Paris WWII Occupation and Liberation Walking Tour

Overview

Between June 1940 and August 1944, Paris lived under Nazi occupation. This walking tour retraces that story where it happened, from the fall of the city to its liberation. Meet at 11 Rue des Saussaies, former Gestapo headquarters, where prisoners' carved inscriptions still survive. Walk to Place de la Concorde, site of the 1940 German parade and bullet scars from 1944, facing the Hôtel de Crillon, requisitioned from day one of the Occupation. At Place Vendôme, hear how Göring settled into the Ritz amid looted art, alongside Coco Chanel. On Rue de Rivoli, stop at Hôtel Le Meurice, where General von Choltitz defied Hitler's order to burn Paris. Pass the Louvre, emptied of its masterpieces before the invasion, where curator Rose Valland secretly tracked the looting of Jewish-owned art. Your guide shows archival photos of each spot as it looked in 1940–44. The tour ends at the Préfecture de Police, birthplace of the 19 August 1944 uprising, near the scarred Saint-Michel fountain.