Saturday, April 26, 2008

Paris Under The Occupation

Ouh la la! Those groovy glasses and rollerskates...
Didn't Paris look like fun during the Occupation? Not everyone thinks so. Les Parisiens sous l'Occupation exhibit at the Paris city hall has attracted a lot of controversy this week, if only because it portrays a gay, sunny Paris shot by photographer André Zucca, who was (in)famous for contributing to the Nazi propaganda magazine Signal.

The exhibit generated tremendous outrage, and many calls to shut it down, prompting organizers to change its title from "The [Les] Parisians under the Occupation" to "Some [Des] Parisians under the Occupation," and to include a notice d'explication, meaning a disclaimer. Everyone whose elders suffered the Occupation will know that it was no walk in the park. Still, people found some kind of fun. Because life had to go on. More pictures/details here.
photos André Zucca via 20minutes.fr