Remembering the liberation of Paris, 75 years later
Exactly 75 years ago, French Resistance fighters, US soldiers and others freed Paris from years of Nazi occupation. DW takes a look back at the days that shaped one of the most important moments in World War II.
Long road to freedom
The battle to regain control of Paris was an effort over several days that involved French Resistance fighters, US troops and Spanish republican exiles. Troop reinforcements arrived on August 24, several days after resistance fighters launched an uprising in the city. Paris was officially freed when the Germans formally surrendered control of the city on August 25, 1944.
Paris fights back
The uprising began on August 19, 1944, when police joined forces with Resistance fighters as well as striking city workers. Clashes erupted between occupying Nazi forces, and an estimated 5,000 people were killed in skirmishes over the next few days.
Taking back the city one neighborhood at a time
French Resistance leader Henri Rol-Tanguy called residents of Paris to action, putting posters up around the city calling for barricades to be built. Resistance fighters extended their control to cover entire neighborhoods. The barricade pictured above was set up at the Rue du Renard next to the Paris City Hall.
German officers captured
In this picture taken on August 28, 1944, high-ranking German officers captured by French forces are marched through the streets of the French capital. Adolf Hitler had ordered the German military commander of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, to blow up the city's landmarks before the Allies regained control of the city. Although bombs were placed, they were not detonated.
Celebration in the City of Light
"All the emotions suppressed by four years of German domination surged through the people. The streets of the city as we entered were like a combined Mardi Gras, Fourth of July celebration, American Legion convention and New Year's Eve in Times Square all packed into one," wrote Don Whitehead, a reporter for The Associated Press. It was the first eyewitness account published in the US press.
'It was a new thing, something good had changed'
Allied troops were greeted as heroes when they entered the city, said Harold Radish, a 95-year-old US veteran, who was in Paris for the commemorations. "That's what's important about the liberation of Paris, it was a new thing, something good had changed; the world was gonna get a little better," Radish, who is Jewish, told The Associated Press.
'Paris martyred! But Paris liberated!'
General Charles de Gaulle (center, saluting) marched through the jubilant streets of Paris after it was freed from Nazi control, walking alongside resistance leaders and commemorating fallen soldiers. "These are minutes which go beyond each of our poor lives. Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated!" he said in his victory speech.