Paris Celebrates 75th Anniversary Of Liberation From Nazis

[appalachiablue]

Source: DW/Deutsche Welle

Exactly 75 years ago, French resistance fighters, US soldiers and others freed Paris from years of Nazi occupation. The City of Light is marking the event with a parade -- tracing the path tanks took when they arrived.

Paris is marking the 75th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi German occupation on Sunday with a parade and ceremonies across the city. French Resistance fighters, Allied troops, Spanish republican exiles and others are being honored for their part in freeing the city during World War II.

A parade will retrace the path that French and American tanks took when they entered southern Paris on August 25, 1945. Later on Sunday, firefighters will raise a French flag on the Eiffel Tower, remembering the moment 75 years ago when a tricolor flag sewn together from sheets was flown atop the monument -- replacing the swastika flag of occupying Nazi Germany that had flown there for four years.

In a ceremony on Saturday, Paris' Spanish-born mayor, Anne Hidalgo, paid tribute to the Spanish republican exiles who were part of the first unit to enter the city on August 24, 1944. Inaugurating a mural in their honor was "a way of commemorating how foreigners, and Spanish people, took part in the liberation of our city and our country," said Hidalgo, accompanied by Spanish Justice Minister Dolores Delgado. -MORE...


Read more: https://www.dw.com/en/paris-celebrates-75th-anniversary-of-liberation-from-nazis/a-50157028

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The fight for Paris began with a Resistance-led uprising on Aug. 19, 1944. Allied troops entered the city on Aug. 24, and the German military commander of Paris officially surrendered on August 25. "But when the last enemy resistance crumbled at the gate to Paris, then this heart of France went mad -- wildly, violently mad with happiness," wrote an AP reporter and eyewitness.

*Related: Paris Opens Underground Museum To Mark 75th Anniversary Of Liberation From Nazis,
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-underground-nazi-museum-liberation-anniversary-french-resistance-a9076526.html



Long Road to Freedom: The battle to regain control of Paris was an effort over several days that involved French Resistance fighters, US troops and Spanish republican exiles. Troop reinforcements arrived on August 24, several days after resistance fighters launched an uprising in the city. Paris was officially freed when the Germans formally surrendered control of the city on August 25, 1944.



Paris fights back: The uprising began on August 19, 1944, when police joined forces with Resistance fighters as well as striking city workers. Clashes erupted between occupying Nazi forces, and an estimated 5,000 people were killed in skirmishes over the next few days.



German officers captured: In this picture taken on August 28, 1944, high-ranking German officers captured by French forces are marched through the streets of the French capital. Adolf Hitler had ordered the German military commander of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, to blow up the city's landmarks before the Allies regained control of the city. Although bombs were placed, they were not detonated.



Celebration in the City of Light: "All the emotions suppressed by four years of German domination surged through the people. The streets of the city as we entered were like a combined Mardi Gras, Fourth of July celebration, American Legion convention and New Year's Eve in Times Square all packed into one," wrote Don Whitehead, a reporter for The Associated Press. It was the first eyewitness account published in the US press.

WATCH: (2 mins) Liberation of Paris 75th anniversary: Story of the French capital being freed of Nazi control, 8/25/44.

[Voltaire2]

1. They're Back.

How we’ve let the fascists back into power is the tragedy of our times.

[appalachiablue]

2. Never would have believed the revival of Hell-

Last edited Sun Aug 25, 2019, 07:23 PM - Edit history (2)

VIVE LA FRANCE!

TODAY'S Anniversary celebrations in Paris.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. They are hosting a modern American fascist right now.

[BigmanPigman]

4. And Paris wasn't burning...fuck you Hitler!

Vive la Resistance!

I am glad they can have a great celebration and parade without our fucking moron's presence there to crash their party. At least Biarritz is far from Paris.

[appalachiablue]

5. **More, Today's Paris Events, Associated Press:

- AP, "Paris Celebrates Is Liberation From Nazis, 75 Years On," Assoc. Press, Aug. 25, 2019.

PARIS (AP) — Paris celebrated the American soldiers, French Resistance fighters and others who liberated the City of Light from Nazi occupation exactly 75 years ago on Sunday, unleashing an eruption of kissing, dancing, tears and gratitude.

Firefighters unfurled a huge French flag from the Eiffel Tower, recreating the moment when a French tricolor stitched together from sheets was hoisted atop the monument 75 years ago to replace the swastika flag that had flown for four years.

Dozens of World War II-era jeeps, armored vehicles, motorcycles and trucks and people dressed in wartime uniforms and dresses paraded through southern Paris, retracing the entry of French and U.S. tanks into the city on Aug. 25, 1944 .

Among those watching the parade was Roger Acher, 96, one of the few surviving veterans, who entered Paris with Gen. Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque’s 2nd armored division around dawn that day. Fighting was fierce as they moved toward the city, he recalled. “I almost got killed.”

A Dixieland band standing on an army truck played at the end of the parade, which wrapped up at the site of a new museum about the liberation and the French Resistance .

Long the jewel of European cities, Paris suffered relatively little damage in World War II, but its citizens were humiliated, hungry and mistrustful after 50 months under the Nazis.

The liberation of Paris was both joyous and chaotic. It was faster and easier for the Allies than their protracted battle through Normandy and its gun-filled hedgerows...More, https://www.apnews.com/45277b60e4a34b008e5107292d356084

[Mc Mike]

6. Good times.

[dalton99a]

7. Kick

General Dietrich von Choltitz signing the Nazi surrender after the liberation of Paris