01x04 - The liberation of Paris

[bunniefuu]

[somber music plays]

♪ The bright horses have broken free
From the fields ♪

♪ They are horses of love
Their manes full of fire ♪

♪ They are parting the cities
Those bright burning horses ♪

♪ And everyone is hiding
And no one makes a sound ♪

♪ And I'm by your side
And I'm holding your hand ♪

[boat engine roaring]

[somber music plays]

[man, in French] A poem by Julien Clément,
head of music of the Vichy government.

"To our leader, Marshal Pétain.

Marshal, may your name
be etched in history,

And that, at all times,
we surround it with glory.

Give back to all those French people
you wanted to save

from the complete disaster
that could happen,

and the love of duty and the noble hope.

So that soon, through them,
our France will be revived.

Only a strong and healthy legion
at the same time.

Unanimous in responding
to the call of your voice.

Revive in our ranks that spirit again.

Honor! Homeland!
These words were our motto.

They will always be,
but without being divided.

Work! Family! Must also be included.

Linking our right to hope
to the proud past.

And we will see, tomorrow, the new Nation.

Raise our immortal France
with these words."

-[boat engine roaring]
-[omnious music plays]

This poem can be misunderstood
and be seen as pure collaboration,

but the opposite is true.

It's a courageous piece of writing
by Mister Clément

to the leader of collaborating France.

Mister Clément wrote an acrostic,

that is a form of poem
that involves a hidden message

that can be reconstructed by reading
the first letter of each line of the poem.

In this case, it is " Merde pour Hitler",
which means "f*ck Hitler".

Mister Clément was arrested by the Gestapo
in 1943, but released in 1944.

A bit later he wrote
" Maréchal, et les voila!",

which was a satirical song based on a song
about Maréchal Pétain.

I suppose they were not
the closest friends.

[piano music plays]

[Sarah] The Vichy regime
was the government of France

except for Alsace-Lorraine.

It also governed
the French colonial Empire,

but in reality,

the Vichy government was nothing more than
a satellite state of Germany.

And they collaborated
with n*zi Germany on a big scale.

The leader was Maréchal Philippe Pétain,
and in 1944, after D-Day,

the Vichy government fled to n*zi Germany.

[piano music continues]

I'm Sarah Kaminsky.
I'm a writer and screenwriter.

In 2009, I wrote a book on
my father's actions during World w*r II,

which is my connection with this period.

As a child, I never knew
how much he really did.

I will tell you later his story.

[instrumental music plays]

[Sarah] During World w*r II,

Roma gypsies and jazz musicians
were targeted by the n*zi regime.

Over a million Roma were exterminated
for presumed racial inferiority,

and jazz music was said to combine
the worst of Blacks and Jews.

Just listening to a jazz record could
get you sent to a concentration camp.

Goebbels called jazz, I quote:
"n*gg*r, kike, jungle music."

[upbeat music plays]

Django was a Roma and a jazz musician,

and still, he enjoyed the most lucrative
period of his career during the w*r,

while living and playing openly
among n*zi soldiers.

The Belgian born Django Reinhardt,

at that time the most famous
jazz musician in Paris,

survived the w*r
because many Nazis loved jazz music,

even if it was forbidden by the Party.

[upbeat music continues]

During the German occupation of Paris,

the city was seen as a must-visit place
for German soldiers.

" Jeder einmal Paris" was a program
based on the interwar-program

" Jeder einmal in Berlin".

It was a military branch
of the German Tourist Office

who organized trips through Paris.

[ghostly crowd cheers]

[man, in German] Letter to the parents.

Lieutenant Theodor Körner,
April 17th, 1943.

"Dear parents and dear Heinzi.

I just returned from Paris
and I had a lovely couple of days.

I saw the Eiffel Tower,
the Arc de Triomphe,

the Dôme des Invalides, the Opera House,
and many more sights."

Besides music,
entertainment, food, and culture,

there was also paid-for sex.

There were at least a hundred brothels.

The most notorious
being the One-two-two and the Sphinx.

These were visited by German officers,
notorious collaborators,

black-market operators, artists,
but also resistance fighters,

which means somehow that those
brothels were seen as common ground.

[ghostly men cheering]

Most of the time,
the brothels were also restaurants

and some of them had stages
where famous French artists performed.

One of them, for example, was Édith Piaf.

-[ghostly crowd cheering]
-[piano music plays]

[Sarah] Ordinary German soldiers
went to cheaper brothels,

where the health of the prostit*tes
was monitored by doctors from the Reich,

and there were hundreds
of thousands of soldiers

who paid for sex
during the years of occupation.

It needs to be said that most
of the German soldiers

had regular partnerships with French women

and at least 40,000 children were born
out of French-German love affairs.

Only a year after the w*r,
an ex-prost*tute,

ex-spy, and a later politician,
Marthe Richard,

succeeded in closing down
the brothels in the 4th district

and later in the whole country
thanks to her own bill,

which is called the Law Marthe Richard.

[vocal music plays]

[Sarah] Of the 340,000 Jews
living in France in 1940,

more than 75,000
were deported to death camps.

About 72,500 of them died there.

The Vichy government and the French police
hunted down around 20,000 Jews in Paris

and gathered them for deportation.

Thanks to a number of aid groups,
resistance and many individual actions,

a lot of Jews were saved
from the gas chambers.

The survival rate of the Jewish population
in France was up to 75%,

which is one of the highest in Europe.

Next to a number
of Jewish clandestine organizations

like the communist Solidarité,
The Oeuvre de secours aux enfants ,

the Bundist, Amelot,
and various underground Zionist groups,

there were also some exceptional
and unexpected initiatives

from other, non-Jewish people.

Such as Si Kaddour Benghabrit,
an Algerian religious leader

and the founder
of the Great Mosque of Paris.

He organized escape routes for Jews
and resistance fighters

and used the cellars of the Great Mosque
of Paris as hiding places

before they could be brought to safety.

Here in these caverns,
the refugees were hiding,

while above them German tourists
were visiting the mosque.

Can you imagine the feeling and the fear?

They were hiding here while waiting
for their new identity documents.

No one knows how many Jews were saved,

but several sources say it would be
around 1000 people.

Another man who also took big risks
in Paris during World w*r II

was Abdul Hussain Sardari,

head of the Iranian Consulate,
which is just there.

Sardari was able to save around
a thousand Iranian Jews

then living in France, by confusing
the Nazis with their own propaganda.

As the Nazis regarded
the Iranians as Aryans,

Sardari claimed that Iranian Jews
were therefore also Aryans.

Remarkably, he was helped by
Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg,

a German who worked against the Nazis.

Friedrich was arrested after the attempt
to k*ll Hitler in July 1944,

and he was hung in November
in a prison in Berlin.

[gavel knocking]

[Sarah] It's a pity that Sardari's
brave deeds have been forgotten.

Not only in Europe but also
in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

[piano music plays]

The main reason why I'm presenting
this documentary series

is because of my connection
with this part of World w*r II.

My father Adolfo Kaminsky

was born in Argentina
into a Jewish family from Russia.

In 1932, they moved to Paris
and from there in 1938,

they went to Normandy to the town of Vire.

After the German invasion of France,

The family house was claimed
by the Germans

who wanted to change it into a brothel.

His mother, my grandmother,
was k*lled in 1941, possibly by the Nazis.

We still don't know.

So at the age of 17,
my father entered the Resistance.

At first, he watched
the railway station at Vire

from where railcars
of the Todt Organization,

loaded with material
for the Atlantic Wall, transited.

He sent messages to London
about these trains.

In 1943, his family was interned
in the camp of Drancy,

which was an intermediate stop
to deportation.

With a little help
of the Consul of Argentina,

he and his family were set free
and moved back to Paris.

[somber music plays]

My father worked here in this house,
in a little room on the rooftop.

He passed the rest of the w*r
forging identity documents

for Jews and other people
wanted by the Nazis.

He was introduced to this network

while searching for fake IDs
for him and his family.

This group, made up of Jewish people
from the General Jewish Union

and called "the 6th",

was having problems removing
Waterman blue ink stains from the papers.

My father suggested they used lactic acid,

something he had learnt
in his youth in Normandy.

From that moment, he was part of the group

and became responsible
for the chemical forgery lab.

He also learned photo-engraving
under a false pretext

so that he could set up a new lab in order
to create real false documents.

The Kaminsky Lab became the main producer

of false IDs for northern France
and the Benelux.

He used to say: "Keep awake.

The longest possible.
Struggle against sleep.

The calculation is easy.
In one hour, I make 30 false papers.

If I sleep one hour, 30 people will die."

My father helped to create documents
that saved the lives of 14,000 Jews,

and for this he was awarded
the Médaille de la Résistance .

Later, he was engaged
by the French military secret services

to make false IDs for spies
sent behind the lines

in order to investigate and detect
the location of concentration camps

before their dismantlement by the Nazis.

[bells ringing]

One of the exploits
I'm particularly proud of is this.

At a certain point, my father's
resistance comrade called Marc Hamon

heard that the Nazis were going
to pick up 300 Jewish children

from a dozen childcare centers in Paris.

To prevent this, it was necessary
to forge three kinds of documents.

The birth certificate,
the baptismal certificate,

and the ration card.

They had three days and nights
to produce the papers on time

and they worked literally
day and night to do this.

All documents were ready on time
and all the children were able to escape.

-[lady speaking in French]
-[ghostly children playing]

[Sarah] The Vichy regime
lasted from July 10, 1940

to August 20, 1944, and during that time,

the regime increasingly collaborated
with Germany.

Not only did the Vichy government
implement anti-Jewish laws

put in place by the Nazis,
but they even made the laws stricter

and applied them often
without orders from the occupier.

The Milice Française was created in '43
by the Vichy regime to help the Germans

fight against the French Resistance
during World w*r II.

The Milice was the Vichy regime's
most extreme manifestation of fascism.

They had around 25,000 members
and their armed division,

called the Franc-Garde,
had around 4000 men.

The Milice also had youth sections
for boys and girls called the Avant-Garde.

[omnious music plays]

[Sarah] In 1941,

the Vichy regime converted
an unfinished social housing project

into the camp of Drancy,
an internment facility mostly for Jews.

But it also imprisoned h*m*

and other people
who were considered undesirable.

In 1943, the SS took over the camp.

The Austrian w*r criminal Alois Brunner
became camp commander.

Brunner was responsible for the death
of at least 130,000 Jews

in France and elsewhere.

The Vichy regime

actively contributed to the deportation
of at least 76,000 people.

Less than 3000 returned alive.

[omnious music plays]

[Sarah] Paris had always been
a city of contrasts,

a place where right and left
lived side by side

and stood opposite to each other.

A place that evokes rebellion and uproar,

but also where rich conservatives
find their place.

A landing strip for all kinds of
nationalities and races.

A multicultural society "Avant la lettre".

But at the time of the occupation,
Paris was also a bit of Germany,

and a lot of French
were also a bit German.

And the first Allied prisoners
experienced this firsthand

when they were driven through
the Parisian streets.

Presumably, they have not been received
as hostile

in any European city
as they were in beautiful Paris.

[expl*si*n]

[Sarah] The French resistance grew bigger
and bigger after D-Day.

It almost exploded and in some
smaller cities, like Vernon and Alençon,

they became the liberators.

This urge for freedom also played out
in Paris and on August 19th.

Rol-Tanguy, a French leader
of the resistance and confirmed communist,

launched an uprising.

The police headquarters
were taken by Chaban

and the Gaullist resistance
police officers.

Rol-Tanguy passed by on his bike,

when he saw that the prefecture
was captured.

He became part of the uprising

and encouraged them during a tirade
in the middle of the main courtyard.

The French flag was raised
at the prefecture and at the Grand Palais.

[man, in French] August 19,
journal of Yves Cazaux, 9:15 a.m.

"My wife tells me that Raymonde,
our cleaning lady,

saw the flag hoisted over
the police headquarters.

Officers reportedly took
possession of the prefecture

and are said to be taking refuge there.

Here is the first liberation flag
erected on a public building.

We can see it from the window."

Diary of Roger Trentesaux, August 19th.

"Suddenly, there's Avenue d'Orléans,

the most extraordinary
spectacle in its simplicity:

a cyclist, surrounded by four others,

goes down to Alesia holding a huge flag.

The flag we haven't seen
in over four years.

As they pass, we applaud

and yet many German cars
still circulate in Paris,

who could make this recklessness cost us."

[Sarah] The town hall was taken in
the early morning of August 20th

by 200 resistance agents
under the order of Léo Hamon.

The town hall became the center
of the riots against the Germans.

More than 1000 French fighters
entrenched themselves there.

[piano music plays]

[man, in French]
Journal of Roger Trentesaux, August 20th.

"At the corner of rue Saint-Séverin,
there are armed men.

A large board with nails forming
a harrow bar on the pavement.

[g*n fire]

I get off the bike and ask a few questions

to the insurgents,
including women, g*ns in hand.

Suddenly, whistles give the signal
for the sh**ting.

We sh**t from side to side on
a German truck which comes from the quays.

I abandon my bicycle and take refuge
under a carriage entrance

during a quarter of an hour
that the fight lasts,

because the Germans retaliate.

I observe a lack of order and cold blood
among the sn*pers.

These are communist elements
who hold the neighborhood.

A majority of very young people,
without discipline or method,

who often sh**t at the risk
of hitting their comrades.

Two wounded are taken away."

[omnious music plays]

[recording, shouting in German]

[g*n shot]

[man, in French] Letter from
Robert Blancherie, resistance fighter,

to his wife on August 20th.

"On my pre-dinner hike, I saw this show,

a German truck loaded with soldiers,
and within, there was an FFI.

He was followed by a Citroën
full of Resistance guys.

I must say it's the first time
since those troubled days

I felt my heart swell with emotion,
which was almost the joy of deliverance."

[g*n shots]

On August 21st, Rol-Tanguy
passed the order to set up barricades

and at least 600 barricades
at strategic crossroads

to prevent the Germans
from advancing and circulating.

These barricades had an important
psychological impact on Parisians.

They participated in their own liberation
while reminding them

of the French Revolution


But at the same time,
the fight at Falaise was still on

and Eisenhower didn't want to see Paris
destroyed like Stalingrad,

so he preferred to go around Paris,
straight towards Berlin.

On that same day, Hitler commanded
that Paris must be totally destroyed.

But Von Choltitz, military governor
of Paris, ignored the order from Berlin.

He didn't have the manpower to do so
and decided not to follow the order

and hoped only to save his own skin.

He prevented a real m*ssacre
in the streets of Paris

and not a single monument
or bridge in Paris was destroyed.

After the w*r, Dietrich von Choltitz
was locked up

in a villa in Trent Park in England
with other German high-level officers.

They were wired
and Von Choltitz told his colleagues

that he was involved in w*r crimes
in Russia, particularly in Crimea,

where he claimed to have ex*cuted
Hitler's order to exterminate the Jews.

He called this the worst job
I've ever done.

[man, in French] Journal by Yves Cazaux,
Monday, August 21th, 11 a.m.

"I can no longer write down all
the information that comes to me,

as the fighting resumes

at all cardinal points,
very violent in our neighborhood.

Only one thing is certain.

There is no longer any chance of a truce
and we are fighting all out in Paris.


is no longer true an hour later.

What a pity that this release
is not more coherent.

Could it be?

But in reality, I longed for
something so big, so selfless,

that I have to prepare myself
for many disappointments."

[machine g*n fire]

[man, in French]
Diary of Roger Trentesaux.

August 22, 5 p.m.

"The sh**ting is infernal.

The furious sound of the machine g*ns
responds to the dry shots of the r*fles,

to the thinner bursts of submachine g*ns.

I observe the fight from Mr Joussand,

but over there, a woman is screaming

while a distraught man runs away.

I see her hugging something in her arms
and anguish fills me,

like the other people present,

thinking that it is probably a child.

With one leap, I crossed the gate
without thinking,

without calculating my chances
in the middle of the sh**ting.

I rush towards the zone,
b*ll*ts whistle around my ears,

and I arrive, holding the woman in my arms
carrying a package.

It is not a child, but her clothes.

Blood flows from her face.

I pick her up and hurry back
as quickly as I can

towards the House
where the door is opened to me."

[Sarah] The French and certainly De Gaulle

wanted Paris to be liberated
by the French Army

and didn't want the city to fall
into the hands of the communists

and certainly not into the hands
of Rol-Tanguy.

They wanted to avoid the establishment
of a Communist Republic,

so De Gaulle negotiated with the Allies

and at the same time Leclerc
sent a secret detachment towards Paris.

The whole idea was that Eisenhower
wanted to avoid the French capital

and push the Allied forces
towards Germany.

The Allied leaders
feared civil insurrection,

but also the fact that they
had to feed a city of four million people.

But on August 22nd,

Eisenhower was convinced and decided
that the Allies had to enter Paris.

That evening, General Bradley ordered
General Leclerc to March on Paris.

[somber music plays]

[Sarah] On August 23rd,
exactly on her 20th birthday,

Madeleine Riffaud, alias Rainer,
was assigned to the French Forces

of the interior group
in the 19th district,

which occupied the post office
as its headquarters.

She had to attack a train
of German soldiers.

She led a commando of three men
and they succeeded

in blocking the German train
in the Buttes-Chaumont tunnel.

They took 80 prisoners
without a drop of blood.

When she was 18,

Madeleine joined the Resistance
at the Paris Medical School.

On July 3rd, 1944, in the middle of Paris,

she k*lled her first German soldier
in cold blood at close range.

Two b*ll*ts in the head.

The weapon she used to k*ll
the German soldiers was identified.

It belonged to a French policeman.

And when the man was confronted with her,
he recognized her.

She was arrested, tortured,
and sent to a camp.

During a prisoner exchange negotiated
by the Swedish consul Raoul Nordling,

she was set free.

[vocal music plays]

[Sarah] The same day, 4000 vehicles
of the Leclerc Division set off to Paris.

The departure was so hasty
that they hadn't received maps,

but luckily the Leclerc Division
had many Parisians in its ranks.

On August 24th, he ordered the detachment
of Captain Dronne, "El Capitan",

of the Spanish company the "Nueve",

to enter Paris through
the Porte de Gentilly.

The men from Dronne crossed the Seine and,
guided by FFIs,

they reached the Hôtel de Ville
at 9:22 p.m.

and were the first of the Allied troops
to enter the French capital.

In the Church towers, they heard the bells
as they passed, the bells of liberation.

[man, in French]
Journal of Captain Dronne, 24 August.

General Leclerc says, "Ronne,
go straight to Paris, enter Paris.

Go where you want. You have to enter.

You'll tell them that the entire division
will be in Paris tomorrow morning.

The objective is not military,
the objective is psychological.

It's about of raising the morale
of the resistance and uprising population.

It's about showing
and proving them the division is coming,

that it will be tomorrow morning
in Paris."

[Sarah] Von Choltitz understood
by hearing the bells

that it was five to twelve and that he
would not see Germany any time soon.

[man, in French]
Journal of Captain Dronne. 8:45 p.m.

"We arrive at the Porte d'Italie.

My jeep coming in,
a dense crowd stirs in the square.

When our column arises, cries burst out.
The Boches, the Chleus.

The crowd disperses and flees towards
the streets of Paris, in front of us.

The place suddenly emptied.

Other cries break out:
'The Americans, it's the Americans!'

The crowd returns,
overwhelms the square, surrounding us.

And suddenly, the news arrive:
'The French, they are the French!'"

[upbeat music plays]

[Sarah] The Nueve consisted largely
out of Spanish Republicans,

anarchists, and French soldiers.

The Spanish
had fought at the Spanish Civil w*r

and were experienced.

They had named their vehicles
after the battles of the Spanish w*r.

Madrid, Guadalajara, Brunete, Guernica.

The Jeep with whom
General Dronne drove to Paris

had a very particular inscription.

It said "Death to the fools".

"The fools" being General Giraud's men,
who remained loyal to Vichy.

[man, in French] Journal of General
Dronne, commander of the Nueve.

"The Spaniards fought like lions,

with their great qualities of courage,

their combat experience
and their shortcomings,

a pride sometimes degenerating
into susceptibility

and a boldness often
bordering on recklessness."

[Sarah] This is Anne-Marie Dalmaso.

She was born in Italy,
grown up in Clermont-Ferrand,

and moved to Paris just before
the w*r broke out.

There she was arrested
for acts of resistance,

for which she was in prison for 16 months.

Thanks to her heroic actions,

she got the nickname 'Anita,
l'Amazone en savates',

or 'Anita, amazon on slippers'.

She's one of the five women
who were decorated after the w*r.

The footage you just saw
was right here on this spot.

But more than 75 years ago.

[piano music plays]

[man, in French]
Journal of Roger Trentesaux, August 24.

"Under the threat of a machine g*n,
we are searched by a German post,

which, upon presenting our control cards,
lets us pass on the bridge.

The square is empty,
on which machine g*ns are trained.

The sky weighing like a leaden sea,

makes the appearance of this neighborhood
even more dismal,

from which all life
seems to have been gone."

[man, in French]
Press article by Albert Camus.

August 24, 1944.

"Paris fired all its b*ll*ts
in the August night.

In this immense setting
of stones and waters,

all around this river with
heavy waves of history,

once again, the barricades of freedom
have been erected.

Once again, justice must be bought
with the blood of men.

We know this fight too well,

we are too involved in it
by the flesh and by the heart

to accept, without bitterness,
this terrible condition.

But we also know too well
what is at stake and its truth

to refuse the difficult destiny
that we must bear alone.

Time will testify that the men of France
did not want to k*ll,

and that they entered with clean hands
into a w*r they had not chosen."

It was a sunny morning on August 25th

when General Leclerc entered terrace
at 07:30 a.m.

Enthusiastic Parisians
welcomed the liberators.

They cheered and shouted out
their happiness.

Women were climbing
on the French tanks and jeeps.

Kids ran alongside the soldiers,
and the French flags were hung everywhere.

Father Fouquer,
chaplain of the 2nd AD said:

"In my life, I have never again had cheeks
so colored with lipstick.

The GI's, who had heard that the Parisians
were dying of hunger,

were surprised to see people
in great shape.

Young French girls, pretty girls,

were climbing all over our machines
and covering us with flowers.

Some of them had sparkling white teeth.

They must have found food somewhere,
said an American staff sergeant."

[piano music plays]

[Sarah] An ultimatum was sent
to the General Von Choltitz,

who was in command of Gross Paris.

But for a German officer
with his rank and position,

it was forbidden to surrender
without fighting.

Fifteen minutes after the expiry
of the ultimatum,

Von Choltitz and his staff met
in the large room of the Hotel Meurice

to share a last meal.

At 01:15 p.m., The French offensive
on the Hotel Meurice began.

After a few minutes of fighting,
the French soldiers invaded the hall

and went to the first floor
to capture Von Choltitz,

who surrendered immediately.

In the meantime, the Kommandantur
on Place de l'Opéra has fallen.

Von Choltitz was taken
to the Prefecture of Police to Leclerc,

Chaban and Rol-Tanguy.

Here, the capitulation of German forces

under the direct command
of Von Choltitz was signed.

[man, in French] Letter from
Robert Blancherie, resistance fighter,

to his wife.

Friday August 25, 9:30 a.m.

"My love,
my treasures, I have just seen them.

My heart is still heavy
and my eyes full of tears.

And it was the French that I saw.

Their tanks or their machine-gunners
are called Montmartre, Porte-d'Orléans.

A little before 8 o'clock,
I heard a rumbling and engine noises.

I rushed over and was able to see
them going up Boulevard Saint-Jacques.

A little later, this time with my camera,
I saw them in Place Denfert.

The spontaneously gathered crowd
was delirious.

The tanks could barely pass.

Everyone regretted not having flowers
to throw at them.

But they already had some, in fact."

During this time, some soldiers
from the German headquarters

were the victims of a furious crowd

that had come to witness
the capture of the German general.

Soldiers were attacked
and stripped off their belongings.

Others were beaten up, and finally
some were shot at close range.

-[g*n shot]
-[somber music plays]

[in French] Paris, outraged Paris,

shattered Paris, martyred Paris,

but liberated Paris.

[Sarah] In his speech De Gaulle
didn't thank the resistance,

nor did he mention the National Council
of Resistance.

He wanted to be the savior of France,

and he certainly didn't want to put
a spotlight

on the pro-communist resistance members.

He wanted to keep France as it was,

no Allied restrictions
and interference whatsoever.

Therefore, he thought
that the best thing to do was to give

all the honor to the French civilian
and to himself.

[somber music plays]

After the liberation,
the adrenaline was sky-high

and the hormones of the young soldiers
were out of control.

Nor were the young Parisian women
able to stop their hunger.

They met here at the Bois de Boulogne
to comfort each other,

to party, to make love.

I wonder if the reputation of today
of Le Bois has something to do with that.

The next morning the whole town
was hungover.

That day, August 26th, 1944,

De Gaulle marched on the Champs-Elysées
to celebrate his victory.

And to show to the people of France
who is number one in France.

He arrived at 3 p.m.
at the Arc de Triomphe,

where he laid a flower crown
on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Then he inspected the Regiment of March
of Chad in front of the monument.

The American tanks
of the 2nd Armored Division

were arranged around the square
and all along the route to Notre Dame.

Nearly one million people came to see
the new leader of free France.

[people cheering]

Can you imagine the cheering crowd

while De Gaulle walks down
the Champs-Elysées,

escorted on both sides
by two columns of Halftracks?

Capitaine Dronne and the Nueve
were also part of the victory march,

and drove right behind De Gaulle.

All-day long De Gaulle was constantly
under fire from the rooftops.

And when he entered Notre Dame Cathedral,
there was a g*nsh*t.

Who's firing? Militiamen?
Isolated German sn*pers?

Communists? Clumsy FFIs?

One thing is sure,
at the end of the parade

there were about 300 people wounded
and a lot of deaths.

-[somber music continues]
-[crowd cheering]

[Sarah]
During the Paris liberation parade,

colored soldiers weren't really welcome.

[male reader 1]
Memo by Major General Walter Bedell Smith,

Eisenhower's Chief of Staff.

"It is more desirable that the division

mentioned above consists
of white personnel.

This would indicate
the Second Armored Division,

which with only one fourth
native personnel,

is the only French division
operationally available

that could be made 100% white."

[male reader 2] General Frederick Morgan,
Deputy Chief of Staff.

"It is unfortunate that the only
French formation that is 100% white

is an armored division in Morocco.

Every other French division
is only about 40% white.

I have told Colonel de Chevene

that his chances of getting what he wants
will be vastly improved

if he can produce
a white infantry division."

[Sarah] Allied Command insisted
that all Black soldiers be taken out

and replaced by white ones
from other units.

But when it became clear

that there were not enough
white soldiers to fill the gaps,

soldiers from North Africa
and the Middle East were used instead.

Look at this iconic picture.

We see General De Gaulle
during the victory march in Paris.

He's surrounded by the people
who were important

for the liberation of his country.

And here on the right side of the picture,

you see only one Black person
who's walking next to De Gaulle.

His name was Georges Dukson
and he was not supposed to be there,

despite being a true representative
of the Resistance.

But the briefing was:
no colored people in the procession.

Dukson had played a vital role
for the Resistance in the 17th District

during the week of bloody street fighting
before the German surrender.

His nickname was "the Lion of the 17th."

Together with his comrades,
he destroyed several German troop lorries

and even captured a tank.

He jumped on top of it
and k*lled the driver.

During the liberation march,
he was next to De Gaulle

because he had a running bet about it.

He said that he was going to get a picture
with De Gaulle, and so he did.

Georges Dukson was not the only African
in the Resistance.

Of the 1030 members
of the Order of the Liberation

created by Charles de Gaulle,


Most of them are forgotten.

[instrumental music plays]

The most famous Black resistance fighter

was the American singer
and dancer Josephine Baker.

She had traded America for France

because of the politics
of segregation in the US.

She was one of the best-paid artists
in the world when World w*r II began.

-[crowds cheering]
-[vocal music plays]

[Sarah] When the Germans advanced
on Paris in 1940,

Josephine moved to a chateau
in the South of France,

where she took in other refugees
fleeing the Nazis.

After the fall of Paris,

she was contacted by Jacques Abtey,
the head of French Intelligence.

He wanted to engage her as a spy
to help the resistance

against the n*zi occupation.

Josephine housed resistance fighters
at her chateau

and supplied them with visas.

She also attended parties
at the Italian embassy

that brought her in the orbit
of high-ranking Axis bureaucrats.

She collected information
on German troop movements

and on which harbors
or airfields were in action.

What a woman, huh?

-[vocal music plays]
-[crowd cheering]

[omnious music plays]

[woman, in French]
Diary of Huguette Robert,

"From the fall to the Liberation of
Paris", written by Emmanuel d'Astier.

August 25, 1945.

"A procession of four shaved women
heads towards the rue du Bac,

the crowd increases, they go after them,

they hit then, they insult them,
the crowd is inhuman.

This wretched woman is bare
to the waist, on her knees,

across the street from 102, Rue du Bac.

An FFI pointed his submachine g*n
to k*ll her.

They make her beg forgiveness, she drags
herself on her knees, half naked.

They said she k*lled three Frenchmen,
that she was sh**ting from her window.

What to do in front of such a crowd?
Did we execute her? No.

A French officer arrives and says that
we have to take her to prison for trial.

Still on her knees, half-naked, she says,
'Sorry, I won't do it again.'

She has no tears in her eyes, no emotions.

She doesn't seem scared, but rather
bewildered. This is all despicable.

I've seen people who seemed harmless
turn into bullies ready to k*ll.

I am appalled."

[somber music plays]

Nearly 20,000 women
were subjected to this,

let's call it occupation-revenge violence.

Most of them were young women
having affairs with German soldiers,

but part of them were also accused
of collaboration.

To be honest,
there were only small-level collaborators.

Easy prey.

During the liberation, food in Paris
was getting scarcer by the day.

Many Parisians were desperate,

and Allied soldiers even used
their own meager rations to help.

The Allies realized the necessity
to get Paris back on its feet

and pushed a plan for food convoys to get
through the capital as soon as possible.

Also, towns and villages
from the neighborhood were asked

to supply Paris as much as possible.

The Civil Affairs of Allied Force
authorized the import of up to 2,400 tons

of food per day at the expense
of the military effort.

A British food convoy labeled 'Vivre Pour
Paris' entered on August 29th,

and US supplies were flown in
via Orléans Airport.

At least 500 tons a day were delivered
by the British and also by the Americans.

Within ten days,
the food crisis was overcome.

The liberation of Paris was not only
a military victory, but also a humane one.

Paris was not destroyed.

The French Forces of the Interior
have 1000 k*lled

and 1500 members injured.

On the side of the civilians,

there were 600 k*lled
and 2000 people injured.

On the soldier's side,

one hundred and thirty men were k*lled
and 224 men were injured.

Fortunately,

Paris was more traffic-friendly
than it is today.

Otherwise the Allied army
would have never reached Belgium.

[singing, in French]
Come on children of the Fatherland

The day of glory has arrived

Against us of tyranny

The bloody banner is raised

The bloody banner is raised

Can you hear in the countryside…

[in French]
"The roar of those wild soldiers?

They come right into your arms.
To slay your sons, your companions.

To arms, citizens.

Form your battalions.

Let's walk, let's walk.

May impure blood water our fields."

[vocal music plays]