May 28, 2008
Life Was Less Fun If You Were Jewish
"Paris during Nazi occupation was 'one big romp'". Patrick Buisson's new book 1940-1945 Années érotiques: Vichy ou les infortunes de la vertu (Paris: Albin Michel, 2008) and a recent photographic exhibition challenge the conventional wisdom about occupied Paris.
The artistic elite partyed like there would be no tomorrow."It was only in the course of those nights that I discovered the true meaning of the word party," was how Simone de Beauvoir put it. Jean-Paul Sartre was no less enthusiastic:"Never were we as free as under the German occupation."
For another take on the book go here. You can read more about the book here. And to read about the author go here.
Which reminds me to recommend John Lukacs' The Last European War: September 1939-December 1941 (1976; reprint, Yale University Press, 2001) to anyone interested in reading about a time when most Europeans thought Hitler had won and adjusted their lives accordingly.
The artistic elite partyed like there would be no tomorrow."It was only in the course of those nights that I discovered the true meaning of the word party," was how Simone de Beauvoir put it. Jean-Paul Sartre was no less enthusiastic:"Never were we as free as under the German occupation."
For another take on the book go here. You can read more about the book here. And to read about the author go here.
Which reminds me to recommend John Lukacs' The Last European War: September 1939-December 1941 (1976; reprint, Yale University Press, 2001) to anyone interested in reading about a time when most Europeans thought Hitler had won and adjusted their lives accordingly.