Tag: Occupied Paris

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Curious George Flees the Nazis

 

Rey, H.A. Curious George. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941. Cover illustration by H.A. Rey (1941). Available at Amazon and all fine bookstores.
Rey, H.A. Curious George. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941. Cover illustration by H.A. Rey (1941). Available at Amazon and all fine bookstores.

I’m often asked where I find the topics for my blogs. It boils down to reading a lot of books and delving into the research for whatever book I’m working on at the time. Anyone who has done research for the purpose of producing a written piece knows what it’s like going down the “rabbit hole.” In other words, you get side tracked and a week later you pop up your head and say “I better get back to my original target.”

I read books, periodicals, historical articles, and anything I can get my hands on that pertains to the subject I’m working on. So in early January 2017 I noticed an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled “As ‘Curious George’ Turns 75, New Light On His Escape from the Nazis.” Coincidentally, several days earlier in a separate source, I found the address where George’s creators lived in pre-war, pre-occupied Paris.

H.A. & Margret Rey

curious
Hans and Margret Rey. Photo by Penny Stearns Palmer (date unknown). Wikimedia Commons.

I’m always fascinated by relationships that endure for decades. One of the reasons for these successful relationships seems to be where each partner brings a different “skill set” to the relationship—typically one’s strengths offsets the partner’s weaknesses. You might say they are the ideal partnerships. In most cases, the partners share a common interest. In the case of H.A. and Margret, they both loved monkeys. Margret would write the stories and H.A. would illustrate them. Read More Curious George Flees the Nazis

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European Heritage Days

I’ll bet most of you who are Euro trippers aren’t aware that European Heritage Days (EHD) exists. I didn’t until our good friend in Paris, Raphaelle Crevet, mentioned this to us a year ago in connection with our research on the next book Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters? A Walking Tour of Nazi Occupied Paris (1940–1944).

Open Door Days

During EHD, European governments open up one or more of their buildings, monuments, or sites for one or two days to the general public (usually in September). These places are normally closed to everyone during the rest of the year. The chosen sites will have some significance to a theme the country picks for the current EHD year. The number of sites ranges from one (e.g., Paris, France) to more than 700 (for “Open House London”).

The French Ministry of Culture started this annual event in 1984 as La Journée Portes ouvertes des monuments historiques (Historic Monument Open Door Days). Today, it is considered a cultural event celebrated by more than fifty European countries. Each country can pick a theme such as architecture, collections, shared history, restoration/protection, archaeology, monuments, and public buildings, just to name a few. Administration of the event is handled jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Commission (europeanheritagedays.com). Read More European Heritage Days