Nazi Paris: The History of an Occupation 1940–1944. By Allan Mitchell. New York: Berghahn Books. 2008. Pp. xiv + 230. Cloth $75.00. ISBN 978-1-84545-451. Paper $34.95. ISBN 1845457862.

摘要

When Carlo Schmid, Weimar-era jurist of dual French-German parentage andnlater leading Social Democratic statesman in the Bonn Republic, was orderednto report to the German army commander in Lille in wake of the Nazi conquestnof France in June 1940, he inquired about the responsibilities he would haventhere. “That depends entirely on you,” he was told. “You will have the rangenof authority that you assert. Your mandate according to military-governmentninstructions is to assure that the French judicial system functions normally againnas soon as possible.” (Carlo Schmid, Erinnerungen, 1979, p. 176). This answernnicely captures the reality in the first year of theWorldWar II German occupationnin France, as AllanMitchell describes it in the first section of his book: he notes annastonishing lack of planning, combined with an eagerness for smooth collabo-nration with established French authorities for a swift restoration of order. AllannMitchell sums up the occupation in that inaugural year in “three generalizations”nthat 1) “the quotidian circumstances of Paris in the opening months of thenOccupation (capitalized by Mitchell for practical reading clarity) were peculiarnto that moment and far different from what they were to become”;2) “theninternal conflicts of the Occupation were uncontainable,” thus precluding anyn“single purpose”; and 3) the occupation was, in fact, “an inextricable part ofnthe continuum of French history and not an altogether exceptional period tonbe isolated from the rest” (pp. 43–44). In other words, the history of Francenunder the occupation is the story of rapidly changing conditions, increasinglyndestabilized and radicalized by the uncontainable internal conflicts of the Nazinoccupation, but the daily necessity of French-German interaction on all levelsnof society for more than four years also left marks on the shared history of thenFrench.