Happy liberation anniversary, Paris!
 

I see on French tv that the Parisiens are enjoying the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the city's liberation from the Nazis...even though it is just POURING with rain there at the moment...really bucketing down! Hope Fodorites in Paris are enjoying the celebrations too, despite the weather.

I saw a similar story in Canada's National Post newspaper this morning, and I too thought warm thoughts about Paris. It may officially be part of France, but it's in the hearts of people from other countries, too.

BAK

Wonderful news..now if WE could just get liberated from ours...

Topman, what in the world are you talking about?

I hope all of France pays homage to all the U.S. soldiers who are the real liberators of Paris.They spilled alot of blood to liberate France from the Nazis and the millions of French collaborators.

Oh god here we go, there always has to be one...

hey city,

ever hear of canada?

Ahem..I think the British had a little to do with it as well :-) as kate is referrinmg to.

America I thought were the late bloomers until Pearl Harbour (Don't kill me now I just stating what I was taught in School in the U.S.!)

Lets just agree it is a good day to celebrate.

S

Agreed Siobhan. And whilst I'm sure many French are grateful to the US, British, Canadina, free Poles, free French, Australians, Indians and numerous others soldiers who took part in the liberation of France (as seen in the D-day celebrations), let's at least recognise that this is the one day when France celebrates the lives that the French resistance sacrificed in the Paris uprising. Every country needs to take pride in the efforts of its own citizens.

The French even moreso have a right to be proud as they were occupied and still fighting against the Nazis. Most of thelarger countries knew to a certain degree what was happening to the Jews in the camps as many aircraft saw the smoke from the camps but for various reasons all countries avoided the issue it until the soldiers were confronted with the camps and the horror of what happened (Learned that in college!) Unfortunately its still happeneing to other people in other countries, the war is over but there is still genocide in many ways and places.

Off my high horse now and off to home

Good night everyone!

S

Best wishes to all on this anniversary.

If you're looking for an appropriate video to rent on the occasion, check out "The Train," starring Burt Lancaster and Jeanne Moreau. It takes place in the days just before the Liberation of Paris. Paul Henreid plays a high-ranking German officer who is trying to crate up the great Impressionist paintings from the Jeu de Paume museum (these are the paintings now at the Orsay) and ship them all to Berlin, while a group of French men and women (including Lancaster and Moreau) go to extraordinary lengths in an effort to stop the officer. Great movies, great actors, great performances -- check it out.

Another great movie, "Is Paris Burning",,,very appropriate for today. My Dad was part of the miltary parade through Paris, said he even got a few kisses from the French women, Had a nice caricature done from a Parisian street vendor. He will treasure it always.

Yeah - I thought <b>The Train</b> was typical of the French I know and love.

The war was almost over, the Allies would be in Berlin within within a year at most, but stupid pig-headed Labiche takes it upon himself to risk countless French lives - not to mention the artworks themselves - to prevent them from going to Germany for a few months.

Vive la France! Vive les Allies!

The British didn't have a little to do with it, they had A LOT to do with it. After all, if not for Churchill, French children would be taught compulsory German in schools. Indeed, the Brits had more army soldiers than the US fighting in Western Europe until early 1944.

Our American reaction is explained easily enough: France's 60-year long antagonism toward America since its liberation (although French citizens, especially in Western France, tend to like Americans fairly well). Such antagonism is not displayed toward the British.

And thank God the French learned so much from the events of 60 years ago. I really appreciate their weighing in on other countries' misguided attempts to bring freedom to other sovereign nations. One need only look at France's enlightened treatment of Jews in their own country!

The hard facts of the situation are that neither the Americans nor the British could have defeated the Germans without the help of the other (and the Russians.)

The Brits could not have survived beyond mid-1941 had it not been for the Lend-Lease program which provided $7BN of direct credit. That credit allowed the US Government to stay as a non-combatant, but provided the UK with much needed food supplies. Had Roosevelt not answered Chruchill's plea for help in early 1941, the British treasury would likely have blown through it's last $2Bn and would have likely made peace with Germany or face starvation.

From the US perspective, without the ability to have a forward base in the UK, invasion would have been impossible. The US also needed the help of British military planners and codebreakers - skills where they had an real edge over the US Army.

The fact is, we saved each other. At least that's how Roosevelt, Churchill and Eisenhower viewed it.

Atlcity et al...the French have regularly and repeatedly acknowledged the assistance and sacrifice of Americans, British, Canadians and more during other ceremonies (as in the DDay commemorations). This day commemorates the liberation of Paris from those inside the country--the Resistance, the ordinary people who fought almost door to door against the Nazis. It's rather churlish to begrudge them *one* day of celebrating the efforts of their own citizens (many of them civilians, not armed soldiers) to liberate their own country.

There is a huge american procession that goes through the city and ends at Place de la Bastille. There are tanks, jeeps etc. People are dressed in uniforms of the period and they are playing swing music and dancing in the street. The american soldiers are throwing chewing gum and chocolate to the onlookers.

This is not a day about differences between French and American politics. It is about honoring ALL involved in the liberation of Paris and remembering a great historic event.

Current polital rhetoric has no place here and is not in the spirt of the event.

Well said, Kate and BT. Frequent scolding from SOME americans re: these subjects gets tiresome

I agree that I should have acknowledged the great sacrifice of all the allies and most especially the Brits and Canadiens and the few French who were true patriots et al.As for Churchill he should be remembered as one of the greatest leaders in the history of the world.

My Dad, who was just 18 when WW II ended and therefore not involved in combat, had a very moving experience in France on this day 10 years ago.

He and my step-mom were in a little village near Normandy and wandered into a small bistro. When the patron, a guy a few years older than my dad, realized they were Americans, he put on an old scratchy recording of &quot;The Star Spangled Banner&quot; and kissed my Dad on both cheeks with tears in his eyes.

&quot;Thank you, thank you all Americans,&quot; he kept saying.

The French people I have met who lived through the occupation are unanimous in their gratitude to all the people who helped in the liberation - Americans, Brits, Canadians, Australians, and their own Free French. It is a day for celebration.

awwww, this is bringing tears to my eyes.

I remember seeing various plaques around Paris, commemorating the fallen on August 25, 1944.

I get a newsletter each day from France- realestate but alwyays interesting. They are showing &quot;Is Paris Burning&quot; on a huge screen on City Hall this evening. I also copiedan article from SFGate.com titled &quot;Liberating France Hemingway's Way- following author's 1944 reclaiming of the Ritz Hotel. You may all find it interesting. Just remember that the Greatest Generation was not just composed of Americans.

atlcity and others:

Just to put things in perspective. Not willing to belittle *anyones* contribution, consider these figures:

Americans killed in europe during world war II: 174'000

Frenchmen killed in europe during world war II: soldiers, 250'000; civilians 350'000

British subjects killed in europe during world war II: soldiers 326'000, civilians 62'000

And, in western media rarely mentionned and almost never honoured:

People of the USSR: soldiers 13'600'000, civilians 7'000'000

Whoever utters the kind of condescending rubbish, as you do in your post, shows he has not understood what one of the great American Generals, U.S. Grant, has said:

&quot;War is Hell&quot;.

actually Phil, I even read somewhere that 29 million Russians died. 50 million plus total for WWII. the mind boggles.

Phil:It's obvious you don't have a clue about the point I was making.

atlcity:

Your point was clear enough. You just don't like it challenged.

My statement is a historical fact,what is there to challenge.

<i>let's at least recognise that this is the one day when France celebrates the lives that the French resistance sacrificed in the Paris uprising</i>

Kate, this isn't about Paris but it's related. One of our networks (NBC, I think) had a great show back around D-Day about U.S. paratroopers who had been dropped behind Nazi lines in Normandy, with many of them dropping far from where they were supposed to land. This show focused on one group in particular, who ended up near a small village, the name of which I unfortunately forget. A lot of the paratroopers had lost their weapons in fields that the Nazis had flooded so one young French farm girl rowed a boat out, at risk to her life, to retrieve as many weapons as they could. Other citizens sheltered the Americans or helped them in other ways.

A large force of Nazis eventually chased the Americans from this town and took terrible retribution on the citizens for helping the Americans, including burning down the church and killing the priests as well as many other townspeople.

atlcity:

You stated a fact (even if your formulation might imply that US soldiers were guilty of killing millions of french collaborators).

But you stated *selectively*, and that's my point!

It is similar to saying &quot;Stalin was president of the USSR&quot; without adding that he was a bloodthirsty tyrant.

How could a U.S. soldier be &quot;GUILTY&quot; of killing a French collaborator?What are you talking about?