Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation

Americans in Paris, Life & Death under Nazi Occupation, by Charles Glass, tells the fascinating story of Americans trapped in Paris after its capture by the Germans in World War II. In doing so, author Glass meditates on larger issues: what is the nature of collaboration with the enemy? Can one live under foreign occupation and remain loyal to one's country? Where does one cross the line between treason and loyalty? Glass estimates that perhaps 2,000 Americans lived in Paris under German rule. He tells the story of occupation through the lives of four different families. The hero of the piece is Dr. Charles Sumner, the chief surgeon at the American Hospital, who not only labored mightily to keep the hospital open under German rule (and free of German patients,) but at night was a leader in the resistance, ferrying downed Allied pilots to safe houses and ultimately on a long, clandestine path to neutral Spain. He endangered his wife and son through these activities and all three paid a severe price for them. "Villain" is probably too harsh a term to use for another American in the book, the notorious Charles Bedeau. Born in France but a naturalized American, Bedeau continued to do business with the Germans after occupation, even promoting a Trans-African pipeline. Bedeau is a curious mixture of the amoral and naïf. While cozying up to the Germans, Bedeau opened his chateau to the Americans as a temporary embassy (it had served in 1937 as the site of the wedding of the Duke of Winsor and Wallis Simpson.) Traveling to North Africa to promote his pipeline on a German letter of transit, he kept the American state department's Robert Murphy fully informed of his pipeline scheme. The author even hints that Bedeau was aware of the 1944 plot to kill Hitler. Was Bedeau a traitor or just a business schemer oblivious to a world crashing around him? Best known today of the Americans in the story is Sylvia Beach, the owner of the famous left-bank bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, a refuge for writers such as Hemingway and James Joyce. Beach was fiercely anti-Nazi and closed her bookshop on rumors that the Germans intended to loot it. She welcomed the partisan uprising that preceded, prematurely, the retaking of Paris by Allied troops. But even Beach was not above intervening with the occupation authorities on behalf of a friend. Lastly, there is the fascinating and complex Chambrun family. Aldebret de Chambrun was an aristocrat married to Clara Longworth, a Cincinnati native, the sister of a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a cousin of the Roosevelts. Their son Rene, with dual American and French citizenship, married Josee Laval, the daughter of Vichy France's Prime Minister, Pierre Laval. Laval was an arch-collaborator, responsible for the deportation of thousands of French Jews to Nazi death camps. Aldebret was the Chairman of the American Hospital and, with Dr. Sumner, struggled to keep it open.

If you love France, if you are a WWII buff, if you are a reader who enjoys a well written narrative - then, this book is for you! I cannot recommend this book enough. Buy it, sit down with a cup of coffee and devour it as I did. This book has provided me with a whole new, fresh and exciting perspective of what was going on "behind the scenes" in Paris during the German occupation. In the movie "Casablanca" you see when the Nazi's are entering Paris - now you will learn what was really going on behind many of those shuttered windows and darkened store fronts. This is a superb read.Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation

While most of the historiography of World War II focuses on military history, international relations, diplomatic history, and economics, more recent scholarship has re-examined aspects of the social history and cultural history of civilian life during the war, and is a good companion piece to the recent Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour. "Americans in Paris" builds on that scholarship by exploring the lives and experiences of a number of the five thousand Americans trapped in Paris during the German Occupation of 1940 to 1944. These expatriate Americans who remained behind had few options but to stay put for the duration of the war. Rather than focusing on some of the most famous Americans, such as Josephine Baker, Glass instead focuses on a range of people, some wealthy, some notable, and most just ordinary, to highlight their plight during the war. The end result can be at times surprising, because not every American was ostensibly pro-Allies, as some supported the Nazi regime and the Vichy French. There is a mistaken tendency to believe that Americans would have somehow been immune or protected from the worst excesses of the Germans, but the truth is quite different. In fact, those Americans trapped in Paris believed that as citizens of a neutral nation they had little to worry about, but the truth was quite different. As President Roosevelt ratcheted up the Lend-Lease Program the Germans came to view the Americans within Europe as a potential threat for collaboration and espionage with the Allies. As a result the Americans in Paris were viewed not only with suspicion but contempt by the Germans, and quickly become pulled into the wartime civilian intrigue. And the Americans in Paris fell victim to the same shortages and privations as their French compatriots. With the declaration of war in December 1941 Americans were subjected to closer scrutiny and surveillance by the Germans. Much like Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France During the German Occupation, "Americans in Paris" catalogs the abuses suffered by civilians under German occupation and the service these Americans provided to the Allied cause. What emerges is a story of bravery, determination, and perseverance in the face of tyranny, and sometimes rank cowardice and collaboration. Glass has a tendency to jump around a bit chronologically, leaving story lines to resume them again later, and in some cases we never learn what became of some of the Americans after liberation in 1944. Glass also tends to focus on some characters more than others, and some, such as Ambassador Bullitt, could have helped flush out the narrative, as could the aforementioned Josephine Baker. Thoroughly engaging and a lively read, "Americans in Paris" sheds light on a neglected chapter of World War II that could and should be explored further.

During World War Two, I frequently flew over the Paris area. As I gazed at that beautiful city, it never occurred to me that Americans might be down there. But down there they were, and Charles Glass gives us an enthralling story about them. Paris has always been a center for culture, and many of the world's greatest writers, artists, and musicians lived in, or frequented, the city. With the outbreak of World War Two in 1939, thousands of American residents of Paris returned to the United States. More fled just ahead of German tanks when Germany defeated France, but that still left several thousand American artists, musicians, writers, wealthy types, and businessmen that considered Paris their home. For example, there was Sylvia Beach, whose famous bookstore had been frequented by the world's greatest writers. There was Countess Clara Longworth de Chambrun, a relative of President Roosevelt, who headed the American Library of Paris. There was Charles Bedaux, a millionaire businessman, who aroused the wrath of the United States Government, even though he secretly worked against the Germans. And there is the tragic story of Dr. Sumner Jackson, Chief Surgeon of the American Hospital in Paris, who risked his life aiding downed Allied fliers to escape from the Germans. There was little difficulty for the Americans during 1940 and 1941, while America was neutral in the war. But when Germany declared war on the United States, many Americans were sent to internment camps and some to slave labor in Germany. The German Army generally acted correctly toward the American civilians, but the SS, which was a bunch of right-wing crazies, mistreated Americans and even sent some to the death camp at Auschwitz. As Allied bombing of French targets rose during 1943 and 1944, American civilians worked with increasing hazard to help downed fliers escape. Finally, the Allied invasion of France and the liberation of Paris brought chaos, but blessed freedom to the Americans in Paris. The story is absolutely fascinating.