Tag: Nancy Wake

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

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.

 

Gestapo Cover Vol 1

Gestapo Back Cover Vol 1

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.

CONTENTS

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

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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 Stew_Ross_Logo_CMYK

 

 

Copyright © 2022 Stew Ross

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Escape Lines

One of the more effective resistance efforts during World War II was the establishment and operation of multiple escape lines in occupied countries such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Risk/reward theory certainly applies to these efforts as the escape lines were probably some of the most dangerous operations performed by resistance fighters and the people assisting them (“helpers”). The greatest threat to the ongoing operation of the lines was not the Nazi security forces (e.g., Sichersdienst and Gestapo). It was the infiltration and betrayals by French, Belgian, and Dutch traitors. After the war ended, many of those who betrayed their comrades (and countries) were caught, tried, and executed. Unfortunately, some were never brought to justice.

Map of the routes used to guide downed airmen out of occupied Europe. The three major lines represented are the Pat O’Leary, Comet, and Shelburne. Map by the National Museum of the United Air Force (c. 2009). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Map of the routes used to guide downed airmen out of occupied Europe. The three major lines represented are the Pat O’Leary, Comet, and Shelburne. Map by the National Museum of the United Air Force (c. 2009). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the small village of Chambon-sur-Lignon in south-central France recently inherited 2.0 million euros? Erich Schwam (1930−2020) had no heirs when he passed away this past December. Why did he pick this small remote hamlet in a wooded area to leave more than US $2.4 million? As an Austrian child, the residents of Chambon-sur-Lignon sheltered Erich and his Jewish parents during the Nazi occupation of France. Besides Erich and his family, the village saved the lives of almost five thousand Jews (thirty percent were children).  It was through the leadership of the two Huguenot (Protestant) pastors, André Trocmé and Édouard Theis along with Roger Darcissac (head of education for the village) that the villagers banded together, at great personal risk, to devise a system to keep everyone out of the hands of the Nazis. The Jews would disappear into the woods when Nazi patrols came searching for them. The all-clear signal was when people from the village went out into the forest and began singing. Trocmé, Theis, and Darcissac were arrested by the French police and interned at Saint-Paul-d’Eyjeaux. They were released months later and returned to Chambon-sur-Lignon where they continued their resistance activities. 

Austrian identity card of Erich Schwam. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Mairie du Chambon-sur-Lignon.
Austrian identity card of Erich Schwam. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Mairie du Chambon-sur-Lignon.

Yad Vashem named Pastor Trocmé as Righteous Among the Nations in 1971 followed by Pastor Theis in 1981 and M. Darcissac in 1988. Chambon-sur-Lignon is only the second city collectively honored as Righteous Among the Nations (the Dutch village of Nieuwlands is the other). Click here to watch the video clip Le Chambon: How a Jewish Refugee Became a Freedom Fighter in WWII.

From left to right: André Trocmé, Roger Darcissac, and Édouard Theis. Photo taken shortly after their release from captivity. Photo by anonymous (March 1943). Pilcorw Magazine. PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
From left to right: André Trocmé, Roger Darcissac, and Édouard Theis. Photo taken shortly after their release from captivity. Photo by anonymous (March 1943). Pilcorw Magazine. PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

By early 1943, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) had arrived in England to establish bases for its long-range bombers: B-17s and B-24s. For more than three years, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) had been bombing the continent during nightly runs. Now it was time for the Americans to begin their campaign of daylight bombing. This meant more planes were going to be shot down and an increasing number of crews would likely parachute and land behind enemy lines (i.e., occupied countries). There needed to be a way to get these downed Allied airmen back to England safely. Read More Escape Lines