Tag: Jacques Chirac

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We’ll Meet Again

As part of my research for the blog, Rendezvous with the Gestapo (click here to read the blog), I read a fascinating book called Shot Down. It was written by Steve Snyder whose father, Howard, was a B-17 pilot who parachuted into Belgium after his plane was shot down on 8 February 1944. What made Howard’s story so extraordinary was that unlike most of the surviving downed Allied airmen, Howard did not make it back to London nor was he captured. Capt. Snyder decided to join the French guerilla résistants known as the maquisards, or “maquis.” He fought alongside these French resistance fighters until early September 1944 when Snyder and his maquis unit hooked up with Gen. Patton’s 3rd Army in Trélon, France.

Howard Snyder jumping off a jeep while fighting with the maquis. Photo by anonymous (c. 1944). Courtesy of Steve Snyder. https://stevesnyderauthor.com.
Howard Snyder jumping off a jeep while fighting with the maquis. Photo by anonymous (c. 1944). Courtesy of Steve Snyder. https://stevesnyderauthor.com.

With that background, you will shortly understand why I found the story of Pfc. Weiss so interesting and why I decided to share it with you today.

Click here to watch the video Shot Down: Howard Snyder and the B-17 Susan Roth.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Hitler ordered food rationing in Berlin almost immediately after invading Poland? As you can imagine, a black market quickly developed. Senior Nazi officials including Wilhelm Frick, Walther von Brauchitsch, and Erich Raeder were involved in and profited from the black market. Although the Nazi hierarchy was required to abide by the rules, most of them scorned Hitler’s orders.

Horcher’s Restaurant was a favorite haunt of Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels, and other Nazi bigwigs. Ration coupons at this restaurant were non-existent. The Nazi regime protected Horcher’s and its staff (the men were exempt from the draft). There was always enough high-quality food to satisfy the clients. In 1943, the restaurant was threatened with closure but Göring had it re-opened as a Luftwaffe private club. (With Göring’s assistance, Otto Horcher moved his restaurant in 1943 to Madrid, Spain where it is owned and operated today by his granddaughter, Elisabeth Horcher.) Read More We’ll Meet Again

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The Roundup and the Cycling Arena

It began on 14 June 1940 when the Germans marched into Paris to start their four-year occupation of the city. Initially, the Occupation was rather benign. Soldiers were ordered to be on their best behavior with the locals. For the most part, Paris citizens did not experience large changes in their daily routines other than the presence of the occupier.

Then it all began to change.

By 1942, the most dreaded sound was a knock on the door in the evening (click here to read the blog Night and Fog). Chances are it was either the French police or Gestapo agents. They were there for one reason: to make arrests. The apartment occupants could have been Jewish, suspected Resistance members or their families, black market participants, criminals, or known undesirables (e.g., Communists, Roma, Polish, Masons, or other Eastern Europeans).

Rafle du Vélodrome d’Hiver or Rafle du Vél’ d’Hiv

“The  Vél’ d’Hiv Roundup”

On 16 July 1942, the knock came to the apartment door of Rabbi Bereck Kofman and his family. The rabbi of the small synagogue located on the Rue Duc was arrested by a French policeman. The entire family (his wife and six small children) accompanied Rabbi Kofman to the police station. They never saw him again. His daughter, Sarah Kofman, became a noted French philosopher and writer. She wrote about her wartime experiences during the occupation in her moving book Rue Ordener, Rue Labat. Shortly after writing the book, Ms. Kofman committed suicide. Read More The Roundup and the Cycling Arena