Civilian population By the time that the Germans arrived in Paris, two-thirds of the Parisians, particularly those in the wealthier neighborhoods, had fled to the countryside and the south of France, in what is known as
The Exodus, the massive exodus of millions of people from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, the north and east of France, fleeing after the German victory of the
Battle of Sedan (12
–15 May 1940). Once the occupation had begun, they started to return. By 7 July, the city government estimated the population had risen again to 1.5 million; it climbed to 2 million by 22 October, and 2.5 million by 1 January 1941. At the beginning of 1943, it fell again, because of air raids by the Allies, the arrest and deportation of Jews and foreigners, and the forced departure to factories in Germany of many young Frenchmen, as part of the
Service du travail obligatoire (STO), "Obligatory Work Service". The attitude of the Parisians toward the occupiers varied greatly. Some saw the Germans as an easy source of money; others, as the Prefect of the Seine, Roger Langeron (arrested on 23 June 1940), commented, "looked at them as if they were invisible or transparent." The attitude of members of the
French Communist Party was more complicated; the Party had long denounced Nazism and Fascism, but after the signing of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August 1939, had to reverse direction. The editors of ''
L'Humanité'', which had been closed down by the French government, asked the Germans for permission to resume publishing, and it was granted. The Party also asked that workers resume work in the armaments factories, which were now producing for the Germans. Many individual communists opposed the Nazis, but the ambivalent official attitude of the Party lasted until
Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on the
Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The
Ukrainian-Jewish Marxist historian,
Maximilien Rubel, was living semi-secretly in Paris, and was astonished by the level of ignorance shown by Marxist members of the resistance that he met, and in consequence he introduced the term "
Marxology" to refer to a systematic scholarly approach to the understanding of Marx and Marxism, which he perceived to be needed. For the Parisians, the occupation was a series of frustrations, shortages and humiliations. A curfew was in effect from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.; at night, the city went dark. Rationing of food, tobacco, coal and clothing was initiated in September 1940. Every year the supplies grew more scarce and the prices higher. The French press and radio broadcast only German propaganda. The beginning of the STO, the program that required large number of young Frenchmen to work in factories for the German war industry, in exchange for the return of older and sick French prisoners of war in Germany, greatly increased the resentment of the French population against the Germans. Most Parisians, however, only expressed their anger and frustrations in private, while the police of Paris, under German control, received every day hundreds of anonymous denunciations by Parisians against other Parisians.
Rationing and the black market Finding food soon became the first preoccupation of the Parisians. The authorities of the German occupation transformed French industry and agriculture into a machine for serving Germany. Shipments to Germany had first priority; what was left went to Paris and the rest of France. All of the trucks manufactured at the
Citroen factory went directly to Germany. (Later many of these trucks were cleverly sabotaged by the French workers, who recalibrated the dip sticks so that the trucks would run out of oil without warning). Most shipments of meat, wheat, milk produce and other agricultural products also went to Germany. What remained for the Parisians was strictly rationed, following the creation on 16 June 1940 of the ''Ministère de l'agriculture et du ravitaillement
(Ministry of Agriculture and Supply), which began to impose a system of rationing as early as 2 August 1940, as per Décret du 30 juillet 1940
: bread, fat, flour products, rice, sugar; then, on 23 October 1940: butter, cheese, meat, coffee, charcuterie'', eggs, oil; in July 1941: and as the war went on: chocolate, fish, dried vegetables, (like peas and beans), potatoes, fresh vegetables, wine, tobacco... Products could be bought only upon presentation of coupons attributed to specific items and on the specific week in which they could be used. Parisians (and all the population of France) were divided into seven categories depending upon their age, and allotted a certain amount of each product each month. A new bureaucracy, employing more than 9,000 city employees, with offices at all schools and the city hall of each arrondissement, was put into place to administer the program. The system resulted in long lines and frustrated hopes, since promised products often never appeared. Thousands of Parisians regularly made the long journey by bicycle to the countryside, hoping to come back, with vegetables, fruit, eggs and other farm products. The rationing system also applied to clothing: leather was reserved exclusively for German army boots, and vanished completely from the market. Leather shoes were replaced by shoes made of rubber or canvas (
raffia) with wooden soles. A variety of
ersatz or substitute products appeared, which were not exactly what they were called:
ersatz wine, coffee (made with chicory), tobacco and soap. Finding coal for heat in winter was another preoccupation. The Germans had transferred the authority over the coal mines of northern France from Paris to their military headquarters in Brussels. The priority for the coal that did arrive in Paris was for use in factories. Even with ration cards, adequate coal for heating was almost impossible to find. Supplies for normal heating needs were not restored until 1949. Paris restaurants were open but had to deal with strict regulations and shortages. Meat could only be served on certain days, and certain products, such as cream, coffee and fresh produce were extremely rare. Nonetheless, the restaurants found ways to serve their regular clients. The historian , who lived in Paris throughout the war, described his experience: "The great restaurants were only allowed to serve, under the fierce eye of a frequent control, noodles with water, turnips and beets, in exchange for certain number of tickets, but the hunt for a good meal continued for many food-lovers. For 500
F one could conquer a good pork chop, hidden under cabbage and served without the necessary tickets, along with a liter of Beaujolais and a real coffee; sometimes it was on the first floor at rue Dauphine, where you could listen to the BBC while sitting next to Picasso." The restrictions and shortage of goods led to the existence of a thriving
black market. Producers and distributors of food and other scarce products set aside a portion of their goods for the black market, and used middle-men to sell them to customers. The bars of the Champs-Élysées, and other parts of Paris, became common meeting places between the middle-men and clients. Parisians bought cigarettes, meat, coffee, wine and other products which frequently neither the middle-man nor the customer had ever seen.
Transport File:Parisian Traffic, Spring 1945- Everyday Life in Paris, France, 1945 D24162.jpg|A car converted to run on coal gas instead of gasoline (1945) (Imperial War Museums, U.K.) File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1978-053-33, Paris, deutsche Soldaten in der Metro.jpg|
Luftwaffe officers on the Metro (Bundesarchiv) File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2004-0216-500, Paris, deutsche Parole am Bourbon-Palast.jpg|Horse-drawn coaches in front of the National Assembly, decorated with slogan: "Germany is winning on all fronts" (Bundesarchiv) File:Parisian Traffic, Spring 1945- Everyday Life in Paris, France, 1945 D24176.jpg|The
pedicab, or cycle rickshaw, was still in use in the spring of 1945 (Imperial War Museums, U.K.) Due to the shortage of fuel, the number of automobiles on the Paris streets dropped from 350,000 before the war to just under 4,500. One customer, sitting on the terrace of a café on the Place de la Bourse, counted the number of cars which passed between noon and 12:30 p.m.: only three came by. Older means of transportation, such as the horse-drawn
fiacre came back into service. Trucks and automobiles that did circulate often used gazogene, a poor-quality fuel carried in a tank on the roof, or coal gas or methane, extracted from the Paris sewers. The metro ran, but service was frequently interrupted and the cars were overcrowded. Some 3,500 buses had run on the Paris streets in 1939, but only 500 were still running in the autumn of 1940. Bicycle-taxis became popular, and their drivers charged a high tariff. Bicycles became the means of transport for many Parisians, and their price soared; a used bicycle cost a month's salary. Transportation problems did not end with the liberation of Paris; the shortage of gasoline and lack of transport continued until well after the war.
Culture and the arts File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L15196, Paris, Besuch Gerd v. Rundstedt im Louvre.jpg|German field marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt is given a tour of the
Louvre, 10 October 1940 (Bundesarchiv) File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1985-1216-509, Paris, Oper.jpg|The Paris Opera decorated with swastikas for a festival of German music, 1941 (Bundesarchiv) File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R1213-0502, Gastspiel des Berliner Schiller-Theaters im besetzten Frankreich.jpg|After a performance of Schiller's
Intrigue and Love at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1941, from left to right:
Dr. Ley, Reich organization leader;
Heinrich George, Schiller Theater Intendant; and German actress
Gisela Uhlen (Bundesarchiv) File:Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume.jpg|The
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume became a storehouse for art stolen from Jewish families (TCY, 2007) File:Johannes Vermeer - The Astronomer - 1668.jpg|
Vermeer's 1668 painting
The Astronomer was stolen from the Rothschild family by the Nazis and given to Adolf Hitler One of the greatest
art thefts in history took place in Paris during the occupation, as the Nazis looted the art of Jewish collectors on a grand scale. Great masterpieces in the Louvre
had already been evacuated to the châteaux of the Loire Valley and the unoccupied zone, and were safe. The German Army was respectful of the
Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and refused to transfer the works in French museums out of the country, but the Nazi leaders were not so scrupulous. On 30 June 1940, Hitler ordered that all art works in France, public and private, should be "safeguarded". Many of the French wealthy Jewish families had sent their art works out of France before leaving the country, but others had left their art collections behind. A new law decreed that those who had left France just before the war were no longer French citizens, and their property could be seized. The Gestapo began visiting bank vaults and empty residences, and collecting the works of art. The pieces left behind in the fifteen largest Jewish-owned art galleries in Paris were also collected, and transported in French police vans. In September, a new organization, the
Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (
Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg) was created to catalog and store the art. It was moved to the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, a building in the
Tuileries Gardens used by the Louvre for temporary exhibits. More than 400 crates of art works were brought to the Jeu de Paume by
Luftwaffe personnel, unpacked and cataloged.
Hermann Göring, the head of the
Luftwaffe, visited the Jeu de Paume on 3 November and returned two days later, spending the entire day there picking out works for his private collection. He selected 27 paintings, including works by
Rembrandt and
Van Dyck owned by
Edouard de Rothschild, as well as stained glass windows and furniture intended for
Carinhall, the luxurious hunting lodge he had built in the
Schorfheide Forest in Germany. Another Rothschild-owned painting,
The Astronomer by
Vermeer, was reserved for Hitler himself. Fifteen railroad boxcars full of artworks were sent to Germany with Göring's personal train. Göring visited the Jeu de Paume 12 more times in 1941, and five times in 1942, adding to his collection. Confiscations continued at banks, warehouses and private residences, with paintings, furniture, statues, clocks and jewelry accumulating at the Jeu de Paume, and filling the whole ground floor. The staff at the Jeu de Paume cataloged 218 major collections. Between April 1941 and July 1944, 4,174 cases of art works filling 138 boxcars, were shipped from Paris to Germany. Much of the art, but not all, was recovered after the war.
Arts While some painters left Paris, many remained and continued working.
Georges Braque returned to Paris in autumn 1940 and quietly continued working.
Pablo Picasso spent most of 1939 in a villa in
Royan, north of Bordeaux. He returned to Paris and resumed working in his studio on
Rue des Grands-Augustins. He frequently received visitors at his studio, including Germans, some admiring and some suspicious. He had postcards made of his famous anti-fascist work,
Guernica, to hand out as souvenirs to visitors, and had serious discussions of art and politics with visiting Germans, including writer
Ernst Jünger. While his work was officially condemned as
"degenerate", his paintings continued to be sold at the
Hôtel Drouot auction house and at the
Galerie Louise Leiris, formerly
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler's. German treasurer officials opened Picasso's bank vault, where he stored his private art collection, searching for Jewish-owned art they could seize. Picasso so confused them with his descriptions of ownership of the paintings that they left without taking anything. He also persuaded them that the paintings in the adjoining vault, owned by Braque, were actually his own. Other "degenerate" artists, including
Kandinsky and
Henri Matisse, who sent drawings up to Paris from his residence in Nice, were officially condemned but continued to sell their works in the back rooms of Paris galleries. A few actors, such as
Jean Gabin and film director
Jean Renoir chose, for political or personal reasons, to leave Paris, but many others remained, avoided politics and focused on their art. These included the actor
Fernandel, the film director and playwright
Sacha Guitry, and the singers
Édith Piaf,
Tino Rossi,
Charles Trenet and
Yves Montand. The jazz musician
Django Reinhardt played with the
Quintette du Hot Club de France for German and French fans. In 1941,
Maurice Chevalier performed a new revue in the
Casino de Paris:
Bonjour Paris. The songs "
Ça sent si bon la France" and "La Chanson du maçon" became hits. The
Nazis asked Chevalier to perform in
Berlin and sing for
Radio Paris. He refused but did perform for French prisoners of war in Germany, and succeeded in obtaining the liberation of ten prisoners in exchange. The writer
Colette, who was 67 when the war began, worked quietly on her
mémoires in her apartment at 9
rue du Beaujolais, next to the gardens of the Palais-Royal. Her husband, Maurice Goudeket, a Jew, was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1941, and although he was released after a few months through the intervention of the French wife of the German ambassador
Otto Abetz, Colette lived through the rest of the war years with the anxiety of a possible second arrest. In 1944, she published one of her most famous works,
Gigi. The philosopher and novelist
Jean-Paul Sartre continued to write and publish;
Simone de Beauvoir produced a broadcast on the history of the music hall for Radio Paris; and
Marguerite Duras worked at a publishing house. The actress
Danielle Darrieux made a tour to Berlin, in exchange for the liberation of her husband,
Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican diplomat suspected of espionage. The actress
Arletty, the star of
Les Enfants du paradis ("Children of Paradise") and
Hôtel du Nord, had a relationship with Hans Jürgen Soehring, a
Luftwaffe officer, and gave the famous riposte to a member of the
''Forces françaises de l'Intérieur'' (FFI) interrogating her after the Liberation: "My heart is French, but my a-- is international." Jewish actors were not allowed to perform. Some places in Paris were frequented by homosexual actors and artists; notably the swimming pool in the
Bois de Boulogne. The actor
Jean Marais was officially harassed for his homosexuality, and the actor
Robert-Hugues Lambert was arrested and deported, most likely because of his relationship with a German officer whom he did not want to name. He was murdered at the
Flossenbürg concentration camp on 7 March 1945. The Germans made a continual effort to seduce the Parisians through culture: in 1941, they organized a festival of German music by the
Berlin Philharmonic at the Paris Opera, a play from the
Schiller Theater in Berlin at the
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and an exhibit by the German sculptor
Arno Breker. The French film industry, based in suburbs of Paris, had a very difficult existence due to shortages of personnel, film and food, but it produced several genuine masterpieces, among which:
Marcel Carné's
Les Enfants du paradis which was filmed during the occupation but not released until 1945. ==Antisemitism==