I wanted to work on the rise of National Socialism and then i encountered the story of the resistance. The william shire rise and fall of such books. [inaudible] i wanted to write my own history. But i still ask myself the same question they mismanaged the 16th. But they have managed it any better . I still wonder. Was that at the end of it the german resisted or how was the german resistance discovered and became to an end . After the bomb exploded in july 1944, the military leader staged a coup detat. They gave orders to people throughout germany. So they came into the opening period theater conspirator reached in one case a diary that they were able to find. The diaries usually included im a very clumsy. My favorite example through as a conspirator, he was the chief of police, had the village. So i diaries he consistently mentions dart down. Certainly it was not difficult to find them in very few ways that do survive. That is one of the reasons we know so much about the group. And all the suicide bombers [inaudible] and found that the military highranking officials and the ghettos and concentration camps. Did they also know about the death camps . Certainly people in higher rank in the leaders of the army did not know they know but actually called. Is the final solution really under the shooting squad, which were assisted by the army were even involved in the massacre. And they signed an order to children for slavery in germany. In a few days there was going to be in a coup detat. Serving with the Eastern Front for everyone. Thank you very much. [applause] danny orbach. Thanks, everyone. [inaudible conversations] on the Program Chair and i really want to say how delighted i am to be introducing train the lab and to the audience for the third time. That is a record. Before adidas honors, however, however, i want to let you know that someones has been marked as not in the auditorium this morning. Having viewed the talks and 20 times, he declined number 21. Hes going to use his time to review the collection of intimacy and, which is very good use of his time and something is really going to enjoy. Many of you will remember chewing environment who spoke to us on the anniversary and to test your memory even further, you may recall how that came about. Im not going to retell the story. I just want you to know is to the generosity of spirit and introduction we were able to arrange chewing his appearance here. He will be in the rotunda and thank him for accepting the conversation. I have a question for you. How did you form your impression of parent during the occupation . Think about that. Allens first or perhaps Kristin Hannahs latest book called the nightingale. All fiction, for sure. And you remember the bits and pieces, but those were fiction. Theres so much more to this story than what you can read in a novel. Just as he did when he was writing the biography and did a massive amount of research, films, books, diaries, letters, official documents. All the things they have a Nonfiction Book about this. She given tot two men and women who are still alive today and the experiences and those of his loved ones. I will resist the temptation to go any further. Shes wellprepared to friday. She studied history and diversity before going off to rome became to be a bbc reporter and professor. The acclaimed biographies of the jimmy churchville as well as that woman. Today shes going to talk about how the women of parents lived, loved and died during the train six occupation. We are happy to have you back. Please welcome her. Thank you, gail. Thats a generous introduction. I cant tell you how thrilled i am to be here for the third time is very exciting to me. Im going to assume among stand telogen audience that you are the love be reasonably familiar with the history of world war ii and specifically in the occupation of paris by train six. So you know they were three principles in this story. I am going to tell you as little about them as i can possibly manage. This is a womens story. It is a story of how women manage to survive in the dark days of the train six occupation and encompasses women such as future ea, jewelers, actors, dancers, singers and all of the women who found themselves in the situation and a myriad response is to the occupation by an enemy. Why hasnt it been addressed before . Why has it taken so long to experiment this diverse range of responses to the enemy. This picture helps to understand because it was taken in 2015 that last year. Last year, the president a lot and let us not impugned. He of his motive decided it was time to breathe very two of the most famous women resistant and frances secular temple to the grace and good and it has carved on the pediment outside to the great man of france, a great fatherland. Not surprising perhaps until last year only one woman was buried there in her own right, mary curry. What you see in this picture, draped over a coffin is not actually the body to go who is denise at the general, not the daughter. They decided that actually theyre great deeds that have been actually they agreed for in their graves being carried to the pant in. Nonetheless, it was a pretty major change how it had been viewed. I suppose then that came out why its taken so long, very many reasons, but the main reason is that female hair was done simply didnt fit the myth that general could start date when he returned to paris in the summer 1944 among the other reasons are women natural modesty if youd like. They didnt want to talk about the awful times that theyve lived through. They wanted to push it behind them. They wanted to establish some kind of normalcy in their life and perhaps get. Enough children. They also found that they were struggling in a deeply patriarch who society to be recognized. And here you see women demonstrating before the war for the right to vote. Women in france until 1946. Women couldnt have their own rank accounts and couldnt have a job without the permission of a father or has been. This is a key element to the background of this book, but i really have to say this is not womens history. This is made chewing history. This is the history. The other piece of background is frances complicated relationship with its jewish population. In the wake of napoleon onward. And so from Eastern Europe to france because this was the country of the enlightenment. They thought they would have a homeland in france and because of the large numbers in france, many french had a complicated response in their number i still know from that case of course. He was what brought them to france but didnt always find it. This picture explains what is known as the french paradox that is solemnly approximately 76,000 were deported during the war as the total population on the eve of war at 330,000. So you can do the math thats approximately a quarter. What one has to explain this on the one hand by with a 76,000 deported and not as the action of the sovereign government, French Police at the time they were deported arguably didnt have the manpower, but were far too occupied prosecuting the war. But how come so many survive and the reason for that is to respond as many good individual french catholics, protestants or thoughts of religions. The story that adorned their with about this woman who used the born raquel vancleave. She changed her name to the more fragile sounding renee. She married a racing driver and she became a good freshening. Her mother was esther and changed her name to a spell. But the vancleave family and the our pal who were cousins were both jewish. They tried and fell to try to assimilate what they were really the johnnycomelately of the platform. They were constantly trying to compete with cartier and to come up with newer settings, the ministry settings, more exotic stones. In 1938 racquel inherited this company from her father your in 1940 when the germans occupied, all Jewish Companies had to be owned by an area and are a christian. She decided to area nice the parish branch but actually to take a heavy suitcase full of stock down to the spot where they already had a boutique and continue the copy because she thought i know all the government leaders there, their wives, mistresses and children all my friends. All be fine there. Ill just keep the company going, and she particularly believed that the daughter of the Prime Minister that actually she would not only be fine and the company would flourish but she would be protected. As i learned that day in paris, in fact she suddenly felt exposed. In december 1942 she threw herself out of a window and committed suicide. It was hearing that story that hooked me into wanting to understand more at all sorts of levels. I wanted to know what it was that suddenly triggered a confident successful young businesswoman to feel that she had no future. I wanted to understand why it was that jewelry and clothing and set them up in theater, and fine dining, fine life generally could flourish in wartime, at the same time as other people were dying and starving and hiding in fear of retaining their lives. And it was this light and dark that really was what propelled me into this story, and i hope youll see some of that as i now go through the individual stories. So in 1939 on the give of war men in paris believed that there couldnt possibly be a war. And if there was going to be war, that the french would win very swiftly and the germans would be defeated. They had their faith. So this is a realistic circus ball enormously extravagant elephants and ponies and jugglers and acrobats which went on until the small hours. I just want to draw attention to address because its relevant to the story. Can you see the embroidery, the butterflies, this sequence, addressed by the american designer who quickly came back to america. The significance of her dress is that when the germans occupied, hitler wanted to take parisiennes couture back to germany. Utensil to take the designs because theres a whole army of women behind them on who the designers depend. And by that he meant the women who are specialists in embroidery, and these skills were terribly important to the industry coming to probably saved not only the jobs by the lives of 25,000 women by keeping the industry in france. So from then on it was important to find ways for the industry to exist and to survive. And even the germans played along with that because they knew that actually was important for german wise to buy close affair and to keep the population quiet and happy. You will see how that plays out in the course of this talk. Just one other thing, the very beautiful woman at the bottom, aimee, was wearing a very early Christian Dior gown but before he had his own label. He worked at the time for others. The other thing that changed in paris in 1939 at the outbreak of war was that the french were terrified it would be a chemical attack, i guess attack. So everyone had gas masks and the designers quickly caught on and be very expensive luxurious cylindrical shaped bags to hold the gas masks in. And you can see one of them here. And just as an indication of a terribly fashionable they were, in latin america where there was no war and no threat of war, these cylindrical bags became absolutely every woman wanted to be as fashionable as her parisiennes sisters. The other pictures interesting because the shops build shelters very quickly. But look at that womans some stockings. Because if parisiennes women could wear trousers, they had to find a stockings. Just was not acceptable to go out barelegged. So coarse silk stockings ran a racing incident and were mashed which could be mended a few time. Window Something Else, parisiennes women learn how to apply iodine to the likes. If you had a particularly straight and or a kind friend you could paint a Straight Line of the back to imitate the seems. Typically on the eve of war, many women get married or divorced. And they told me how they did a boring trade, in Engagement Rings on the eve of war because many parisiennes women decided when its my man is going off to the front, he may be killed, at least i can claim a pension if i have an engagement ring. So many Engagement Rings. But this particular woman in the Wedding Dress is not only one of my real heroines in the story but i think her story is really emblematic of the many parisiennes women on each of war, unable to find fulfillment, according to the law. They actually played a far greater role in society than the law allowed them once more took over their lives. So she was married at 19, he almost an arranged marriage. She came from much identified as french. Her family had been in france for a long time. Her husband was an antique dealer who, like many parisiennes men, had a number of mistresses and women friends and so we didnt really see why the marriage should change any of that. So on the eve of war, we find her deeply unhappy. Shes even visiting a psychiatrist to understand yourself. Why does she feel so unfulfilled . They had a child who was 10 but the child was looked after a governess. So she really had very little to do, and im pleased to tell you that she found fulfillment during the war, not only did she join the resistance and played a major role as we will hear, but she also when she moved had a passionate love affair with a communist trade union leader who was the leader of the Sailors Union last night it didnt end happily but we will come to it in due course. The other woman was a jewish polish refugee and she represented those jews in france who didnt have French Nationality and or absolutely terrified. She and her family knew only too well what fate awaited them. She had a fiance in london who begged her to come to london and leave paris and married him, and she declined because she said i have elderly parents. I have to stay with them. In fact, her mother was dying of cancer. So she was passed at the beginning of the war with finding pieces for the family group that comprised simply three of them. And by the end it swelled to 12. For the next 18 months she went to every consul and conflict that some kind of power to grant exit visas and she was constantly propositioned in terms of being invited to have sex or hand over her jewelry. She tells the story there in his family in her unpublished memoirs but eventually she found a council is able to grant 12 exit visas to her family. And they spent the war actually in an internment camp in jamaica. So it wasnt an easy war for her, but on the other hand, they survived. So in june 1940, as im sure you all know, the french were defeated very swiftly. It was a classic blitzkrieg. So the germans occupied paris and a number of changes were noticed almost immediately. The flags with swastikas. You must recognize this as the root and the gardens over there where the french is suddenly have to start growing vegetables. There were a number of other changes. The germans introduced a curfew which varied between 10, 11, 12, depending on how quietly situation was. They change the exchange rates. Obviously, favorably to the germans. So although the terms of the armistice involved a large amount of money being paid over and goods being supplied or looted, it also became very difficult for french people to buy anything because they were so expensive. But theres Something Else about this picture. Its yuri emptiness. Because 2 million men were taken as a prisoner of war. Many other men left if they could, young men of fighting age to join to go to london. So paris became a feminist city. You didnt see young men of fighting age on the street but it was the women who on a daily basis have to decide, on how to end her out with the german occupiers. And sleazy women on a bicycle because private cars also disappeared. There was no fuel. And just look at the woman there with her large turbine. Because thats the other thing your shampoo soon disappeared so how were women made to look smart if they couldnt wash their hair . They made a virtue of necessity and the turbine became very fashionable. At the bigger the better. If we didnt have big bouffant hair you stop the trouble with older newspaper. So parisiennes women from the start decided being stylish was a response that bordered on resisting the germans. Remaining fashionable was going to be terribly important for the. They were not going to be ground into the dust. The germans of course thought that coming to paris was a prize posting. Of course, it was better than being sent to the Eastern Front. You see one of the reasons why it was so it citing. When hitler came to power he only came once by the way, but he recognized it was a jewel. It was a prize and thats what it was kept as an open city, and he wanted everything to carry on just as it was. That wasnt the illusion he was trying to create. He made this comment every german should have the chance to come to paris at least once. And as you see this is only one of the delights in paris. This particular booklet that youre looking at was privately printed. It was never published but it was a guide to officers, and probably there were only about 100 of these ever produced. I was told about one that existed in an erotic bookshop, and i was told that if i went i simply couldnt go on my own. You have to make an appointment. So i went with my husband who you heard refer to earlier. He thought doing research with the was absolutely wonderful. [laughter] and perhaps i could arrange some more research for him. But there is a very serious point to this picture because the germans recognize that although the military defeat had been easy, or have to of the kinds of defeat in store for them that the prostitutes might have. Finally before we leave this, you could hardly see the small print which says in other words, its the choice, but the choice for the main. There was no choice for the women. I think of any group of women has really not have their story told, its the french prostitutes. And many other brothels actually doubled as resistance houses. It wasnt only a fine for the german men. Of course, there were lots of german female soldiers who came. Formerly under former governor and as auxiliaries but different sisters often called them great. Thats when theyre being polite, when they were less polite they call them officers mattresses. [laughter] as you can see, for them there is was a delight. They could find the products that had already disappeared off the shelves and german jobs. Any of the photographs you can see how initially the first wave of the german soldiers were handsome, charming and polite. As long as the nazi soviet pact was in existence, the communists had their hands tied behind their back and couldnt resist. So to begin with everything was calm. There were no random assassinations and no repris