Volume One Available Now!

Our new book, Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters? A Walking Tour of Nazi-Occupied Paris, is available for sale direct from Stew and Yooper Publications.

The price of the book is $24.95. All books sold directly will be autographed with a personal message. Sales tax will be covered by Yooper Publications.

For our domestic subscribers, we’ll pay the postage. For our international subscribers (and non-subscribers), the cost of postage will be added to the cost of the book.

If you would like to own and read our new book, please contact Sandy directly at sandy.ross@yooperpublications.com. Your review of the book on Amazon would be greatly appreciated (click here).

This is the first of three volumes on the occupation of Paris. I hope you enjoy the following preview of the book.

The False War & Vichy, 1940-1944

BRING OCCUPIED PARIS TO LIFE

(without obtaining a ration card to survive)

Come walk in the footsteps of the men, women, and children who lived, worked, and died in Nazi-occupied Paris. Your walks will take you to buildings, places, and sites that were significant to the Nazis, French Resistance, Free French, the British, and most importantly, the citizens of Paris.

“Maybe I’ll protect it; maybe I won’t. It’s up to me.”

Adolf Hitler

(to Albert Speer on the fate of Paris sometime during their three-hour tour of Paris on the morning of 28 June 1940)

Although World War II and the German occupation of Paris occurred more than 75 years ago, these historical events are still fresh in our minds. France spent almost 40 years denying its role in the collaboration with the Nazis and in particular, the arrests and deportations of the French Jewish population. While the German occupation of Paris started out rather benignly in June 1940, within two years the city and its citizens were firmly in the grip of the tightening Nazi vise.

WALK ONE (Vichy France)

Louis Darquier de Pellepoix to the Kommandantur du Groß -Paris

WALK TWO (PARIS BY NIGHT)

Cabaret le Shéhérazade to the Milice Headquarters

WALK THREE (SOLDIERS ON LEAVE)

Montmartre: UGIF to the Moulin Rouge

METRO WALKS (OTHER SITES TO VISIT)

Sample Stops

WALK ONE STOP 10

WALK TWO STOP 9

Testimonials

“Stew blends the dark history of buildings in Paris that are associated with the infamous deeds of the Gestapo with contrasting insights into the bravery of the French people, who, at great risk to themselves and their families, secretly resisted the German Occupation.”

⏤Squadron Leader Stanley Booker, MBE, RAF (Ret.), Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, Member: KLB Club

“An invaluable guide to a host of little-known locations and facts about wartime occupied Paris. Not just for the historian, this book will allow anyone to view this beautiful city of light in the shadows of enemy occupation.”

⏤Paul McCue

Historian, lecturer, and author of SAS Operation Bulbasket: Behind the Lines in Occupied France 1944

“Guidebooks are usually described as informative, sometimes entertaining and Stew Ross’ newest work is both. It is also more⏤it evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’Hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters as well as the home of glamorous traitors such as Coco Chanel reminds us of the choices people made during those years. Even more interesting is how Paris did its best to remain a capital of pleasure as nightclubs and cabarets remained open to the mainly German audience.”

⏤Cynthia Bisson, PhD

Professor of History, Belmont University

French Resistance Expert

“Another outstanding, well-researched, and presented book by Stew Ross. It gives a detailed guided walking tour full of facts about the activities of the Gestapo during their occupation of Paris during World War II. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in what life was like during the Nazi occupation in France.”

⏤Richard H.F. Neave

Member of Paris-based Libre Résistance SOE “F” section and author of SOE: A Life in the Shadows”

Walks Through History

Did You Know?

Did you know that several home builders recently found 239 gold coins while renovating a 13th-century manor located in Brittany, France? They found a metal box hidden inside the wall of a barn. The box contained gold coins and several days later, above a ceiling beam, a purse was found with more coins.

The coins were minted during the reigns of King Louis XIII and his son, Louis XIV. The oldest coin dates to 1638 while the most recent is 1692. The occupants of the manor would likely have been successful merchants or farmers. (The earliest known occupants can only be traced to the 18th-century.) The collection includes some very rare coins including the Golden Louis with Templar Cross, Golden Louis with a long curl, and Louis XIV by the Atelier de Dijon. (About one hundred years later, it would have been Louis XVI without a head⏤ha ha, I couldn’t pass up that one.)

The “Golden Louis with Templar Cross” gold coin. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Ivoire Angers/Deloyes.

The “Golden Louis with a Long Curl” gold coin. Estimated value is US$17,805. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Ivoire Angers/Deloyes.

The estimated value of the collection has yet to be established but it is thought to be around US$356,000. The owner of the manor and the contractors will split the proceeds from a future auction.

Schutzstaffel (SS) Race and Settlement Main Office

The SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) was the Nazi organization responsible for “safeguarding the racial purity of the SS.” One of its duties was to oversee the marriages of SS personnel (i.e., ensuring the SS man’s fiancée and her parents could trace their Aryan lineage back to 1800) as well as screening all SS applicants for racial purity. It also controlled the settlement of discharged SS men into the occupied eastern European countries. The RuSHA established and operated the Lebensborn network of maternity homes. Another task was to conduct “racial-biological” investigations. Read More

Tag: Adolf Hitler

Available Now: “Where Did They Put The Gestapo Headquarters?”