Americans in Paris: Life and Death under Nazi Occupation 1940-1944

by Charles Glass

When the German army marched into Paris on June 14, 1940, approximately 5,000 Americans remained in Paris. They had refused or been unable to leave for many different reasons; their actions during the course of the German occupation would prove to be just as varied. Glass interweaves the experiences of some of the individuals who belonged to this unique colony of American expatriates living in Paris. Among the stories highlighted are those of Charles Bedaux, an American millionaire determined to carry on with his business affairs as usual; Sylvia Beach, owner of the famous English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Company; Clara Longworth de Chambrun, patroness of the American Library in Paris and distantly related to FDR; and Dr. Sumner Jackson, the American Hospital’s chief surgeon. These fascinating tales reflect the complicated network of choices—passive compromise, outright collaboration, patient retreat, and active resistance—that existed for Americans caught in the German web.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, France, War, Biography, American History

524 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2009

About the author

Charles Glass is an author, journalist and broadcaster, who specializes in the Middle East. He made headlines when taken hostage for 62 days in Lebanon by Shi’a militants in 1987, while writing a book during his time as ABC’s News chief Middle East correspondent. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, Harper’s, the London Review of Books and The Spectator. He is the author of Syria Burning, Tribes with Flags, Money for Old Rope, The Tribes Triumphant, The Northern Front, Americans in Paris and Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles Glass gives us a splendidly well-researched biography of several Americans caught up in Paris during the Nazi occupation of which three occupy centre stage – Sylvia Beach, owner of the Shakespeare and Company book store and friend of Joyce and Hemingway, Charles Bedaux, a social climber and somewhat shifty entrepreneur who seems to be collaborating with the Nazis to fill his pockets and Dr Sumner Jackson, chief surgeon of the American hospital and courageous activist in the resistance movement. The book is structured chronologically.

There’s also the depressing story of Eugene Bullard, the first black aviator in the Lafayette Escadrille, who is treated shabbily by the Americans when he returns to America, not only facing the humiliating yoke of segregation after the free spirit environment of pre-war Paris but being refused as a pilot because of the colour of his skin. No black soldiers were allowed by the Americans to participate in the victory parades, including the many Algerian soldiers who fought with the French army. We Brits similarly forbade Poles to march in our victory parades to keep the Russians happy. Shameful stuff indeed. Actually, the mind boggles that even after the Holocaust America continued its racist policies. Another interesting fact I learned was that several US ships were sunk by the Germans a year before the US entered the war. I can’t imagine that would be allowed to happen in the present day without immediate retaliation.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Americans and part-Americans in Paris, as well as in Europe in general, during WWII, not to mention leading up to the war, and in some cases well before the war.

Was that a clunky sentence? I'm afraid it mirrors my reading experience of Americans in Paris: Life and Death under Nazi Occupation 1940-1944 by Charles Glass.

It's a compilation of biographies of the more well-known or at least well to do Americans who decided to stay in France after the German occupation. Their individual sympathies run the gamut from Nazi sympathizers to fighters alongside La Résistance. Reading of their histories or hearing from their own words what it was like was the book's strong point for me. Unfortunately, most of the stories are about the upper class, the rich, and at best the intellectuals. Not much is heard the lower classes. I would've liked to have caught a glimpse of their diaries. But as with nearly all histories, this one too sticks with the big names, if you will.

That's all right. There's plenty of intrigue herein to keep most people with an ingrained interest glued to the page. Those of a political mind will get something out of Glass' sections on the Vichy government, the German-collaborate interim French government.

Consummate journalist Glass does a good job of giving the reader a chance to empathize with those who were on the fence with the German occupation, those who worked with the Germans in order to keep important French institutions operational until the liberation. It could not have been easy. The book has also been well-crafted so that readers are left wondering, as the world was, regarding the allegiance of a few of the notable fence-sitters.

Charles Glass earned his stripes as a war correspondent:

One of Glass's best known stories was his 1986 interview on the tarmac of Beirut Airport of the crew of TWA Flight 847 after the flight was hijacked. He broke the news that the hijackers had removed the hostages and had hidden them in the suburbs of Beirut, which caused the Reagan administration to abort a rescue attempt that would have failed and led to loss of life at the airport. Glass made headlines in 1987, when he was taken hostage for 62 days in Lebanon by Shi'a militants. He describes the kidnapping and escape in his book, Tribes with Flags. - Wikipedia

So I bow to his knowledge and ability. My low-ish rating of Americans in Paris has little to with him and a good deal to do with the subject. I was hoping for more detail on the Resistance fighting. We get only a light smattering: a mention of rooftop fighting or a young French man shooting a German soldier in the streets. But this is not that book. So take my rating with a grain of salt. This quite good book just wasn't the book for me.

[Jill Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the engrossing history of those 2,000+Americans who found a home in Paris and either refused to leave when the Nazis occupied the city or waited too late to escape.

The author concentrates on a small and diverse group of these Americans and follows their activities from Occupation to Liberation.......they were either resistors, collaborators, or tried to remain neutral just to stay alive. They were authors, aristocrats, physicians and industrialists and each reacted in a manner which they thought protected their beloved City of Light and France in general. The fact that France was separated into Vichy and the Occupied Zone created a situation where loyalties were divided and some felt that cooperation with the Nazis and Vichy was best for France.

The author is objective and unbiased in his treatment of these expatriates, many of whom followed Petain, the hero of Verdun (WWI) and nominal head of the French government.

The book is written with great fluency about a subject that even in the 21st century causes controversy. It is a thought provoking book that holds the reader's attention for 400+ pages. I highly recommend it.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating book!

I loved reading about Sylvia Beach. For some reason, I'd always thought she was British, so was surprised to discover she was an American. I had no idea that she'd been in a German prison camp during the war.

The stories of the American Library and the American Hospital were also interesting to me. I hadn't known much about the library, and had thought that the hospital started during or just after World War I--didn't realize it predated the war.

I'd expected to read more about Josephine Baker and her work in the Resistance. I didn't realize she was not in Paris during the war, so she got only a brief mention in the book.

It was depressing, but not surprising, to read about the treatment of black soldiers by their fellow Americans. Eugene Bullard, the first black aviator in the Lafayette Escadrille, was treated very shabbily by Dr Edmund Gros, the American in charge of the American Hospital. Gros in many ways seemed like a good person, and yet he was SUCH a racist. It was also appalling to read that black soldiers were not allowed to participate in the liberation of Paris. Not only were African-Americans banned, but the American generals insisted to De Gaulle that black French soldiers be banned as well. De Gaulle didn't approve, but he chose to bow to the Americans' demands. The author wrote, "Paris had been liberated. America would take longer." Sadly, that is still true.

Overall this was a wonderful book with many interesting stories. I'm very glad to have read it!

[֍ elle ֍ · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent account of historical events occurring in one of the cultural capitals of the world during one of the most intriguing, confusing, and disturbing periods of modern history. Glass uses an extremely accessible tone to discuss the events taking place within the scope of this book's focus, making it easy to get very quickly sucked in. However, I would caution readers that the accessible tone is mildly deceptive - this book will reference many, many personages across multiple chapters and has the capacity to leave one's mind spinning. A cursory knowledge of WWII history and politicking is almost a prerequisite. Otherwise, it would be all too feasible to become confused and frustrated with the constant intertwining of the separate historical narratives. Despite that, it is still an excellent and worthwhile read. Loved it from beginning to end.

And also, enough gratitude would be hard to extend for Glass' spirit of inclusiveness. That the book introduces black Parisians into the narrative and refuses to let history off the hook for the injustices perpetrated against them or refuses to sensationalize the lesbian affair between two of its major focuses, treating it with the balance of respect and detail afforded to all other relationships described in the book - simply commendable.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loving all things Paris in the early 20th Century, I was really looking forward to reading this book. While the book attempts to focus upon certain key individuals during the occupation, I was never able to connect fully with them or their story, perhaps due to the book's format and too many other characters being woven into the chapters. I may have connected best if the book focused on one character's story at a time instead of dispersing the chapters. I am curious to see how others reacted to this book--I'll have to check other reviews.

All in all, not a bad book, but I found myself always trying to cut through a lot of extraneous information to get to the meat of the story.

[Dara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sort of uneven read -- there are parts that are thrilling and fascinating, but long sections that are quite dry. The book focuses on a relatively large number of individuals, and I'm not sure that even a book of this length can devote enough space to each one to fix them all in the reader's mind. Several stuck out and as the book circled back to them, I was happy to see their threads picked back up, but there were a few who I kept having to refer back to remember who they were. Something about the breakneck speed of the book also dampens the drama, too.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Approximately 2000 citizens of the United States maintained residence in Paris and its suburbs during WWII. This is an account of some of them and of the American institutions, most particularly the American Library and the American Hospital, which endured the war.

I had not known that the Vichy government maintained nominal control over most of France and its colonies during the war, albeit under German supervision in the occupied north and, after the Allied landings in Africa in the south as well. Nor had I known about the extent of prisoner exchanges between the Axis and Allied powers during the conflict.

While many, but not all, of the Americans in Paris were interred after the German declaration of war in 1941, most appear to have been 'free', albeit under ostensible watch, during much of the period of hostilities, protected from extreme abuse by German concern for the treatment of their countrymen and women in the United States. In some cases even Jews, so long as they held U.S. citizenship, were protected.

What Glass does not provide are the statistics. Thus my use of indefinites such as 'much' and 'many'. How many American Jews were in Paris during this period? How many blacks? How many American collaborated with either the Nazis or the Vichy? How many worked for the resistance? How many were adults, how many children or seniors exempt from the most onerous restrictions? Lacking such figures, this book passes as an interesting, anecdotal history, fails as a serious study.

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The parts about Sylvia Beach of the original Shakespeare and Company are heart-warming [thank you this year's trip to Paris]. Almost as fleshed-out are the shenanigans at the American hospital or by the unscrupulous businessman Charles Bedaux, the latter veering away out of Paris as far as French North Africa. Yet most dramatis personae remain anecdotal, while the focus shifts from the City of Light and the drab daily life of food shortages & power cuts. The POV of U.S. citizens could've served as a basis for a more general tableau. And if one gets sent to the Neuengamme concentration camp, provide some context on the camp! Not a 2 page- chapter. There's a lot of those overly short chapters...

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took a big break in reading this book, but I'm glad I finished it. It was quite exciting at the end. I take away from it a lot of admiration for the people who lived in Paris during the occupation and the hard and brave decisions they had to make, especially those who protected human life and ended up in prison camps because of it. I take away a sense of sadness for the black Americans and for the Algerians who served their country and their colonizers but were in some cases kept out of the victory parades and endured other types of segregation. It was well-researched and very interesting.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really tried. I really wanted to like this book. I’d heard such great things about it, what with the praise from the Sunday Times, the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph. It’s even right up the alley of a lot of World War II books that I’ve read and liked, and I always admire impeccable historical research.

But I just couldn’t make myself like it. In fact, I left it on my desk in Chicago while I was on vacation in Arizona for a month, and I wasn’t even all that eager to come back to it. Nevertheless, it bears talking about.

Charles Glass’s Americans in Paris follows a number of the more notable ambassadors, military officers, and American civilians in the City of Lights just before and during the Nazi occupation of the French capital during World War II. This is a fascinating era in French history: today, they are notorious for not being militarily notable, but at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, France was one of the world’s superpowers. The fact that Germany was so easily able to take and occupy the center of art, music and fashion in Europe sent shockwaves throughout the world. Plus, the city was full of international residents, so the rest of the world was bound to be dragged into it.

Glass, in researching the various American residents there at the time, turned up several of note: Sylvia Beach, who ran a bookshop that doubled as a writer’s haven for greats like Joyce and Hemingway; Bill Bullitt, the tough-as-nails American ambassador to Paris at the time; Sumner Jackson, a simple doctor with a French wife who worked in the American hospital there; and Charles Bedaux, an American-born Frenchman whose loyalty to America was thrown into question later in his life.

With a title like American in Paris, one would think the book would center around, y’know, people. However, that is not the case. Sure, Glass’s main point is to point the role of these characters in the surprisingly cold and efficient military occupation, but they become little more than dots in the map of historical events. They are people, sometimes shaded in with quotes from letters and anecdotes from historical records, but they are black and white photographs from a time gone past. Historical writing has a tendency to be that way unless the author colors it with narrative format and skillful understanding of their subject.

And don’t get me wrong, Glass is certainly well versed in his topic. The amount of information in this book is astounding. If you ever wanted to know anything about life in Paris during the occupation, this is a great resource. However, to the casual reader, it blurs into those reference shelves in the library that we only frequent when writing term papers. A shame, because it had a lot of potential.

I honestly don’t have much to say about this book. (Odd for me, I know.) I am not surprised by any of the content or the quality of the writing, but I was sharply disappointed by its flatness. Fortunately, I bought my copy at a thrift shop for 50 cents, so it wasn’t much of a loss for me.

Americans in Paris is available on the Kindle for $12.74, or in paperback from Amazon for $14.23. If you’re a history professor or a grad student, this might be worth your purchasing, but as a recreational reader, I’d say pass on this one. Interestingly enough, David McCullough (of The Path Between the Seas fame) wrote a book on Americans in Paris in the earlier century, but the expose leading up to WWI might be an interesting read. If anyone’s read it, let me know how it is. Also, Edward Rutherford just released his newest novel Paris in April, and I haven’t gotten my hands on it yet. If you’ve been following me, you know I’m a fan of Rutherford’s New York; in fact, it was the first review I wrote! Ah, nostalgia.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book a mixed bag of good and not-so-good. There was a lot of information presented that was new to me. I found myself engrossed into the lives of Americans in Nazi-Occupied France and in all the varying degrees of their collaboration, help to the Resistance, or just trying to survive intact. It's very evident that the author put a lot of time into research and into writing a valid non-fictional, scholarly book. He was also able to balance it out with an enjoyable reading style that brought the characters alive and made them relevant to the reader.

However, it seemed like the author was trying too hard at times to be scholarly and included information into the narrative that sometimes didn't seem to need to be there. Intricate details about place names and life histories of very minor individuals in the narrative bogged down the reading considerably. There was also a focus on certain individuals to the detriment of other storylines. The balance between the different stories the author was trying to tell was very skewed. I'll admit that I skimmed some sections of the narrative that dealt with character owning too big a presence in the book.

When it comes down to it, this is a fairly good book on this subject, one of the few I know of. It is definitely well researched and reads, for the most part, smoothly. There are some pacing issues and instances where the author puts way too much information into the book. Yet, I found myself enjoying the reading experience and learning something too.

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book. Once it got going, it was hard to put down. It's the 3rd book I've read about Occupied France, and it was by far my favorite. (Then again, I'm more of a Social History buff, and enjoy learning about how individuals fair during large-scale events.)

Thanks to Mr Glass, I've ordered bios about both Eugene Bullard & Charles Bedaux (I already have AVENUE OF SPIES, about Dr Sumner Jackson & his family, which I plan on reading next.) Can't wait to find out more about these interesting people.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. Story of Americans in Paris before and during the Nazi Occupation. For the most part I found this a real page turner.

We mainly follow just a few people - Sylvia Beach, Dr. Sumner Jackson, Charles Bedaux, Clara de Chambrun and her husband and others.

Sylvia Beach had her famous bookshop, Shakespeare & Co., famously closed her shop and stashed her books on an upper floor rather than have them sullied by German/Nazi hands.

Sumner Jackson is with the American Hospital, fights to keep it out of Nazi hands, helps downed Allied pilots connect to the Resistance and find the route home. He and his wife (and eventually his son) take these people in to not only the hospital, but also their home.

When the people in charge of the American Library go home, Clara pretty much takes over the Library and keeps it going.

So many people are trying to walk a thin line - somewhere between being free and collaborating. Some don't succeed. I hadn't known that the actress Arletty became a collaborator. Many people were accused after the war, like Clara and her husband, when they were just trying to keep the American Library and American Hospital going and out of Nazi hands.

Unfortunately, racism does raise its ugly head at several points through this book. Whether it is the black boxer/nightclub owner (whose name I have momentarily forgotten, but he was in the early part of the book) who tries to enlist in the American Army but because of racism he joins the French Army and is a decorated hero during WWI. Or the fact that the French unit, Leclerc's, picked to liberate Paris is instructed to lose his native African troops because the Americans want them to be all white in appearance. It is a fact, but an unpleasant one. Better than to gloss over this unattractive trait.

Charles Bedaux is an interesting character. The FBI thinks he is a collaborator whereas the French eventually see that rather than collaborating, he was hindering the Germans at every opportunity.

[Kristi Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of the book was pretty slow, to be honest, and the sheer number of Americans Glass describes was a bit confusing. From the moment the Panzers roll into Paris, however, both the tension and the quality of the narrative ratchet up considerably. I flew through this book after that point. Exciting, terrifying, and utterly gripping - all at once. Do you consider yourself a history buff? You’ll love this one.

[Nancy Loe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable scholarship and solid writing style.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative book about Americans who stayed in Paris during the occupation by the Germans in WW2.

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[John Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read dozens of books on Europe during the war and the resistance movement along with other books on Paris (The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris being my favorite, by far.) and able to enjoy this magical city a couple of times, my expectations were very high. This book, despite being well researched, failed to meet my expectations. In my opinion, Glass felt far too much time sharing the stories of a few Americans at the expense of covering daily living for the other 4,900+ Americans who didn’t leave the city of lights as the lights during dark days. Why did the nearly 5,000 Americans stay despite an oppressive government, limited food, and violence while 25,000 heeded the recommendation of the American government and left? What was it like for the average American? What family members saying who were safely within the borders of our country about their loved ones who stayed in a war zone? How did the Americans participate in the resistance movement? What about the Americans who thought they would be able to carry on without much change because the Germans promised an ‘open city’ where it would be peaceful, and French would be largely able to move on with life but then they saw that the Nazi’s were increasingly taking control? What was it like for wealthy Americans who suddenly learned America would not permit them to access their accounts in the United States because our government was cutting the flow to Germany? What role did American companies have in still providing resources to a country under Nazi occupation. Those were the questions that went largely unanswered in this uneven book, with chapters that were exciting and well written and others that went way into the weeds of Paris; although a beautiful city the weeds of Paris are not worth the time to read.

While I found many of the main characters Glass highlighted lacking, it was good that he covered Bill Bullitt, a former Ambassador to Russia and now fulfilling the same role in Paris when the Germans came knocking at the door. The book speaks to how the Nazi’s wanted Bullitt to be in the reviewing stands as the Nazi’s marched into Paris to capture it on their newsreel and showing that the Americans were at least passively supporting the occupation; the Nazi hating diplomat used his tactful skills and turned them down indicating it would deprive the Germans of their full share of the glory. It was also interesting to read about the dance between the Nazi’s seizing property but giving Americans special treatment by allowing the embassy issue certificates allowing them to retain their property while other possessions were grabbed. Having enjoyed time at the Arc de Triomphe, it was heart breaking how the Nazi’s marched past the historic site with machine guns and cannons, extinguished the light for the unknown soldier, took down the French flag and hoisted the Nazi flag.

While I am well read of Europe as Nazi Germany started their march across Europe, Glass could have spent more time outlining why the German government placed safeguards against rape and pillage in Paris compared to how they treated Polish citizens, the dance between the Vichy government and the United States, and how the America First movement in our country cautioned Roosevelt’s actions.

It was interesting to read that the French were not impressed with America’s first entry into war since it was more about using our capacity to build our capacity rather than send in troops immediately. Even when the Royal Air Force dropped 3,000,000 flyers over the country speaking to the 185,000 planes, 120,000 tanks and 18 million tons of arms being produced by the United States, people were not impressed.

What was the reaction of Americans when their French neighbors had to wear the Star of David then they were restricted from places of recreation, restaurants, and even parks? Then when the Germans started to round up Americans to hold them to later exchange them for Germans who had been in the states. Those over 65 and under 16 were not held but it was thought-provoking how women were treated. Reading this while the incoming oppositive American government is talking about interning people who have been living in the states for years makes me wonder what sites will be used to hold people – and who will profit. Glass spoke about how a luxurious spa in the Vosges Mountains was used to hold women prisoners. Everything looked like a place one would want to stay except the newly installed barbed wire and Nazi flags. It’s too bad the book didn’t share how that site was selected and who was making money. The women held there had “better food and amenities than they had at home,” but wanted to leave their confinement.

It was sad how those in Paris couldn’t celebrate the 154th anniversary of the storming of Bastille but French in New York danced in the street and celebrated the anniversary. One sign promised: “New Yorkers – Don’t believe all you hear. There was a France – There is a France – There will always be a France – ALWAYS.”

The pages devoted to the resistance movement was thought provoking and, in today’s age, motivational. Glass didn’t explore who was trying to take advantage of German General Karl Oberg’s reward of 50,000 francs to anyone who would cause the arrest of an Allied flyer who was hiding for his life in Paris. Like other books on the resistance movement, there were some brave stories on how people took a risk to fight back, to support those trying to win a free France. As the Americans and British started to make progress, our leaders increasingly pressured the Resistance movement for better intelligence on German air and coastal defenses, train schedules, and supply lines. The Germans had the V-1 rocket, allowing them to attack England without risking planes and the allies needed more information to shut down those plants. Those caught were whipped then usually killed. Glass covered these changes but, not enough.

As America started to win the war in the Fall of 1943, Parisians were suffering, having increasing difficulties in securing food, experiencing electric outages that shut down the Metro, seeing neighbors turning in one another to the authorities, while those fighting back were murdering collaborators. Yet theatres, opera, and the ballet were instantly sold out. Like in other countries where there were major restrictions on rights, the theater included performances that resisted and were rewarded with a “frenzied cheers and applause.” Glass included the one woman’s words: “Each time the enthusiasm grew louder. We feared the Germans would hear of it and close the theater. To cut out the passage would have been a moral lowering of the flag.”

All this against a backdrop of increasingly being bombed, aimed at factories making munitions and equipment for the Wehrmacht but in neighborhoods crowded with homes. Many Parisians could not go elsewhere since their food ration coupons had to be used within their neighborhoods. To top it off, the allies knew that they had to cut the food and supply lines to Paris to weaken their adversaries but also starving the citizens.

As mentioned above, the author could have spared me such details of the characters he highlighted, even Countess Clara Longsworth de Chambrum, even though her hometown was Cincinnati. Same is true with Charles Bedaux whose story was far too long, especially for someone who was so unlikable, American Hospital chief surgeon Dr. Thierry de Martel, Sumner Jackson, Sylvia Beach, Adrienne Monnier, and even Dorothy Reeder of the Paris library, although the coverage of her was most interesting since she participated in a horrible dance of freedoms and censorship.

The story of Eugene Jacques Bullard was the most interesting. Born the son of a slave, he moved to France and joined the French Foreign Legion and overcame racism by becoming the first Black military flyer. He sounded like an interesting guy, a boxer then owner of various taverns and an agent for the government since he knew so many people who came into his various establishments. His escape from France read like a movie script, including when he arrived home to America – and to racism.

Near the end of the book, Glass speaks to how hundreds of women who joined the resistance to fight for a free France were captive on a bus heading through Paris, headed to a prison labor camp. The one women saw those who had collaborated with the Germans looking their way and reflected: “They pitied us. As I looked at them, the same thoughts went round and round in my consciousness: ‘These people will soon see the liberation of Paris. I’m going to miss the day of which I have dreamed for nearly five years and which was to be the greatest In my life.” The enemies of the Nazi’s were packed into trains and traveled towards their dreaded prison, stopped then bombed bridge would not allow them to continue by rail. When one woman tried to run away, the guards beat her severely, a lesson to the rest. They were finally taken to Ravensbrück Konzentrationslager, built in 1939 to enslave women to produce textiles and a Siemens armament plant. The women were stripped and searched then issued prison uniforms. The water was so poor that it caused death, so women were warned to only drink the horrible coffee for liquid.

The end of the war was filled with confusion and totally unnecessary death. General de Chambrun said that while he was a German General, he was “neither a Nazi nor even a German. I am an Austrian, and, since this war is nearly lost, I am ready to capitulate.” Earlier he had resisted the Germans, served time in prison then ordered into the German army. It was encouraging to read how after considerable confusion and slow surrender, tears were shed as the flames shot out above the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was lit for the first time since 1950. Military bands played La Marseillaise.’

[Kathleen Hagen]

Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation, by Charles Glass, narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Publisher’s note says it all:
Acclaimed journalist Charles Glass looks to the American expatriate experience of Nazi-occupied Paris to reveal a fascinating forgotten history of the
greatest generation. In Americans in Paris, tales of adventure, intrigue, passion, deceit, and survival unfold season by season as renowned journalist
Charles Glass tells the story of a remarkable cast of expatriates and their struggles in Nazi Paris. Before the Second World War began, approximately 30,000
Americans lived in Paris, and when war broke out in 1939, almost 5,000 remained. As citizens of a neutral nation, the Americans in Paris believed they
had little to fear. They were wrong. Glass' discovery of letters, diaries, war documents, and police files reveals as never before how Americans were trapped
in a web of intrigue, collaboration, and courage. Artists, writers, scientists, playboys, musicians, cultural mandarins, and ordinary businessmen - all
were swept up in extraordinary circumstances and tested as few Americans before or since. These stories come together to create a unique portrait of an
eccentric, original, and diverse American community. Charles Glass has written an exciting, fast-paced, and elegant account of the moral contradictions
faced by Americans in Paris during France's dangerous occupation years. For four hard years, from the summer of 1940 until U.S. troops liberated Paris
in August 1944, Americans were intimately caught up in the city's fate. Americans in Paris is an unforgettable tale of treachery by some, cowardice by
others, and unparalleled bravery by a few.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, Charles Glass, uses vignettes from a variety of American ex-pats--who appear as repeating characters through the course of the book--to describe what life in Paris under Nazi occupation was like for individuals possessing American citizenship(either exclusively or in tandem with French citizenship) who lived there at the time. The story is gripping and the various people featured representative of a broad spectrum of individuals who made the city of light their home before and during WWII.

Overall an easy, interesting read.

One small quibble, however: Though the author does, nominally and periodically, point out that European Jews were treated much worse than American or British prisoners of war, they're a very minor, indeed almost invisible part of the overall story. I would have found it a bit more satisfying if he'd devoted a little more attention to the plight of any American Jews who might have been on the scene (surely there must have been at least one!). He briefly focuses on some Polish/American Jews who were transferred to France during the middle of the war from Polish/German detention, but only glancingly. Surely

[Monical · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book explores a topic not well known to me (and, I expect, to others)-- the activities and fates of a number of Americans and ex-pats who stayed in Paris after the Nazi occupation. The book is uneven, and the chapters tend to focus on individuals while zooming across different time periods. I found that approach made the book very hard to read and not very engaging. Some of these stories would make terrific movies, though!

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an engrossing and compelling story of an assortment of Americans in Paris during WW2. It really brings you in to what Paris was like then---almost incomprehensible to those of us who have only been there in recent times. Sobering. Puts faces on history.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great history lesson, the author really impresses me with the research and interesting details of side stories that were developing while the Jewish people were marched to their deaths. Always a difficult subject, but a subject that should not be forgotten so it does not happen again.

[Jerry Kinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a golden opportunity to present such an interesting, albeit somber time for "City of Lights". Thought the individual characterization was spot on however the overall dynamics of those years was lacking.

[Thierry Sagnier · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1940 to 1944 was a bad time to be a Parisian, unless you were willing to cozy up to the invading Nazis. Glass explores those unhappy years. The writing is a bit dry and scholastic, but that doesn't much away from the book. This is for all the Parisophiles out there.

[(Alice) Aley Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done compilation of the lives of a dozen or more people in Paris during the occupation.

[Shelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting but too detailed for me.... became boring and dry.

[Bill Tress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paris, the city of light! The 1920’s, a golden era of Bohemian living, a café society featuring some of the best writers of the twentieth century. Here was the opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, authors, poets, painters and many more. Josephine Baker and other expat musicians lead the stars of the jazz era in the cabarets of Paris. An American expat community that was close knit, rich and socially active….. then, the second world war!
Charles Glass wrote about the people who stayed after the war was declared and the invasion of France was imminent. The story depicts imprisonment, deprivation, fear and heroism. Common throughout this narrative is a love of this City and adopted Country by the American expat community and their hatred of its German occupiers. Those who stayed, survived by their wits and demonstrated amazing courage. They assisted the resistance, in any way possible at great risk to themselves. They hid downed allied pilots risking imprisonment, torture and death. They scavenged for food and the necessities like staying warm in the winter, Glass describes it all and this made the story quite compelling.
One of the many things that occurs to a reader of this war is the inhumanity. Being a good soldier is one thing, yet, being an amoral psychopath is quite another. When one reads about the Gestapo, the SS and the other notorious segments of the German Army, we encounter outrageous inhumanity, where did these individuals come from? Did Hitler just open lunatic asylums and give uniforms to these psychopaths? The inhumanity to woman is revolting and yet, woman risked their lives daily to help other human beings and Glass describes it for us.
Many of the people that Glass followed in this fight for Paris survived. Yet, Dr Samuel Jackson of the American Hospital was lost. His heroism is fully illustrated in this narrative and the many books written about this period. The allies and the rest of the world knew of his heroics from reports by the flyers he saved and sent back to Britain to fight on.
Another of the assortment of people who remained was Charles Bedaux. He was a French American millionaire who made his fortune developing and implementing the work measurement aspect of scientific management. He was eccentric and he was constantly developing schemes to build railways and pipelines across the French colonial African deserts and convincing the Vichy Government and the Nazis to assist him in his work. Glass spends a lot of time on Bedaux in his narrative. This man whose brilliantly active mind did the unorthodox like befriending the Duke of Windsor and his American wife when others shunned them. He befriended Petain and his Vichy government and even was cordial to his Nazis Oppressors, but was he a traitor? Glass provided the facts and let’s the reader make the judgement.
This point about who was a traitor cannot be easily decided and Glass does a good job in illustrating the point. To cooperate with the Nazi’s for a greater good, or as Bedaux pointed out by getting their help, he assisted the allies in his projects and schemes by diverting a substantial amount of war material away from the fight.
Glass provided a substantial amount of historical data regarding the liberation of Paris, and, It was not a clear-cut process. For instance, Eisenhower made the decision to go around the City of Paris is his effort to liberate France and race to the Rhine, some felt he abandoned the City. Then the political process was documented by the allied decision to allow French troops under De Gaulle to liberate the City. After the liberation, the messiness continued with factional fighting between the Vichy French, the communist, De Gaulle and others who wanted to fill the void left by the German withdraw. Finally, the avengers went looking for Nazi sympathizers and traitors; yet, as previously pointed out, it was not always an easy distinction to make and mistakes were made.
The author took us from the 1940 Nazi conquest of Paris to the final victory but not by following the military procession. it was an account of the stories of the many who suffered through those years. Glass painted a vivid picture, yet, there was no way to describe the pain and suffering of the people of Paris who stayed and endured the occupation.
Glass did an excellent job on this factual history and his story illustrates the affection for Paris held by its citizens, expats and even the occupiers who valued this City and made efforts to preserve it. This reviewer would have appreciated more narration about the decisions being made by the German commanders to ignore orders from Berlin to blow up the City; yet, they elected to preserve the City in their retreat. The story made an impression on this reviewer and nurtured a desire to revisit the City of Light. Our author is commended for a story well told.

[MaryCatherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book, stitched together from lively and well-researched accounts of several prominent (and some less well-known) American ex-pats who lived and worked in Paris until the outbreak of WWII. Many of them were too well known or had served in the military in WWI, so they fled for the free zone of Vichy France or had to leave the country altogether. Those who remained included collaborators and resistance, profiteers and spies, and many who just considered Paris their home. All became caught up in historic events, motivated by an array of human impulses--some were heroic, but many found community in survival, while some collaborated with the Germans for complex reasons--whether in hope of keeping order until help arrived, or for personal gain or family survival, or even for shrouded motives of profit or ease, while undermining the Nazi regime. In addition to the wonderful and detailed human stories and relationships, the book takes aim at the racist policies of the American military that consistently strove to keep both French African and American black military from any visible role in both wars, ignoring the only WWI African American fighter pilot in the Lafayette Espadrille in honors ceremonies and withholding his and other black American heroes' awards, despite being conferred upon them by the French government. Needless to say, some of these men, did not see the United States as "the land of the free," and preferred to remain in France and make their lives in Paris. As if to again punctuate and confirm the ongoing racism of the USA, before the triumphal Allied liberation march into Paris in 1944, General Eisenhower's command demanded that Charles DeGaulle remove all French African troops and non-white faces from their integrated army before entering Paris. I thoroughly loved the rich stories, and any Paris traveler will enjoy revisiting streets and scenes of Paris, while exploring the city’s wartime past. Above all, this is a story of Paris and those who love that remarkable city, its fascinating history, and some of the community of colorful American characters who lived there and called it home when its survival and theirs were threatened.