allied V-for-Victory cliché became so popular as a morale raiser that the enemy had to adopt to it. The propaganda officers just changed Sieg to Viktoria. The Nazis chose to believe that the use of V’s by civilians was a sign of support for Germany.

In ancient Roman religion, Victoria was the personified goddess of victory. She is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Nike. Multiple temples were erected in her honor. Winged figures, very often in pairs, representing victory were common in Roman official iconography

The Nazis just used Viktoria because it had to start with V, and the V originally meant “V for victory” when Winston Churchill used it, so they probably needed something similar in order to not make it too obvious. When the Germans started their campaign, Churchill noted that they probably meant “verloren”, German for defeat.

The French resistance would often alter one letter to these type of banners and the message was transformed to Deutschland Liegt auf allen Fronten – Germans lie on every front line.

In 1944, American pilot Bill Overstreet reportedly flew his P-51 Mustang under the arches of the tower while chasing a German plane.

In August 1944, during the German retreat, Hitler ordered military governor Dietrich von Choltitz to destroy the tower and other landmarks, but the order was disobeyed. The tower survived, and the French flag was raised again on August 25, 1944.

Paris France: Place des Vosges

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While I was in Paris France, I thought it might be nice to sketch with the Paris Urban Sketchers, so I put out a request to see if they would be sketching the city while I was there. Sure enough they had a sketching event the week I was in the city.

While the surrounding neighborhood was heavily impacted by the persecution of the Jewish community, the square itself stayed largely intact. Place des Vosges is a perfect square, 150 yards by 150 yards. It is modeled on the piazzas that were appearing in Rome and Florence at the end of the 16th century, Place des Vosges itself became a model for the many squares that subsequently appeared in other European cities.

Place des Vosges in Paris did not suffer significant, lasting damage during WWII, as the city was largely spared from widespread destruction. While Adolph Hitler ordered the city to be left as a “field of ruins” in 1944, German General Dietrich von Choltitz disobeyed these orders to demolish key monuments and landmarks. Although explosives were placed under bridges and monuments, they were not detonated. While skirmishes occurred, particularly during the liberation in August 1944, the historic center and structures like those in Place des Vosges remained intact.

French author Victor Hugo, whose house is now a museum, once lived at Place des Vosges. His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). Victor’s home is in my sketch in the corner of the square.

The last time I was at Place des Vosges, an immaculately stylish couple was dancing flamenco under the arched colonnade that runs around the square. On this day however there was the constant treat of rain. I arrived a bit early and started sketching before the other Urban Sketchers arrived. About 5 or 6 sketchers gathered as I was working away. Another tourist like myself had decided to take time to sketch. She spoke English so I had someone to chat with when the sketchers gathered afterwards in a café to compare sketches. At one point the rain got heavy enough that I ran for cover under the colonnade. I used that time to put down a few watercolor washes. When the rain let up, I returned to my spot in the park.

I was most fascinated by the heavily manicured trees that surround the square. They are cut into perfect cubes and without their leaves, they were perfectly shapes spiky boxes. I had fun sketching the menacing chaos of the branches. A few children were playing in the square and I got a compliment in French from a group pf boys. I don’t know what they said, but I assume it was a compliment. I responded with a Merci and thumbs up.

In the cafe afterwards, the artists were more intrigued by my tiny sketch stool than the sketch. They opened it up and set it up to sit in the café. There is a real sense of excitement that comes from meeting artists from another part of the world. I need to travel more often.

Charles de Gaulle

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In August of 1944, Paris, which had been occupied by German troops for 4 years, was liberated by the joint action of the Resistance, the French Forces of the Interior, General Leclerc ‘s 2nd Armored Division and the Allied troops sent by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On Saturday, August 25, 1944, at 4pm, Charles de Gaulle triumphantly arrived in Paris, liberated from the German occupiers but battered by the many confrontations of the previous days. It was the General’s grand return to the city he had left four years earlier. General Charles de Gaulle had fled to London. From there, he refused to accept the armistice, establishing the Free French movement to resist the occupation from exile.

In Paris, Charles de Gaulle stopping at the Ministry of War, from which he had left on the night of June 10, 1940, and at the Préfecture de Police. From there he walked to Hôtel de Ville where, at around 7pm on the square in front he delivered an impromptu speech to a crowd gathered.

“Why should we conceal the emotion that grips all of us, men and women, who are here, at home, in Paris standing up to liberate itself and who knew how to do it with their own hands. No! we will not conceal this deep and sacred emotion. There are minutes there that surpass each of our poor lives.

Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated! Liberated by itself, liberated by its people with the help of the armies of France, with the support and help of the whole of France, the France that fights, the only France, the true France, the eternal France…”

On August 26, 1944, General Charles de Gaulle led a triumphant liberation march down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, marking the end of four years of Nazi occupation. Following the city’s surrender, he walked from the Arc de Triomphe where he rekindled the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before descending the avenue on foot toward Notre-Dame, Crowds of nearly two million Parisians filled the streets,

De Gaulle’s march was a crucial act of “political theater” designed to assert French sovereignty and restore the Republic with the Free French at the forefront. The march occurred one day after the formal surrender of German forces in Paris, which was negotiated by Dietrich von Choltitz, who defied Adolph Hitler‘s orders to destroy the city. The celebration was interrupted by scattered sniper fire from Germans who were still holding out. Though the crowd scattered, de Gaulle  refused to take cover, he continued the march unfazed. He famously dismissing the sniper fire as “buffoonery.” The procession ended with a solemn service at Notre-Dame Cathedral, further sealing the day’s symbolic weight.

De Gaulle ensured that the Free French, not the Allies, stood at the forefront of liberation. De Gaulle had convinced General Dright D Eisenhower to have French troops play the primary role in liberating Paris on August 25, 1944.

Winston Churchill

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This statue of  Winston Churchill by Jean Cardot was inaugurated in the grounds of the Petit Palais on the Avenue Winston Churchill in Paris France. The 10 foot high statue was funded by 3,000 donations totaling the equivalent of £250,000. It is based on a photograph of Churchill marching with De Gaulle down the Champs-Élysées on November 11, 1944. This one of the few statues of a foreigner in Paris.

Winston Churchill made several high-profile visits to the Western Front to witness the final Allied push into Germany. Key events included the Yalta Conference in February 1945, crossing the Rhine River with Montgomery on March 25, 1945, inspecting the Siegfried Line, and touring the ruined city of Berlin Germany in July 1945. He attended the start of the Potsdam Conference in July. He also toured the ruins of Berlin and Hitler’s bunker in July before losing the general election. These visits were designed to sculpt the post war world, boost morale, show defiance, and directly observe the collapse of the Nazi regime.

Churchill led Britain to victory in Europe in May 1945 but was stunningly removed from office months later. Despite high personal popularity, voters favored the Labour Party’s platform for social reform, resulting in his resignation on July 26, 1945, after a landslide election defeat. Churchill called the transition from war time leader to opposition leader an “anticlimax”. After Winston Churchill’s Conservative Party suffered a landslide defeat in the July 1945 general election, King George VI offered  him the Order of the Garter, the highest honor of knighthood in the King’s honor’s system. Churchill declined the honor, famously remarking that he could not accept it because the British people had just given him “the order of the boot”.

Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin gathered in Potsdam, near the heavily bombed Berlin, to discuss the end of the war in the Pacific and the fate of the postwar world. After nine meetings over eight days, and with another week of the conference remaining, Churchill had to return to London for the results of the general election. Millions of British servicemen were casting their ballots from overseas. Churchill’s personal physician, left most of Churchill’s baggage behind in anticipation of a swift return. The opposing Labor party won the election in a sweeping victory. To add insult to injury, a large majority of the service vote went for Labour, deserting the man who had led them for five years and sung their praises in historic speeches. Churchill did not return to Potsdam. He had led Britain through its darkest hours and achieved final victory only to be booted from office.

Notre Dame Paris France

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Notre Dame Cathedral survived WWII largely intact, though it suffered minor damage from bullets during the 1944 liberation. The cathedral was protected with sandbags, which were placed around the portals. The portals are the large, sculpted entry ways to the cathedral which have hundreds of sculpted saints and martyrs. The cathedral’s stained glass was removed to prevent destruction. It narrowly escaped orders   Adolph Hitler’s order to destroy all monuments, landmarks and bridges. This order was disobeyed by Nazi commanding officer Dietrich von Choltitz.

Hitler did not visit Notre Dame during his 1940 trip. Hitler wanted the city destroyed and Dwight Eisenhower did not want Allied troops to get bogged down in a prolonged battle for Paris France. Memories of the Germans fighting for a long and arduous winter at Stalingrad left the impression that the Germans could make Paris a similar albatross around the neck of the allied push towards Berlin.

French resistance fighters and civilians forced Eisenhower’s hand since they blockaded streets and took back important public buildings. The square outside Notre-Dame Cathedral, usually empty early on a Saturday morning, filled with hundreds of policemen on August 19, 1944, all of them converging on the fortress-like Police headquarters. A flag unfurled atop the building: the blue, white and red French tricolor, banned by Paris’ German occupiers and last flown officially four years prior. The French police, on strike against the occupation, had returned, this time in revolt. Paris’ uprising against the Nazis had begun.

Resistance fighters erected around 600 street barricades—made of paving stones, trees, carts and sandbags—to stall and harass German troops. They seized government buildings, including the the city hall, where they pulled down a bust of Philippe Pétain, the French leader who’d collaborated with the Nazis, and replaced it with a portrait of Charles de Gaulle, the French General who insisted that France must be liberated at any cost.

Gunfire crackled all across the city as French freedom fighters hunted down Nazis and hoped to bring about the liberation of their city which had been under the boot of Nazi occupation since 1940. Two thousand police inside the Prefecture had used Molotov cocktails to thwart an attack by three German tanks. A fragile cease-fire, negotiated by the Swedish consul in Paris, saved the French police just as their pistol and rifle ammunition was about to run out.

If the revolt was unsuccessful the Nazi reprisal would be widespread and deadly. Adolf Hitler had ordered Dietrich von Choltitz, to “stamp out” any insurrection “without pity.” As Paris’ revolt grew.  Resistance fighters, were typically executed by firing squads. Mont Valérien fortress in Suresnes, near Paris, was the site for the execution of over 1,000 resistance fighters and hostages. It is estimated that around 60,000 French resistance fighters were executed, and 27,000 perished in concentration camps.

Hitler’s orders to Choltitz escalated. A Hitler order declared. “Paris must not fall into the hands of the enemy or, if it does, he must find there nothing but a field of ruins.” Choltitz refused to follow this order which would certainly result in his execution once the news got back to Hitler. But the war was almost over.

Dietrich von Choltitz survived World War II, surrendering as the German commander of Paris on August 25, 1944. He was held as a prisoner of war in Trent Park, London, and later in Mississippi, U.S., before being released in 1947. He died of a long-term illness on November 5, 1966, in Baden-Baden, Germany.

The cathedral was a focal point of the liberation, with a Magnificat sung on August 26, 1944, to celebrate the end of the Paris occupation. While it survived, the structure did suffer minor damage, including bullet holes in some stones. It is believed that 901 French Forces of the Interior members and 582 French civilians died in the fighting.

Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris France

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The Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris France is Europe’s primary Holocaust research and remembrance center, dedicated to the 76,000 French Jewish victims, including 11,000 children, deported to camps like Birkenau, Sobibor and Auschwitz between 1942 and 1944. The memorial was inaugurated in 2005, it features a permanent museum, archives, a wall of names, and a crypt. Many of the rooms were dark showcasing detailed history of the atrocities of the Nazi regime.

Shoah is another name for the Holocaust. During the Shoah (1940–1944), approximately 77,000 of the 350,000 Jews in France were deported and murdered, mostly in Auschwitz. While the French Vichy Regime collaborated with Nazi occupiers in persecuting, registering, and interning Jews. The Vel’ d’Hiv roundup which resulted in the arrest of 13,152 Jews in Paris by French police, including 5,802 women and 4,051 children being sent to Dracy.

About 75% of the Jewish population survived, a high rate for occupied Europe, due to the efforts of local, religious, and underground organizations. Children were hidden in non-Jewish homes. Jewish underground organizations, alongside non-Jewish efforts, played a crucial role in saving lives.

In all, the Shoah in France victimized close to 80,000 Jews. Three thousand Jews died in French-run internment camps like Gurs and Drancy.

I was fascinated by a series of stations where oral histories could be heard from survivors of the Shoah. I listened to several interviews with Larissa Cain. She was born in 1932 in Poland to family with deep rooted Jewish traditions. Her mother and father belonged to a community deep rooted in Zionist ideals. She spent her early childhood in Warsaw, surrounded by books, languages, and a strong sense of community. Her parents ran a candy shop in the Jewish quarter. This small shop helped keep the family from absolute starvation. The family was confined to a small two-room apartment shared with seven other people, they faced extreme conditions: hunger, disease, and relentless oppression.

In July 1942, the first deportations to Treblinka began from the ghetto. The Nazis came to the building and started searching floor to floor. There was not enough time to get dresses so her mom held Larissa and they sat quietly on the bed in the top floor. Though young Larissa knew to stay quiet. Her life depended on it. For some unknown reason the Nazi soldier stopped on the floor below them and went back down the steps without searching the top floor. This arbitrary moment of impatience meant their survival on that day. Her mother was later arrested in her workplace and disappeared. She would never see her mother again.

Larissa is a survivor of the Nazi established Warsaw Ghetto. She is one of the few children to survive the Warsaw Ghetto destruction. She was rescued by the Polish Resistance at the age of 10. She lived hiding until the end of the war. Her father also escaped the ghetto, but their paths diverged. She never saw him again.

I don’t know if this was a purposeful design, but it is very hard to exit the memorial. Iron bars block all the obvious exit and entry points. I finally had to ask a member of the staff where the exit was. It was to the right just past the wall of names of those murdered by the Nazis engraved in granite. But even so I could not figure out which door to use. There was a green security light on one of the doors and I remembered having to wait for a green light to enter. I opened that door and discovered that I was entering a guard booth. The guard was annoyed that I had invaded his space. He angrily pointed to another unmarked door.

Adolph Hitler in Paris France

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Adolf Hitler made a quick three-hour surprise visit to Nazi-occupied Paris on June 23, 1940, shortly after France signed an armistice. Accompanied by architect Albert Speer, sculptor Arno Breker, and architect Hermann Giesler, he toured landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Napoleon’s tomb, calling it the “greatest and finest moment of my life”.

Arno Breker was a German sculptor who is best known for his public works in Nazi Germany, where he was endorsed by the authorities as the antithesis of degenerate art. He was made official state sculptor and exempted from military service. One of his better known statues is Die Partei, representing the spirit of the Nazi Party, which flanked one side of the carriage entrance to Albert Speer’s new Reich Chancellery. Ninety percent of Breker’s public works were destroyed during the bombings of Germany toward the end of the war.

Arno Breker’s sculpting career flourished after WWII. Breker was offered a commission by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, but Arno refused, saying “One dictatorship is sufficient for me”. He continued to receive commissions for sculptures, producing a number of works in his familiar classical style, working for businesses and individual patrons. He also produced many portrait busts. Albert Speer was a German architect who served as Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. Hitler commissioned him to design and construct structures, including the Reich Chancellery and the Nazi Party rally grounds in Nuremberg.

In 1937, Hitler appointed Speer as General Building Inspector for Berlin. In this capacity he was responsible for the Central Department for Resettlement that evicted Jewish tenants from their homes in Berlin. Speer became a close friend and ally of Adolf Hitler, he was convicted at the Nuremberg trials and served 20 years in prison.

After the war, Speer was among the 24 major war criminal defendants charged by the International Military Tribunal for Nazi atrocities. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, principally for the use of slave labor, narrowly avoiding a death sentence. Having served his full term, Speer was released in 1966. Speer was intimately aware of and involved in the Final Solution, evidence of which has been conclusively shown in the decades following the Nuremberg trials.

Kristallnacht accelerated Speer’s ongoing efforts to dispossess Berlin’s Jews from their homes. From 1939 on, Speer’s Department used the Nuremberg Laws to evict Jewish tenants of non-Jewish landlords in Berlin, to make way for non-Jewish tenants displaced by redevelopment or bombing. Eventually, 75,000 Jews were displaced by these measures. Speer denied he knew they were being put on Holocaust trains and claimed that those displaced were, “Completely free and their families were still in their apartments”. He also said: ” … en route to my ministry on the city highway, I could see … crowds of people on the platform of nearby Nikolassee Railroad Station. I knew that these must be Berlin Jews who were being evacuated. I am sure that an oppressive feeling struck me as I drove past. I presumably had a sense of somber events.” Matthias Schmidt said Speer had personally inspected concentration camps and described his comments as an “outright farce”. Martin Kitchen described Speer’s often repeated line that he knew nothing of the “dreadful things” as hollow—not only was he fully aware of the fate of the Jews, he actively participated in their persecution.

Also with Hitler on this day was architect Hermann Giesler and a few Military officers. Giesler was entrusted by Hitler with the reorganization of the entire city of Linz. Beginning from 1942, he worked on plans and a large model for the Danube Development of the Banks. In August 1943, Giesler was appointed as a deputy to the Reichstag for electoral constituency. Starting from 1944, he also worked on designs for the cultural center, which Hitler regarded with particular interest.

In 1945, Giesler initially was arrested by the U.S. military and interned as a Nazi, and charged in 1946. In 1947, he was indicted by a U.S. military court for war crimes in the concentration camp Mühldorf, a subcamp of Dachau. Giesler was sentenced to life imprisonment, but on May 6, 1948 his sentence was reduced to 25 years imprisonment. On July 7, 1951, it was lowered once again to twelve years. Giesler was freed on October 18, 1952.

Living in German Occupied Paris France

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Les Invalides in Paris France was occupied by German forces during World War II, serving as a site for administrative purposes and military control from 1940 to 1944. Following the 1940 defeat, the Germans took over the complex, which even included a visit from Adolf Hitler to Napoleon’s tomb in June 1940.

When it seemed clear that the city would be captured by the Germans, curators at the Louvre, summoned back from summer vacation, began cataloging and packing the major works of art, which were put into crates and labeled only with numbers to disguise their contents. The Winged Victory of Samothrace statue was carefully wheeled down the long stairway on a wooden ramp to be put on a truck for its departure to the Château de Valençay with the hope that the Germans could not find her.

Iconic hotels and buildings were requisitioned by the Nazis, turning the “City of Light” into a somber, occupied, and often hungry city.  Parisian had to endure the humiliation of being second-class citizens in their own city. Living in German-occupied Paris from June 1940 to August 1944 was characterized by severe food shortages, strict curfews, fear, and a loss of freedom, with the city’s atmosphere defined by the Nazi flag atop the Eiffel Tower. Parisians lived under constant rationing. Food was scarce, leading to long lines and, for many, severe malnutrition. Adults were limited to 2.5 ounces of meat per week. Essential items like coal, soap, and clothes were strictly rationed, leading to a flourishing black market where goods were expensive.

Private cars were reserved for the occupiers, forcing Parisians to rely on crowded buses, the metro, or bicycles. Strict curfews, often starting around 9 p.m., meant being confined to homes, and nightlife ceased to exist as it once did.

The presence of the Gestapo and German soldiers created an atmosphere of fear, with frequent identity checks, searches, and the threat of arrest. The architectural landmarks of the city were protected by sandbags.

The Jewish population suffered immense persecution, including mandatory wearing of the yellow star, and exclusion from public life. On July 16-17 1942, French police, on orders of the Germans  rounded up 13,152 Jews, including 4,115 children, who were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where they were murdered on mass.

Thousands of Frenchmen were conscripted for mandatory forced labor in Germany to make munitions for the war effort. Parisian had to endure the humiliation of being second-class citizens in their own city. While many citizens quietly tried to survive, some collaborated with the Germans, while others joined the French Resistance, risking death to fight back. After the city was liberated, the collaborators would be publicly humiliated. Particularly women who dated German officers would be striped and have their hair cut off publicly by the angry mob.

The French Resistance in Paris launched an uprising on August 19, 1944 seizing the police headquarters and other government buildings. Resistance fighters and everyday citizens including children blockaded streets by cutting down trees and removing cobblestones. The week between August 19 and the 25th the city saw the resistance fighters and any citizen with a firearm fighting to free their city from German oppression. The city was liberated by French and American troops on  August 25, 1944, the next day, General De Gaulle led a triumphant parade down the Champs-Élysée and organized a new government.

May 7, 1945, Late Pasta Lunch in Paris

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A block from the hotel I was staying at in Paris was a breakfast place that was really popular. I tried to get in, and the hostess pointed out the door. There was a long line of people hoping to get inside waiting in the street. That was not going to work for me. I walked past the place every morning and there was always a long line. It was too popular for me. I walked a few shops down the street and walked into Ricci which was a pizza and pasta restaurant. I sat at a table towards the back of the restaurant and ordered a plate of pasta.

I sat at this table because there was a group of men eating across from me at a long table. However, they were close to being done. I noticed their cups near empty and there was no food left on the plates. Sure enough as I started laying in my sketch, they got up to leave. I was left with a large empty table and a small family tucked away in the corner. Their, two children were squirming and impatient. The waiter was really good with the kids, entertaining them as their parents also got up to leave.

I was left to sketch the gaudy and tasteless painting of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and I think Leslie Caron as Gigi, hanging on a mirrored wall. Each of the women was blowing a big bubble. The tacky paintings had gold leaf and bright colors. The owners might have thought this is the type of art that tourists wanted to see. Maybe they think that people come to Paris for gaudy pop art rather than to see classical masterpieces in the world class museums.

The German Generals signed the surrender document on May 7, 1945, in a red brick schoolhouse in Reims France in a room whose walls were covered with war maps. This was General Eisenhower’s headquarters. I thought this was too humble a spot for signing such an important document. It really should have been signed in a more opulent setting. The Russians had the same idea, and they insisted that a second document of surrender should  be signed the next day at the former Soviet engineering school in Karlshorst, Berlin Germany. This room felt more like a courtroom with dark wood paneling, dark leather chairs and above was a golden chandelier.

Then I thought to myself it might be more fun to sign the Document of Unconditional Surrender in a gaudy Paris restaurant with Marilyn, Audrey and Gigi blowing bubbles. What the occasion needed was plenty of mirrors, cheep restaurant chairs and pop art. Of course, pop art wasn’t a thing until late in the 1950s and it didn’t become popular until the 1960s, long after the war was over.

My spaghetti Marinara was good and I ordered two Cokes for the caffeine rush. I also ordered a dessert since the sketch was taking some time to create. I nursed my desert taking my time to complete the sketch. The waiter walked over to my table. I was the only person in the place. He informed me that they needed to shut the restaurant down. I did not realize that some restaurants took a break between lunch and dinner. I tended to eat at odd time on my trip since I would only eat between sketch opportunities. I apologized and wolfed my desert down. The sketch was as done as it was going to be. I kept hoping that someone might sit down at the large table I was drawing but that was not going to happen.

I got up to pay my bill. I got some stink eye from a second waiter. He must have been annoyed that the American tourist would take so long to eat a plate of spaghetti. He wanted his afternoon break. I walked back to my hotel and made plans for what I might sketch the next day.

Paris Bomb Shelter

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The Paris Liberation Museum features an original 1940s underground bomb shelter used as a Resistance command post. Located twenty meters under the museum, the command post used during the Liberation by Colonel Henri Rol, head of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) which was the unified military wing of the French Resistance that played a crucial role in the August 1944 liberation of Paris. It has 10-foot thick concrete walls, pedal-powered ventilation, and gas-tight doors. The memory of World War I gas attacks made keeping the bunker airtight a priority.

Built in 1938 as an air raid shelter. It was constructed to protect against potential aerial attacks.. The bunker, which features a 250-line telephone exchange, served as the operational command post for the final battle to liberate Paris, rather than as a civilian shelter. The bunker never really saw any action as a shelter, Paris was largely spared from air attacks during WWII, and there was little danger of poison gas.

The bunker was used as the headquarters for French Resistance leaders including Colonel Rol-Tanguy during the August 1944 uprising. It features a restored “disinfection room” gas masks, and a bicycle used to generate electricity. In this bunker, plans were set in place for the city’s liberation. In one room there are still telephone switchboards and a typewriter as if staff had just left yesterday.

Starting on August 15, 1944, thousands of FFI members and Parisian police initiated a general strike and armed insurrection. They seized police stations and barricaded streets before Allied forces arrived. The FFI hoped to liberate the city themselves, but their limited, mostly light, weapons cache forced them to rely on the arrival of General Leclerc‘s 2nd Armored Division and U.S. 4th Infantry Division, which entered the city on August 24-25, 1944.

The Allies were still pushing the Germans toward the Rhine River and did not want to get embroiled in a battle for the liberation of Paris. The Allies thought that it was too early to take Paris. They knew Adolf Hitler‘s Nero Decree required the German military to destroy the city if the Allies attacked.  Charles de Gaulle persuaded them to attack.  De Gaulle,  learned the French Resistance had risen up against the German occupiers and he was unwilling to allow his countrymen to be slaughtered like the Polish Resistance during the Warsaw Uprising. He petitioned for an immediate frontal assault. He threatened to detach the French 2nd Armored Division and to order it to single-handedly attack the German forces in Paris, bypassing the chain of command in so doing, if Eisenhower delayed approval.

Paris was considered to have too great a value, culturally and historically, to risk its destruction. The Allies were also keen to avoid a drawn-out battle of attrition like during the Battle of Stalingrad when Germany was stopped in it’s tracks by the Russians. Ultimately the Allies liberated the city.

The FFI’s actions, including securing key Paris buildings, prevented the German garrison from destroying the city. The actions of the FFI allowed the city to be liberated on August 25, 1944, with relatively light resistance.