Liberation of Paris (Musee Carnavalet) and more sun

Sunday June 22 was another beautiful day- blue sky and a high of 25C.  We started our day by walking through the Sunday market at Place Monge- about a five minute walk from our apartment.
The produce is at its peak- beautiful strawberries, apricots, melons and more.  As well, there were lots of great sausages and cheeses.

Marche Place Monge

Parisians love flowers 

Sausage selection 

Paella and wine

White asparagus galore

                                                       Neatly arranged honeys and jams

We then crossed one of the many bridges over the Seine and continued our walk to the Marais.  

Along the way, we passed the Jardin de L'Hotel de Sens- a beautifully designed garden in front of a building dating back to medieval times (built 1475-1519).

                                                            Jardin de L'Hotel de Sens

The Marais is one of the few areas of Paris that is open on Sundays. The place was buzzing as lots of folks were out enjoying the beautiful sunny day.  We wandered around for a bit before heading to the Musee Carnavalet (Museum of the history of Paris).  

We passed the beautiful old Art Nouveau synagogue on Rue Pavee designed by Hector Guimard in 1913. The shape resembles the book of the Ten Commandments.   In 1941, on the eve of Yom Kippur, the front door was dynamited by the Nazis, along with six other Paris synagogues.  The synagogue was restored and in 1989, designated a historic monument.  It is still used today.

                                                       Art Nouveau synagogue on Rue Pavee

The exhibit at the Musee Carnavalet was entitled: Paris Libere, Paris Photographie, Paris Expose (Paris Freed, Paris Photographed, and Paris Exhibited).   The title is a homage to the famous speech Charles de Gaulle made on August 25, 1944 when he stated: "Paris outraged, Paris broken, Paris Martyred, but Paris Liberated."

There are a series of exhibits around town commemorating both the 100th year anniversary of the start of WWI (e.g.the photo exhibit we saw the other day at the Luxembourg Gardens), and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Paris (exhibits at Musee Carnavalet and Hotel de Ville). There will be an official ceremony on August 25, 2014 commemorating the event.

                                                                 Poster for Exhibit

The exhibit was very interesting and had a focus on how history is interpreted.  There had been a photo exhibit at the Musee Carnavalet in November 1944 on the Liberation of Paris.  Francois Boucher, the curator and member of the French Resistance, collected photographs from both professional photographers and amateurs and presented the exhibit when the event was very fresh in peoples' minds.  He said that he wanted to bring together the documentation essential for future historians.

The current exhibit displays the photographs from the 1944 exhibit along with some additional ones of Paris during the occupation and battle for liberation. It provides the context for the work of a number of the professional photographers in Paris during the war, a number of the photos and the exhibit itself.  The exhibit in 1944, which started and ended with photos of Charles de Gaulle and General Leclerc, focused on the ability of the Parisians to pull together under French leadership.  There was very little focus on the occupation, or the fate of the Jews.  The original 1944 exhibit had focused on the events of August 19-27, leading to the liberation of Paris by the French 2nd Armoured Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.

Heroic symbolic photos were chosen and other photos cropped to create a certain emotion.  The commentary on the English audio dealt with interpreting history as well as detailing the backstory to many of the photographers and images from the 1944 exhibit.

The following photo is of the poster for the original exhibit in 1944.  The poster was based on a photo taken by Rene Zuber, entitled Rue de la Huchette.  The poster cut out the man from the original photo and placed it with Notre Dame in the background.

There were some initial photos in the 1944 exhibit on life in Paris during the occupation, but this was not the focus of that exhibit.

Cinema Marignan, for German Soldiers only- Avenue Champs-Elysees

Sign says- today there is no alcohol

                                                       

Pierre Roughol- Making Molotov cocktails (August 1944)

Attention- beyond this point you will be shot!

There were a number of photos of the militia (Milice Francaise), a paramilitary force created in January 1943 by the Vichy government (with German aid) to fight the French Resistance.  The Milice also helped round up Jews.  The Milice was feared more than the Germans by the French Resistance, as its members knew native dialects, the countryside, and had networks of informers.  It is estimated that there were between 25,000-35,000 men in the Milice.   The following photo shows members of the Milice distributing furniture confiscated from Jewish families in Paris.

A number of the photos were taken by Roger Schall (1904-1995), who documented life in Paris during the occupation and after liberation.  The new commentary at the present exhibit indicated that he took the same kind of photos of American troops as he had of the Germans, some in a favourable light.  

Picture outside of Communist Party headquarters- Serguei Sazonoff  (during uprising)

The following photo is of the Champs-Elysees on August 18-- no traffic or people- the quiet before the uprising began.

Jean Seeberger- August 18,1944 

The following photo of a heroic fighter by Robert Doiseneau, had an interesting backstory.  Apparently, very few of the Parisians had arms-- but the 1944 exhibit featured photos showing armed Parisians.  This picture was also cropped, as there was another man sitting beside the armed man, who was not armed.

Robert Doiseneau-August 1944

Surrender of German troops

The following picture is of General Deitrich von Choltitz ( the last German commander of Nazi occupied Paris) signing the armistice on August 25, 1944.  The picture in the 1944 exhibit cropped out two other men from the original photo- again focussing on the symbol.  Choltitz  disobeyed an order by Hitler to destroy Paris.

Picture shown in 1944 exhibit (more symbolic)

Original photo (this one taken from internet)

One of the last photos in the show--- same theatre that showed films to only German soldiers,
now showed films to only the Allied troops

Eating white bread for the first time Aug. 25, 1944

I had to be a bit surreptitious taking photos at the exhibit and would have liked to take more  It was a very interesting exhibit, focussing on much more than the original photos shown at the 1944 exhibit.  It was all about how photos are used to evoke emotions; how some photos are staged; and the choice of what photos are used in an exhibit.

The present exhibit also dealt with the issue of the lack of women in the photos (the Vichy regime was anti-woman- firing married women from jobs and denigrating women's roles).  There was also a deliberate omission in the 1944 exhibit showing the many foreigners who fought for the French army.   In fact of the 150 French soldiers that first liberated Paris, 100 were actually Spanish Republicans.  There were 75 countries that had members in the French liberation forces.
The audio also dealt with the fact that African-American soldiers in the U.S. Army were not granted the right to have ammunition until the end of 1944.   

There were also pictures of the shaved French women collaborators in August 1944.  It was noted that there was an ordinance that deemed French women that slept with Germans to be guilty of collaboration, while French men who slept with German women were not so deemed.  

A fascinating exhibit that far exceeded expectations.

We then went for a late lunch at Miznon, a Paris branch of the Tel Aviv restaurant we had eaten at two years ago.

                                                              Outside of restaurant 

                                                        Blackboard menu and the bar

I had a pita (they make the fluffiest pita I have ever tasted) with grilled cauliflower and Alain had a pita with ratatouille.

                                                                                         Lunch at last

We wandered a bit more through the Marais and then went to Place Vosges to have a brief rest.

                                          Great graffiti at a fire hall- Liberte, Egalite, Beyonce

                                                      One of our favourite places- Place Vosges

After a brief rest, we went for a Perrier/mint drink at a buzzy cafe - Le Voltigeur.  We saw people having amazing mojitos with sparklers.

Alain with his mint and perrier

                                             Colourful mojitos with a sparkler that had just gone out

We then headed to the other side of the river to meet a friend from New York City and his friend for dinner at Au 35, on Rue Jacob.  I had duck and red cabbage and Alain and the others had veal with tagliatelle.  

My duck and red cabbage

                                                             Alain's veal and tagliatelle

                                    

We got back to the apartment at around 11:30 p.m.  A wonderful day in Paris.