Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s

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Aside from a few show trials, few collaborators were really punished after the war. Most of these were convicted under a new law which stripped their citizenship rights and eligibility for government jobs for a period of time. De Gaulle judged that the country needed to concentrate on recovery and did not pursue close investigations. Also, it was hard to judge people criminally for aiding the Nazis when collaboration was the national policy of the Vichy government. But throughout every community, the French made their own retributions against the women seen as guilty of “collaboration horizontale”. An estimated 20,000 women were subject to public head shaving, beatings, and other humiliation. Another estimate has it that by mid-1943, there were about 80,000 official claims for support from French women for children fathered by Germans in the occupation. The author urges readers to consider how many of these liaisons were rape or under duress, how many were from natural human attraction and affection, and how all pale in comparison to collaboration that truly aided and abetted Nazi horrors or served unwarranted profiteering at the expense of others. Sebba’s narrative is increasingly driven by her search for an explanation as to why some of these women chose to risk their lives and resist when they, like so many fellow Parisennes, could have saved their skins. What made a young lawyer, Denise du Fournier, give up her refuge in Portugal and return to Paris early in the war to join the Comet escape line, helping to hide shot-down allied airmen? What made Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian-born Parisian and a pacifist, volunteer to work behind Nazi lines for the British Special Operations Executive? In 2016, Sebba published Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s (Weidenfeld & Nicolson UK), published in the United States as Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died under the Nazi Occupation (St Martin's Press). This was described as "fascinating and beautifully written" by The Spectator [19] and was the joint winner of the Franco-British society's book prize for 2016. [20] As long as one could tolerate the laying off of most Jews in the diverse businesses, accommodation was acceptable by the majority and the law of the land under the puppet Vichy government. The women with the most anti-fascist rebellion in their hearts, those with communist leanings, were undercut by the German-Russian pact of 1940. But when the Vichy government went out of their way to pass anti-semitic laws and turn a blind eye to factories being manned with the slave labor of political prisoners and POWs, more recruits to Resistance activity were made. Just seeing fashion queens like Coco Chanel, actresses like Corrine Lachaire, and diverse aristocrat courtesans hobnobbing in luxurious splendor with German officers at the Folies Bergere, the Comedie-Francaise, the opera, and fancy restaurants was enough to turn the heart of many of lesser means at a hungry time. Sleeping with the enemy was one step, but doing so with such special benefits was a big affront, though still not enough to sway many toward revolt. Besides, the eventual policy of the Nazis to kill 100 French for every German killed by the Resistance was quite a deterrent. Despite never having had the vote or even legally allowed to have a banking account, growing numbers contributed in small or moderate ways to helping Jews escape or hide or providing information or material support to aid those active in the Resistance. I like the example of brothel madams who hid subversives or Jews in their establishments. And the case of Edith Piaf, who drew complaints for aiding the Nazi propaganda efforts with performances at detention centers, but who used the group photos with the prisoners to create fake identity papers for many of them. I particularly loved the actions of an art archiver who was subverted by the Nazis to help with all the cataloging and distribution of stolen art treasures (Goering himself was long on the trough of that bonanza), but all the while she was keeping a secret record of the origin and disposition of each piece, and after the war used her records to good effect in recovering a lot of the art. I was also impressed with the heroism of Jenny Rousseau, a prisoner who one day refused to continue with forced labor in a munitions plant as against the Geneva Convention. The toughness of a such a choice at risk of one’s own life was revealed when we learn that the action spurred broad and brutal retribution against a whole pool of factory laborers. A similar tragic consequence applied to the work of the organization UGIF (Union Generale des Israelites de France) , which worked diligently to support the feeding and housing of orphans and refugees, but had their records of locations of Jews used for roundups by the Nazis.

Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and

That Woman was described in The New York Times Sunday Book Review as a "devourable feast of highly spiced history…which acquires the propulsive energy of a thriller as it advances through Wallis's life". [17] and in The Washington Times as "a delicious new biography… meticulously researched". [18] What Sebba brings to the the story is an interest in what this meant for women: in 1940 when Paris fell to the Nazis, women had no vote, were not allowed to have bank accounts, were not supposed to have jobs, yet with most of the men either in the army or in prison or escaped overseas with de Gaulle's Free French, much of the burden of everyday living, of caring for children and the elderly, fell to women: 'Paris became a significantly feminized city, and the women had to negotiate on a daily basis with the male occupier'. Rollyson, Carl (8 June 2021). "Review: Ethel Rosenberg biography shows how her execution defined the Cold War, horrified the world". Datebook. San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide . Retrieved 8 June 2021.Joffee, Linda (14 February 1994). "Book Review". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022 . Retrieved 26 September 2009. And perhaps the answer is as simple as that – which is why, in the end, Sebba doesn’t offer an explanation as to why some women chose one course, others another, rightly letting their actions, compelling life stories – and the physiognomy of the wonderful selection of photographs – speak for themselves. Director: Michel Boisrond. Screenplay: Michel Boisrond, Francis Cosne, Annette Wademant. Cinematography: Henri Alekan. Ella [ edit ] Lewis, Roger (2 September 2011). "That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba". Daily Telegraph. London.

Les Parisiennes - Moulin Roty Les Parisiennes - Moulin Roty

So, we go through 1940, when Paris was abandoned as many took a desperate, terrifying flight across France. However, when the German army arrived, they were often well-dressed, amiable and polite – at least at first and to most of the city’s inhabitants… People began to return, but gradually resistance groups emerged. There are arrests, denunciations, betrayal, fear, solidarity and every possible emotion through the war years. Always there is danger and hunger, but still Parisian women remade their dresses, put wooden soles on their shoes and pounced on parachute silk to make clothes. Benn, Melissa (24 June 2021). "Review: Ethel Rosenberg by Anne Sebba review – a notorious cold war tragedy". TheGuardian.com . Retrieved 24 June 2021. Ethel Rosenberg by Anne Sebba review – a mother murdered by cold war hysteria". the Guardian. 27 June 2021 . Retrieved 28 June 2021. It was women who came face to face with the German conquerors on a daily basis – perhaps selling them clothes or travelling alongside them on the metro, where a German soldier had priority over seats. By looking at collaborators to resisters, actresses and prostitutes, as well as teachers and writers, including American women and Nazi wives, spies, mothers, mistresses, fashion and jewellery designers – Anne Sebba shows that women made life-and-death decisions every day, and, in an atmosphere where sex became currency, often did whatever they needed to survive. Her fascinating cast includes both native Parisian women and those living in Paris temporarily: American women and Nazi wives, spies, mothers, mistresses, and fashion and jewellery designers. Some like the heiress Béatrice Camondo or novelist Irène Némirovsky, converted to Catholicism; others like lesbian racing driver Violette Morris embraced the Nazi philosophy; only a handful, like Coco Chanel, retreated to the Ritz with a German lover.

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In many ways, Sebba’s book is important because it balances the women on the sidelines stories that seem to be so much of popular and easily accessible World War II history. It’s true that there are several books about the role of women in the British SOE, but it wasn’t until this year that WW II woman pilots (WASPS) could legally be buried at Arlington. Usually, there are a few general statements, books about women rescuers of Jewish civilians, and information about nurses. You really have to look to find books about women, and finding books in English about French resistance woman fighters is especially hard in some cases. So we do need books about this. I received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book from Bookbrowse in return for a First Impressions review.