Nazi Paris: The History of an Occupation, 1940-1944

by Allan Mitchell

Basing his extensive research into hitherto unexploited archival documentation on both sides of the Rhine, Allan Mitchell has uncovered the inner workings of the German military regime from the Wehrmacht's triumphal entry into Paris in June 1940 to its ignominious withdrawal in August 1944. Although mindful of the French experience and the fundamental issue of collaboration, the author concentrates on the complex problems of occupying a foreign territory after a surprisingly swift conquest. By exploring in detail such topics as the regulation of public comportment, economic policy, forced labor, culture and propaganda, police activity, persecution and deportation of Jews, assassinations, executions, and torture, this study supersedes earlier attempts to investigate the German domination and exploitation of wartime France. In doing so, these findings provide an invaluable complement to the work of scholars who have viewed those dark years exclusively or mainly from the French perspective.

264 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though often attacked and frequently the center of social and political turmoil, Paris has rarely been subject to occupying powers. In this respect, the four-year German occupation of Paris during World War II represents an unusual episode in the history of the metropolis, one that remains controversial to this day. While numerous books have been written dealing aspects of this time, Alan Mitchell's book is the first to take advantage of French archival collections heretofore inaccessible due to their sensitive nature. This forms the great strength of the book and also its great weakness, as Mitchell provides not a comprehensive examination of Paris during the Nazi years but a narrower study of the German administration of Paris.

This is a history that is more complicated than it might seem, as the Germans established a regime of overlapping jurisdictions that often worked at cross-purposes with each other. One of the greatest strengths of Mitchell's account is his effort to disentangle this to show how it worked. His method of doing so is to divide the Occupation years into three periods, roughly corresponding to the establishment of the Occupation, the tightening of German control, and the effort to hold on as it was increasingly evident that Germany would lose the war. Within this approach Mitchell divides Occupation policy into descriptions of official administration and security efforts, propaganda, economic policy, and the harassment and discrimination of the Jews. Through it all Mitchell shows that the Germans' "model occupation," was anything but, with policy often riven by political infighting and the competing demands of governance and winning the ongoing war. Occasionally Mitchell loses focus, as his study of Paris can blur into a larger study of occupation policy in France itself. This is a minor complaint, however, given the perhaps inevitable intertwining of the two, and it does nothing to detract from the value of Mitchell's study of one of the darkest moments in the history of the "City of Lights."

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short history of the Nazi occupation of Paris. Mr. Mitchell discusses the legal, administrative, and economic issues confronting the city's citizens. The book's chapters cover each year and the changing relationship of the Nazi occupiers with the Vichy occupied. The history of Paris during these years were not a simple as a compliant French citizenry or an overbearing tyranny. As the allies advanced, the average French citizen began hedging behaviors toward the Germans. While the Germans squeezed the French more. This balancing act was well presented.

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Research for a future writing project.