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And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris
In the weeks after the Germans captured Paris, theaters, opera houses, and nightclubs reopened to occupiers and French citizens alike, and they remained open for the duration of the war. Alan Riding introduces a pageant of twentieth-century artists who lived and worked under the Nazis and explores the decisions each made about whether to stay or flee, collaborate or resist.We see Maurice Chevalier and Edith Piaf singing before French and German audiences; Picasso painting and occasionally selling his work from his Left Bank apartment; and Marcel Carne and Henri-Georges Clouzot, among others, directing movies in Paris studios (more than two hundred were produced during this time). We see that pro-Fascist writers such as Louis-Ferdinand Celine and Robert Brasillach flourished, but also that Camus's The Stranger was published and Sartre's play No Exit was first performed-ten days before the Normandy landings.Based on exhaustive research and extensive interviews, And the Show Went On sheds a clarifying light on a protean and problematic era in twentieth-century European cultural history.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published October 19, 2010
74 people are currently reading
2004 people want to read
About the author
Alan Riding
29 books12 followersALAN RIDING is a Brazilian-born Briton who studied economics and law before becoming a journalist and writer. Working successively for Reuters, The Financial Times, The Economist and The New York Times, he reported from the United Nations in New York, Latin America and Western Europe. During much of his career, Riding covered political and economic affairs. During the final 12 years before he retired from journalism in 2007, he was the European cultural correspondent for The New York Times, based in Paris. In 1980, Riding was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Prize by Columbia University for his coverage of Latin America and he has also been honored by the Overseas Press Club and the Latin American Studies Association in the United States. He is author of the best-selling book, "Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans," and co-author of "Essential Shakespeare Handbook" and "Opera." His most recent book, published in 2010, is "And The Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris." It has since also been published in French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese and Polish.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
July 11, 2024
Alan Riding, a good reporter, drowns himself and readers in his research. He needs to turn it over to an editor, as they used to do at TIME, who will assign a writer. Some material is fresh and interesting. Some is very ambiguous. Some is filler. There's very little "original" reporting. Despite faults, it's a worthy, and, at times, enthralling document..
Pointedly, he shows how the French Fascists jousted with the power of the French Communists. An excellent chapter is devoted to the American hero Varian Fry, a journalist, who helped more than 2,000 refugees out of France, including Andre Breton and Max Ernst. His deeds met resistance from US diplomat Hugh Fullerton. (Connect the social dots: Hugh was a cousin of Morton Fullerton, who made Edith Wharton swoon c 1907....remember?)
Playwright Jean Giraudoux died, age 61, in 1944. We're told he may have been (politically) poisoned. That's a one line throwaway. This is not good enough.
Popular actress Arletty ("The Children of Paradise") had to answer questions post-war. She'd had a German lover. Her alleged reply: "My heart is French, but my ass is international."
Pointedly, he shows how the French Fascists jousted with the power of the French Communists. An excellent chapter is devoted to the American hero Varian Fry, a journalist, who helped more than 2,000 refugees out of France, including Andre Breton and Max Ernst. His deeds met resistance from US diplomat Hugh Fullerton. (Connect the social dots: Hugh was a cousin of Morton Fullerton, who made Edith Wharton swoon c 1907....remember?)
Playwright Jean Giraudoux died, age 61, in 1944. We're told he may have been (politically) poisoned. That's a one line throwaway. This is not good enough.
Popular actress Arletty ("The Children of Paradise") had to answer questions post-war. She'd had a German lover. Her alleged reply: "My heart is French, but my ass is international."
December 3, 2013
I give this 4-stars from sheer awe at the breadth of research and in recognition of the value of this book as a resource. If you are at all interested in--as a personal pursuit or as part of scholarly research--France, French literature, art, cinema, World War II, or the presence and impact of the arts during war, this is a must-have companion. But it may be most useful when employed as an encyclopedia, rather than a sit-down-and-read-cover-to-cover book. I did, but it wasn't pretty. There is such a volume of names, institutions, occurrences that the forest went missing in all the trees. I came away with very little emotional sense of what Paris was like for an actor, writer, dancer, painter, singer '39-45, but at least I knew what most everyone involved in some aspect of the art world was doing. And not just in Paris, but in the South, where many of the artist cognoscenti fled when the Germans arrived.
That being said, there were some fascinating, moving and telling sections dealing with Camus, Colette, Sartre, the American-born French socialite Florence Gould, Irène Némirovsky, among others. And Riding does an outstanding job of showing the blurred lines between collaborating, resisting, staying the course and simply doing what you can to survive. Artists are people, too.
That being said, there were some fascinating, moving and telling sections dealing with Camus, Colette, Sartre, the American-born French socialite Florence Gould, Irène Némirovsky, among others. And Riding does an outstanding job of showing the blurred lines between collaborating, resisting, staying the course and simply doing what you can to survive. Artists are people, too.
December 9, 2016
An excellent, highly readable account of French cultural life during the occupation and Vichy, full of interesting and vivid anecdotes. It is hard to tell how much of this is original research, but an excellent read, nonetheless, for those interested in this period.
August 3, 2018
Review to come.
June 27, 2013
There are many poignant passages in this book on the occupation of France from 1940 to 1944. It focuses on artist performers and intellectuals (writers, poets…) and how they coped during these trying years. It must be remembered, that initially with Petain, the word “collaboration” had positive connotations – only beginning in 1943 with Stalingrad and U.S. entry into the war, did the word begin to have negative features.
The best chapters are on writers (in a sense the least politically ambiguous of the arts) and on the liberation and its aftermath. Some of the chapters, particularly on the theatre and cinema, had a lot of name-dropping in terms of simply listing writers, directors and titles. The author is at his best when detailing the life of an artist during this era.
Mr. Riding does point out how after the liberation, a few artists – such as Sartre – jumped on the resistance bandwagon and exaggerated their role in opposition during the long occupation. I believe Picasso was another. I wish there would have been more written on this aspect. Many have remarked that at the time of liberation everyone in France claimed a role in the resistance. But as Mr. Riding correctly points out at the very beginning in the quote from Anthony Eden: “If one hasn’t been through the horror of an occupation… you have no right to pronounce upon what a country does which has been through all that.”
I also could not help feeling that many in France had an easy time compared to the countries of Eastern Europe. In Poland, for instance, the entire cultural elite were wiped out by the Nazis.
The best chapters are on writers (in a sense the least politically ambiguous of the arts) and on the liberation and its aftermath. Some of the chapters, particularly on the theatre and cinema, had a lot of name-dropping in terms of simply listing writers, directors and titles. The author is at his best when detailing the life of an artist during this era.
Mr. Riding does point out how after the liberation, a few artists – such as Sartre – jumped on the resistance bandwagon and exaggerated their role in opposition during the long occupation. I believe Picasso was another. I wish there would have been more written on this aspect. Many have remarked that at the time of liberation everyone in France claimed a role in the resistance. But as Mr. Riding correctly points out at the very beginning in the quote from Anthony Eden: “If one hasn’t been through the horror of an occupation… you have no right to pronounce upon what a country does which has been through all that.”
I also could not help feeling that many in France had an easy time compared to the countries of Eastern Europe. In Poland, for instance, the entire cultural elite were wiped out by the Nazis.
June 14, 2011
Somehow I expected more from this book which covers the Nazi Occupation of Paris and how it affected the artistic community. I had already read Occupation by Ian Ousby which piqued my curiosity about the actions of those involved in the arts and maybe settle the question as to collaboration vs. trying to keep their work alive. But the question was not really answered, at least not for me. There were so many individuals in those pages, many of whom were only known to the French population, that I had trouble remembering who they were. Except for a handful, most of them worked in cooperation with the Nazis, some more blatantly than others, but were never called to task for what appeared as collaboration. The book does not paint a pretty picture of the Parisian artists' community and certainly does not take an apologist tone.....but it just did not capture my interest as I though it might.
August 9, 2014
Ah Paris. Filled with can-can girls and wine. Poets and painters. There is that Spanish guy, you know the male slut, and he did that blue painting with the bull.
But seriously folks, and this is a serious book, And the Show Went On is a rather close and compelling look at how the artists of all stripes (painters, writers, dancers, singers and so on) coped (or didn’t) while France was under Nazi Occupation. The focus is mostly on Paris though Vichy France is discussed as well.
It does raise interesting questions. What exactly is going too far? When do you get too chummy? And how can you rebel if you are too old, too scared, too whatever? Riding looks at the different artists as well as the different ways in which they dealt with the war. This includes anything from collaborating (Vichy France, as Riding describes it sounds like a Nazi Germany in the making) to joining the marquise to areas where lines between good and bad are not quite so clear. Of course, there are artists who for whatever reason could not fight back and why – usually because they have been sent to their deaths.
Some of the heroes, if that is the correct word, are surprising, and some of the villains are surprising as well. Regardless, your understanding of Occupied Paris will increase.
But seriously folks, and this is a serious book, And the Show Went On is a rather close and compelling look at how the artists of all stripes (painters, writers, dancers, singers and so on) coped (or didn’t) while France was under Nazi Occupation. The focus is mostly on Paris though Vichy France is discussed as well.
It does raise interesting questions. What exactly is going too far? When do you get too chummy? And how can you rebel if you are too old, too scared, too whatever? Riding looks at the different artists as well as the different ways in which they dealt with the war. This includes anything from collaborating (Vichy France, as Riding describes it sounds like a Nazi Germany in the making) to joining the marquise to areas where lines between good and bad are not quite so clear. Of course, there are artists who for whatever reason could not fight back and why – usually because they have been sent to their deaths.
Some of the heroes, if that is the correct word, are surprising, and some of the villains are surprising as well. Regardless, your understanding of Occupied Paris will increase.
April 23, 2013
On June 14, 1940, German tanks rolled into a deserted Paris. The fact is that the French --who are not above lecturing the United States about morality --behaved more or less like cowards. They didn't quite welcome the Germans with open arms. But they hardly rejected them. Theaters, opera houses, cabarets, nightclubs stayed open for business, welcoming the German soldiers. Down the blocks the Germans were undoubtedly pounding down doors and sending thousands Jews to death camps. But Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf, even Picasso (who kept painting in his Left Bank apartment), didn't seem to mind,.
Alan Riding, a former reporter on The New York Times in Paris, has written a devastating book about the show going on in Paris, while Germans went ahead and performed their murderous acts. (In fairness, some artists like Marguerite Duras, joined the resistance with her husband). In the meantime, Camus and Sartre were hardly profiles in courage.
The best chapters in this terrific book are the ones that deal with trials held after the war for those writers like Charles Maurras who actively collaborated with the Germans. But many of the artists seemed to straddle a thin line between collaboration and survival.
An especially interesting portion of the book deals with Florence Gould. an American who hosted a popular salon for Germans during occupation. Her financial deals with high-ranking Nazi officers at a Monaco bank were apparently well-known. She may have done this to protect her husband, who was suspected of being Jewish. After the war she survived numerous investigations into her collaboration with the Germans. She went on to become a well-known supporter of the arts and a winner of the French Legion D'Honneur. Ah, the French. Forget and forgive.
Alan Riding, a former reporter on The New York Times in Paris, has written a devastating book about the show going on in Paris, while Germans went ahead and performed their murderous acts. (In fairness, some artists like Marguerite Duras, joined the resistance with her husband). In the meantime, Camus and Sartre were hardly profiles in courage.
The best chapters in this terrific book are the ones that deal with trials held after the war for those writers like Charles Maurras who actively collaborated with the Germans. But many of the artists seemed to straddle a thin line between collaboration and survival.
An especially interesting portion of the book deals with Florence Gould. an American who hosted a popular salon for Germans during occupation. Her financial deals with high-ranking Nazi officers at a Monaco bank were apparently well-known. She may have done this to protect her husband, who was suspected of being Jewish. After the war she survived numerous investigations into her collaboration with the Germans. She went on to become a well-known supporter of the arts and a winner of the French Legion D'Honneur. Ah, the French. Forget and forgive.
April 30, 2018
Despite being somewhat dry, it was an immensely interesting book and I had a hard time putting it down. One of the most fascinating problems ever is this: how can I enjoy my life, when I know that others are suffering and dying, and it’s my family members, friends, acquaintances, compatriots, who cause this suffering, but I continue your relations with them, and even benefit from whatever they are doing? What makes me close my eyes? What makes me open them?
I didn’t know much about the French life under the Nazis before I read this book. I knew that there was Vichy and that the French had their own resistance. I know a lot about the life in my own country under the Nazis, however, so I was more and more dismayed and… well, amused, as I read on and make comparisons. Then I thought, wow, these people sure were practical – which can be a good or a bad thing – the only ones who actively opposed the Nazis were those pesky communists and those goody-goody Protestants in the mountains; but when all was over, oh boy, did everyone want a cookie for how opposed to the Nazis they were, deep in their own hearts!
Especially Sartre. LOL the author is so hard on Sartre!
If you write about the Second World War, and indeed about any horrible things in history, I recommend this book. Our ancestors were opportunists. It’s no use to insist that most people were against Nazism, or slavery, or homophobia. Those who were, were in the minority. That’s why those ideas endured. Not only the baddies were supporting bad things; most people were the baddies.
I didn’t know much about the French life under the Nazis before I read this book. I knew that there was Vichy and that the French had their own resistance. I know a lot about the life in my own country under the Nazis, however, so I was more and more dismayed and… well, amused, as I read on and make comparisons. Then I thought, wow, these people sure were practical – which can be a good or a bad thing – the only ones who actively opposed the Nazis were those pesky communists and those goody-goody Protestants in the mountains; but when all was over, oh boy, did everyone want a cookie for how opposed to the Nazis they were, deep in their own hearts!
Especially Sartre. LOL the author is so hard on Sartre!
If you write about the Second World War, and indeed about any horrible things in history, I recommend this book. Our ancestors were opportunists. It’s no use to insist that most people were against Nazism, or slavery, or homophobia. Those who were, were in the minority. That’s why those ideas endured. Not only the baddies were supporting bad things; most people were the baddies.
August 25, 2021
This is a very interesting and exhaustive account of all the cultural activity (writing/poetry, painting/sculpture, music, theater, cinema, cabaret) that went on in France after the Germans invaded and took over. Some was done by collaboration with the Nazis, some was done with the Nazis simply watching, and some was done clandestinely. Riding explains what happened to the Jews who were integral at the time of the invasion to all the art forms, and he talks all about who did what, how, when, and what the repercussions were, either repercussions by the Germans, or later by the non-Vichy French and the Allies.
I have to admit that at times I was bored and my eyes glazed over. But I kept on because there was a lot there I didn't know but wanted to. If any one thing stuck with me it was the story of Varian Fry, a true American hero who disappeared into oblivion. He went to France to spend a month and ended up staying over a year, risking his own life and saving almost two thousand others, including Hannah Arendt, Andre Breton, Marc Chagall, Wanda Landowska among others who were and were not famous. His own memoir has been published and there is a biography of him that I bought when I read about him here and will soon read. Apparently he is the only American inscribed in the Yad Vashem memorial of the righteous in Jerusalem.
I have to admit that at times I was bored and my eyes glazed over. But I kept on because there was a lot there I didn't know but wanted to. If any one thing stuck with me it was the story of Varian Fry, a true American hero who disappeared into oblivion. He went to France to spend a month and ended up staying over a year, risking his own life and saving almost two thousand others, including Hannah Arendt, Andre Breton, Marc Chagall, Wanda Landowska among others who were and were not famous. His own memoir has been published and there is a biography of him that I bought when I read about him here and will soon read. Apparently he is the only American inscribed in the Yad Vashem memorial of the righteous in Jerusalem.
January 21, 2012
Ahhh, the complications of serving your art and your German occupiers. Whether you were blowing a Wehrmacht officer in the back seat of his Opel Admiral or publishing thinly veiled anti-German one-act plays from your apartment in the Latin Quarter, Paris during the war was a difficult place for the artist. Particularly the Jewish artist, many of whom were deported and destroyed. Riding does a thorough and entertaining job of explaining how the cultural elite largely managed to ride out the war thanks to a mixture of collaboration and Nazi tolerance.
October 29, 2019
The fundamental idea behind "And the Show Went On" is that while we imagine that under an oppressive regime, you are either "with them" or "against them," reality is much more complicated.
In this book, Alan Riding carefully and exhaustively chronicles the lives of hundreds of artists in Nazi Occupied Paris. Yes, some of them joined the Vichy government or immediately started writing pro-fascist and anti-semitic tracts. Others joined the Resistance, printed anti-Nazi papers, and even martyred themselves. But, these figures are in the minority. What Riding asks us is to consider if we can identify collaboration or resistance in other artists, and where we would draw our personal line. The myth of resistance has become a much firmer and clear cut idea than what actually happened.
Though Riding covers hundreds of artists across a variety of forms: film, writing, cabaret singing, theater, visual art, dance, opera and more, he also returns us again and again to a few key figures who most illuminate his thesis: Sartre, Celine, Camus, and Picasso.
Sartre would go on to far more credit than he deserved for being a part of the resistance, when in reality he was more quietly opposed to Nazism. His work did speak against fascism, but he rarely did so explicitly. Camus was more outspoken and was genuinely part of the resistance, but he was quick to acknowledge a difference between himself and resistance members who actually took up arms and truly risked their lives. Picasso too did work that was opposed to the Nazis but also cultivated some level of fame and comfort as some of his colleagues risked far more than he would ever consider giving up for the cause.
Celine is perhaps the most fascinating figure in the book, and could be considered its villain. He was, more or less, a Nazi. But, his Nazism was rhetorical. He never carried a gun, but he wrote despicable anti-semitic and pro-German work. And so with Celine and a few select other artists who never worked directly for the Nazis, but clearly supported them, we have to ask ourselves the questions the Resistance asked after the liberation of Paris: do they deserve to die for their words?
Riding pulls off an amazing feat in "And the Show Went On" because his focus on these figures doesn't diminish the stories of minor artists and artists who were killed by the Nazis before they could have the chance to reach full maturity in their work. These examples don't tower over the text, but rather help draw its boundaries and situate its point of view. They are guideposts of Riding's rich and engaging exploration.
I recognize that times then were more dire than they are now, but I think in every culture, we have to grapple with the same issues presented here. What does collaboration look like? What does resistance look like? Artists today clearly have varying ideas about this in the context of Donald Trump. And after reading this book, I recognize that when we look back on this moment, we will have the same challenges that the Resistance had after the liberation of Paris.
It is easy to say "either you're with us or you're against us." It is much harder to determine the truth of the matter.
In this book, Alan Riding carefully and exhaustively chronicles the lives of hundreds of artists in Nazi Occupied Paris. Yes, some of them joined the Vichy government or immediately started writing pro-fascist and anti-semitic tracts. Others joined the Resistance, printed anti-Nazi papers, and even martyred themselves. But, these figures are in the minority. What Riding asks us is to consider if we can identify collaboration or resistance in other artists, and where we would draw our personal line. The myth of resistance has become a much firmer and clear cut idea than what actually happened.
Though Riding covers hundreds of artists across a variety of forms: film, writing, cabaret singing, theater, visual art, dance, opera and more, he also returns us again and again to a few key figures who most illuminate his thesis: Sartre, Celine, Camus, and Picasso.
Sartre would go on to far more credit than he deserved for being a part of the resistance, when in reality he was more quietly opposed to Nazism. His work did speak against fascism, but he rarely did so explicitly. Camus was more outspoken and was genuinely part of the resistance, but he was quick to acknowledge a difference between himself and resistance members who actually took up arms and truly risked their lives. Picasso too did work that was opposed to the Nazis but also cultivated some level of fame and comfort as some of his colleagues risked far more than he would ever consider giving up for the cause.
Celine is perhaps the most fascinating figure in the book, and could be considered its villain. He was, more or less, a Nazi. But, his Nazism was rhetorical. He never carried a gun, but he wrote despicable anti-semitic and pro-German work. And so with Celine and a few select other artists who never worked directly for the Nazis, but clearly supported them, we have to ask ourselves the questions the Resistance asked after the liberation of Paris: do they deserve to die for their words?
Riding pulls off an amazing feat in "And the Show Went On" because his focus on these figures doesn't diminish the stories of minor artists and artists who were killed by the Nazis before they could have the chance to reach full maturity in their work. These examples don't tower over the text, but rather help draw its boundaries and situate its point of view. They are guideposts of Riding's rich and engaging exploration.
I recognize that times then were more dire than they are now, but I think in every culture, we have to grapple with the same issues presented here. What does collaboration look like? What does resistance look like? Artists today clearly have varying ideas about this in the context of Donald Trump. And after reading this book, I recognize that when we look back on this moment, we will have the same challenges that the Resistance had after the liberation of Paris.
It is easy to say "either you're with us or you're against us." It is much harder to determine the truth of the matter.
Want to read
October 6, 2020I got pretty far in this actually, but my library loan was running out and I had too much left... It’s so dense, and there’s so much information, it really deserves a better, slower read, and I just don’t have that in me at this point. I’ll try again in the future.
July 14, 2019
Different perspective of the Second World War. All I really knew about arts in Occupied France was the film "Children of Paradise". That's about four pages in this book. Fascinating.
September 27, 2024
It took me a while to read this because it is a bit academic and does not does not flow in a narrative form. I learned a lot about World War II from the French perspective and the role of the arts and artists during that time.
January 19, 2011
“And The Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris” by Alan Riding is a non-fiction book which tries to investigate the glimmering nightlife in an occupied city. Mr. Riding was the Paris bureau chief of the New York Times.
Each chapter in the book is devoted to a different art, music, opera, dance, film, theater, literary world and more. The book also goes into some detail about the collaborative French Vichy government as well s the reprisals which happened after World War II ended and for some years after wards.
The examination of occupied life under the Nazis makes a very interesting book.
“And The Show Went “on by Alan Riding is a well researched, readable narrative of a big story within a big war. I must admit that when I first heard of this book, my initial reaction was “who cares” with an expressive shoulder shrug. However, the more I thought about it the more the subject seems to be intriguing.
Early in World War II Germany invaded France, who after some brief resistance surrendered and installed a collaborative government known as the Vichy. The cultural world for which France was known had to respond and some strange dynamics were documented.
As an entertainment enthusiast (not the TMZ style but there are several movies, more than you think, that I can run through my head frame-for-frame) I started thinking about the great World War II movies which are currently produced, and those great movies which have been produced during the war (thanks Netflix). The French artists, actors, writers, producers, directors and more must have been itching to get out the creativeness which must have been stifled when the Germany invaded.
The book focuses mostly on writers and artists even though several of the stars and starlets of the era also grab the narrative (Maurice Chevalier, Édith Piaf, American living in Paris Josephine Baker and more). For years, even decades after World War II the French kept insisting that they resisted the German invasion – however honest history, of any country, is brutal and usually does not agree with how we see ourselves.
France is no different.
During the war outright collaboration or, at best, complacency were the rule, they became the exception only towards the end. The dutiful French police were very accommodating, and the Vichy government very proactive, when it came to rounding up the Jews. The first large scale rafle was in May of 1941 – and more followed.
The ambiguities and complexities which are presented in this book when it comes to the artists resisting the occupation are astounding. A famous anti-Semite kept insisting after the war that he hated the Germans as well. The Paris nightclubs made a killing amusing German soldiers.
One, of course, could ask what collaboration is and what is resistance?
Mr. Riding doesn’t judge but he quotes others who do.
The book is not concerned with the broad implications of history, but with the personal stories of artists and their response to the German invasion. Even though this is a well written book, at some parts the names and works get thrown at the reader so fast the reading becomes almost encyclopedic – however the sharpen anecdotes more than make up for that.
“We’ll always have Paris” takes on quite a different meaning after reading this book.
For more book reviews please visit http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
Each chapter in the book is devoted to a different art, music, opera, dance, film, theater, literary world and more. The book also goes into some detail about the collaborative French Vichy government as well s the reprisals which happened after World War II ended and for some years after wards.
The examination of occupied life under the Nazis makes a very interesting book.
“And The Show Went “on by Alan Riding is a well researched, readable narrative of a big story within a big war. I must admit that when I first heard of this book, my initial reaction was “who cares” with an expressive shoulder shrug. However, the more I thought about it the more the subject seems to be intriguing.
Early in World War II Germany invaded France, who after some brief resistance surrendered and installed a collaborative government known as the Vichy. The cultural world for which France was known had to respond and some strange dynamics were documented.
As an entertainment enthusiast (not the TMZ style but there are several movies, more than you think, that I can run through my head frame-for-frame) I started thinking about the great World War II movies which are currently produced, and those great movies which have been produced during the war (thanks Netflix). The French artists, actors, writers, producers, directors and more must have been itching to get out the creativeness which must have been stifled when the Germany invaded.
The book focuses mostly on writers and artists even though several of the stars and starlets of the era also grab the narrative (Maurice Chevalier, Édith Piaf, American living in Paris Josephine Baker and more). For years, even decades after World War II the French kept insisting that they resisted the German invasion – however honest history, of any country, is brutal and usually does not agree with how we see ourselves.
France is no different.
During the war outright collaboration or, at best, complacency were the rule, they became the exception only towards the end. The dutiful French police were very accommodating, and the Vichy government very proactive, when it came to rounding up the Jews. The first large scale rafle was in May of 1941 – and more followed.
The ambiguities and complexities which are presented in this book when it comes to the artists resisting the occupation are astounding. A famous anti-Semite kept insisting after the war that he hated the Germans as well. The Paris nightclubs made a killing amusing German soldiers.
One, of course, could ask what collaboration is and what is resistance?
Mr. Riding doesn’t judge but he quotes others who do.
The book is not concerned with the broad implications of history, but with the personal stories of artists and their response to the German invasion. Even though this is a well written book, at some parts the names and works get thrown at the reader so fast the reading becomes almost encyclopedic – however the sharpen anecdotes more than make up for that.
“We’ll always have Paris” takes on quite a different meaning after reading this book.
For more book reviews please visit http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
March 12, 2011
Alan Riding’s new book, “And the Show Went on,” portrays, in a winningly detailed manner, the resistance and collaboration of those involved with French culture – the stage, the screen, visual art, writing, and music -- during the Nazi occupation.
After the fall of France, the Germans wanted Parisian cultural institutions reopened for several reasons. First, if Parisians were “kept entertained,” they might be less troublesome. But there was another reason, found in the words of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels: “the result of our victorious fight should be to break French domination of cultural propaganda, in Europe and the world.” The Germans had a cultural inferiority complex regarding the French and now they felt they were in a position to vanquish French cultural dominance permanently.
To accomplish this goal, Goebbels set up the Propaganda Abteilung (Propaganda Department) in France, comprising a staff of approximately 1,200 people and which contained the Propaganda Staffel which had 50 bureaus (love that bizarre Nazi organizational mindset) in the occupied zone of France and which micromanaged French culture during the occupation.
Vichy, anti-Semitic to the core, was eager to collaborate with the Germans in almost everything; this created confusion for some Frenchmen and Riding recounts scads of collaborators, whose behavior ranged from enthusiastic collaboration to complete indifference; i.e., those who cooperated with but ignored the Germans as much as possible and focused primarily on their craft.
One particularly appealing but unapparent hero of the cultural resistance featured in the book is Rose Valland, a dowdy art curator who, for her efforts to track and save Jewish-owned stolen art, was granted numerous awards, including the Medal of the Resistance by France and the Medal of Freedom by the United States.
She was one of the only heroes in the arena of stolen Jewish art, however. Vichy’s official stance on this looting was blatantly anti-Semitic and Riding notes many Frenchmen who assisted in this enormous robbery. Really, for every notable culturally-inclined French hero Riding mentions, he also names at least a handful of either passive or active collaborators. The unified French Resistance was a complete myth, as Riding clearly illustrates again and again by highlighting scores of collaborationist profiles.
One of the chapters focusing on writers, ‘On the Side of Life,’ is uniquely inspiring, particularly its section on resistance poetry, which, as Riding points out, “enjoyed a monopoly since no collaborationist writer ever tried to express his Fascism in verse.” Poet Pierre Seghers, who was able to work openly, published French poetry mailed from German prison camps while other poets secretly wrote and distributed fiery Resistance verse.
In addition to the multitude of profiles included – each one ranging from a single paragraph to several pages – Riding also presents general information on the war, setting the profiles solidly within their historical context, so that “And the Show Went on” is a highly illuminating read on the subject of Nazi-occupied French cultural life.
(This review has also been published at CurledUpWithAGoodBook.com -- http://www.curledup.com/and_the_show_...)
After the fall of France, the Germans wanted Parisian cultural institutions reopened for several reasons. First, if Parisians were “kept entertained,” they might be less troublesome. But there was another reason, found in the words of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels: “the result of our victorious fight should be to break French domination of cultural propaganda, in Europe and the world.” The Germans had a cultural inferiority complex regarding the French and now they felt they were in a position to vanquish French cultural dominance permanently.
To accomplish this goal, Goebbels set up the Propaganda Abteilung (Propaganda Department) in France, comprising a staff of approximately 1,200 people and which contained the Propaganda Staffel which had 50 bureaus (love that bizarre Nazi organizational mindset) in the occupied zone of France and which micromanaged French culture during the occupation.
Vichy, anti-Semitic to the core, was eager to collaborate with the Germans in almost everything; this created confusion for some Frenchmen and Riding recounts scads of collaborators, whose behavior ranged from enthusiastic collaboration to complete indifference; i.e., those who cooperated with but ignored the Germans as much as possible and focused primarily on their craft.
One particularly appealing but unapparent hero of the cultural resistance featured in the book is Rose Valland, a dowdy art curator who, for her efforts to track and save Jewish-owned stolen art, was granted numerous awards, including the Medal of the Resistance by France and the Medal of Freedom by the United States.
She was one of the only heroes in the arena of stolen Jewish art, however. Vichy’s official stance on this looting was blatantly anti-Semitic and Riding notes many Frenchmen who assisted in this enormous robbery. Really, for every notable culturally-inclined French hero Riding mentions, he also names at least a handful of either passive or active collaborators. The unified French Resistance was a complete myth, as Riding clearly illustrates again and again by highlighting scores of collaborationist profiles.
One of the chapters focusing on writers, ‘On the Side of Life,’ is uniquely inspiring, particularly its section on resistance poetry, which, as Riding points out, “enjoyed a monopoly since no collaborationist writer ever tried to express his Fascism in verse.” Poet Pierre Seghers, who was able to work openly, published French poetry mailed from German prison camps while other poets secretly wrote and distributed fiery Resistance verse.
In addition to the multitude of profiles included – each one ranging from a single paragraph to several pages – Riding also presents general information on the war, setting the profiles solidly within their historical context, so that “And the Show Went on” is a highly illuminating read on the subject of Nazi-occupied French cultural life.
(This review has also been published at CurledUpWithAGoodBook.com -- http://www.curledup.com/and_the_show_...)
March 22, 2012
Most histories of the Second World War are concerned, naturally enough, with the War itself. Less attention tends to be given to other matters. This history of the Cultural life of Paris during the Nazi occupation redresses that omission, some 70 years after the events, after most of the potential recrimination have had time to cool off. The result is both fascinating and disturbing in equal measure.
The book begins with a brilliant chapter which provides earlier links to the main events, introducing many of the main participants involved, and ends with an equally brilliant chapter on the surviving links afterwards, up to the present. In between are 14 chapters which examine in great detail the often overlapping stories relating the many and varied cultural activities undertaken during the occupation.
From the opening chapter we learn about the various factions which constituted the many conflicting ideologies circulating at the time: nothing is as straightforward or as simple as one might think; there were many overlapping elements, few of which made it a simple thing to choose what stand one might morally take in the circumstances. This ambiguity and complexity are skilfully incorporated throughout the book, which is thickly studded with numerous names and personages, to the extent that it is sometimes confusing — not necessarily a critique, as this is an inevitable result of the subject, and in any case an excellent Index provides valuable assistance in this regard. This sheer weight of instances and circumstances adds to the overwhelming feeling that emerges: provided you weren't Jewish, things cultural in Paris weren't all that bad… indeed, in some cases, they seemed to thrive. Riding is too good an historian to let this pass without comment, of course, and there are many stories and anecdotes included in each chapter to alert the attentive reader to the darker side of all this: the horrors of the war raging throughout Europe. Even so, reading this work, one could easily be forgiven for wondering "What war?" — and it is this which makes this work disturbing.
Perhaps even more disturbing is the very ubiquity of anti-Semitism right throughout this period, and regardless of which particular faction one might prefer to adhere to. Apart from one chapter (chapter 4) devoted to the activities of the American Varian Fry, acts of assistance to Jews appear to be exceptions rather than the rule.
This is very readable history, quite thorough and wide-ranging, yet dispassionate in its approach, seeking more to be complete in its research rather than in moralising (as all good histories should be). The result is both enlightening and sobering. One is left questioning what one would have done in similar circumstances. Nothing is as black and white as one might wish it to be.
The book begins with a brilliant chapter which provides earlier links to the main events, introducing many of the main participants involved, and ends with an equally brilliant chapter on the surviving links afterwards, up to the present. In between are 14 chapters which examine in great detail the often overlapping stories relating the many and varied cultural activities undertaken during the occupation.
From the opening chapter we learn about the various factions which constituted the many conflicting ideologies circulating at the time: nothing is as straightforward or as simple as one might think; there were many overlapping elements, few of which made it a simple thing to choose what stand one might morally take in the circumstances. This ambiguity and complexity are skilfully incorporated throughout the book, which is thickly studded with numerous names and personages, to the extent that it is sometimes confusing — not necessarily a critique, as this is an inevitable result of the subject, and in any case an excellent Index provides valuable assistance in this regard. This sheer weight of instances and circumstances adds to the overwhelming feeling that emerges: provided you weren't Jewish, things cultural in Paris weren't all that bad… indeed, in some cases, they seemed to thrive. Riding is too good an historian to let this pass without comment, of course, and there are many stories and anecdotes included in each chapter to alert the attentive reader to the darker side of all this: the horrors of the war raging throughout Europe. Even so, reading this work, one could easily be forgiven for wondering "What war?" — and it is this which makes this work disturbing.
Perhaps even more disturbing is the very ubiquity of anti-Semitism right throughout this period, and regardless of which particular faction one might prefer to adhere to. Apart from one chapter (chapter 4) devoted to the activities of the American Varian Fry, acts of assistance to Jews appear to be exceptions rather than the rule.
This is very readable history, quite thorough and wide-ranging, yet dispassionate in its approach, seeking more to be complete in its research rather than in moralising (as all good histories should be). The result is both enlightening and sobering. One is left questioning what one would have done in similar circumstances. Nothing is as black and white as one might wish it to be.
March 10, 2011
To practice their professions under Nazi rule, French artists, writers, and performers had to walk a fine line: collaborating with the enemy meant shame and dishonor, but overt resistance could bring the severest of punishments. In consequence, principles were often sacrificed to expediency, and true heroes were quite rare--as former New York Times cultural correspondent Alan Riding makes clear in this elegantly composed overview of the period.
Riding discusses subjects ranging from Maurice Chevalier’s performances in Germany for French POWs to Sartre’s very mixed (and later very fibbed-about) record with the resistance. Historical background material and personality studies are interwoven with larger questions of ethics and morality throughout the narrative.
And yet, a fluid writing style sometimes allows Riding to avoid heavy intellectual lifting. He relies on the work of other scholars for most of his information and has done little research into primary source documents. To his credit, he has conducted numerous interviews, but these are largely with people like artist Leonora Carrington and Picasso's muse Françoise Gilot, whose opinions are already well-known.
Riding does a good job evoking the moral ambiguities of creative life during the occupation, but in certain instances the terms of the discussion could be sharper. In 1942, for instance, fauvist painter Maurice Vlaminck denounced Picasso and the cubists in print, pointedly echoing the arguments of Nazi cultural politics. Riding presents this as opportunism--and to some extent it was. But Vlaminck had been saying similar things since 1929, when he published his memoir, Tournant dangereux, which presented the fauves as authentic French artists and the cubists as degenerately un-French--a polemic warmly praised by arch-conservative critic Camille Mauclair, formerly an enemy of fauvism.
During the war, Mauclair became a strident spokesman for Nazi ideology, especially anti-Semitism. Vlaminck, however, never went that far. Although he felt a measure of sympathy for reactionary viewpoints and flirted with collaboration to an alarming degree, his sincere French nationalism restrained him from outright treason. His story and Mauclair’s are instructive and perhaps deserve more attention than they receive in this nonetheless very fine and useful volume.
Riding discusses subjects ranging from Maurice Chevalier’s performances in Germany for French POWs to Sartre’s very mixed (and later very fibbed-about) record with the resistance. Historical background material and personality studies are interwoven with larger questions of ethics and morality throughout the narrative.
And yet, a fluid writing style sometimes allows Riding to avoid heavy intellectual lifting. He relies on the work of other scholars for most of his information and has done little research into primary source documents. To his credit, he has conducted numerous interviews, but these are largely with people like artist Leonora Carrington and Picasso's muse Françoise Gilot, whose opinions are already well-known.
Riding does a good job evoking the moral ambiguities of creative life during the occupation, but in certain instances the terms of the discussion could be sharper. In 1942, for instance, fauvist painter Maurice Vlaminck denounced Picasso and the cubists in print, pointedly echoing the arguments of Nazi cultural politics. Riding presents this as opportunism--and to some extent it was. But Vlaminck had been saying similar things since 1929, when he published his memoir, Tournant dangereux, which presented the fauves as authentic French artists and the cubists as degenerately un-French--a polemic warmly praised by arch-conservative critic Camille Mauclair, formerly an enemy of fauvism.
During the war, Mauclair became a strident spokesman for Nazi ideology, especially anti-Semitism. Vlaminck, however, never went that far. Although he felt a measure of sympathy for reactionary viewpoints and flirted with collaboration to an alarming degree, his sincere French nationalism restrained him from outright treason. His story and Mauclair’s are instructive and perhaps deserve more attention than they receive in this nonetheless very fine and useful volume.
March 20, 2012
Nobody regards the French quite as highly as the French. Paradoxically, nobody holds the French in as low regard as the French. Witness Gide's lament as the Nazi war machine approaches - "O incurably frivolous people of France! You are going to pay dearly today for your lack of application, your heedlessness, your smug reclining among so many charming virtues."
Still, once it became obvious nobody was coming to the rescue, the French managed quite well (with some indulgence from the Occupation forces, who didn't have the manpower for brutal suppression and whose cultural degeneration was encouraged by Der Fuhrer.) Artists of all stripes sought what they had sought in Paris for decades - inspiration and freedom and recognition. Amid all this, there are a million stories of life and death and Riding manages to interweave them skillfully, sharing the lives of everyone from Celine to Django to Sartre to Irene Nemerovsky (who found some measure of tranquility in the countryside until she was eventually shipped to Auschwitz.)
Riding covers the cultural Resistance fairly exhaustively, although he is somewhat dismissive of their accomplishments. In a chapter called 'Vengeance and Amnesia" he touches on the trialls of the collaborationists (including those who did so horizontally) as well as some of the revisionism that began to happen immediately upon liberation. This is a fertile area that probably deserves its own book by Riding, or hopefully someone else as informed and talented.
Still, once it became obvious nobody was coming to the rescue, the French managed quite well (with some indulgence from the Occupation forces, who didn't have the manpower for brutal suppression and whose cultural degeneration was encouraged by Der Fuhrer.) Artists of all stripes sought what they had sought in Paris for decades - inspiration and freedom and recognition. Amid all this, there are a million stories of life and death and Riding manages to interweave them skillfully, sharing the lives of everyone from Celine to Django to Sartre to Irene Nemerovsky (who found some measure of tranquility in the countryside until she was eventually shipped to Auschwitz.)
Riding covers the cultural Resistance fairly exhaustively, although he is somewhat dismissive of their accomplishments. In a chapter called 'Vengeance and Amnesia" he touches on the trialls of the collaborationists (including those who did so horizontally) as well as some of the revisionism that began to happen immediately upon liberation. This is a fertile area that probably deserves its own book by Riding, or hopefully someone else as informed and talented.
February 7, 2012
Very good as an overall survey of the cultural life of France during the Nazi occupation. If I had a criticism it would be that the book suffers a little for being too thorough and I think Riding would have done better to focus on fewer individuals but go into a little more depth with each of them. Many of the figures - especially the writers - are of little interest today but the actions of people like Sartre, Camus, Drieu La Rochelle, Brasillach, Carne, Chevalier, Paulhan, Rose Valland, Darrieaux, and the insane Celine were fascinating and I would have liked more information.
More proof that Albert Speer was correct about one thing (probably the only thing) when he replied to the question of what effect the French Resistance had on German war production, "What French Resistance?"
More proof that Albert Speer was correct about one thing (probably the only thing) when he replied to the question of what effect the French Resistance had on German war production, "What French Resistance?"
June 5, 2018
This is my 10th book on France during WWII. I didn't think I could learn more, but I did & then some. This book not only delves into the cultural life in Occupied Paris, it also provides the reader with a tremendous amount of background info on both the Vichy & Occupied (Nazi) Governments that I had never known before reading this book. I also did something I rarely do when reading: I read this book one chapter at a time so I could savor these gems. All in all, I highly recommend this book if you want to take a dive deep into Occupied Paris. (And to think, I almost didn't read it.) Thanks Mr Riding for taking the time to provide us with such a vast treasure trove of information.
July 7, 2011
The author definitely deserves credit for being thorough as 10% of the book is required for the bibliography and notes. There were sections of this book that were very interesting and others that seemed like nothing more than reading an endless list of names. It had something of a text book feel to it. I think some editing (in regard to volume) would have made for a more compelling read as I found the subject matter fascinating.
July 2, 2011
Packed with facts, anecdotes, names and too much detail for me to absorb, but each chapter left me with a few solid points of greater understanding of what cultural life in Paris was like during the German occupation of WWII. As the title says, the show went on, but whether that showed the strength of the French way of life or the weakness of their resistance to the Germans could be debated either way.
June 21, 2011
Much more information than I wanted. This book is about how artists reacted to the Nazi occupation of France during WWII. Riding included minor artists, naming their works, along with major artists and what they were producing, or not producing during the occupation. I think this book would have been much more interesting cut down by two-thirds of the material.
June 3, 2021
I was really impressed by this book and could not put it down until it was finished. Mister Riding has done a great job - the time of the second WW 2 came alive during reading... and he stayed neutral... he was on no ones side... well..how would we react if our country were invated ? My compliment goes to the author...
August 17, 2015
If you are looking for popular non fiction, this might not be to your tastes unless you have a serious interest in French culture and/or World War II. It is well written, but contains the sort of narrative found in doctorate theses. Still, the information is very good, but don't look to this for a light read.
September 11, 2018
I skimmed. Interesting information, but WAY too much name-dropping of obscure names. A ruthless editor would have improved this book.
February 6, 2018
Fascinating and informative history of Paris under German occupation that explores the spectrum of collaboration to resistance on the part of artists and writers. Both collaboration and resistance came in many stripes and gradations of involvement. Sartre, for example, seems not to have done much in the way of resistance, but in the aftermath becomes something of a spokesman for those years. I was introduced to many figures previously unknown to me including Leon Blum, social democratic leader prior to the occupation; Jean Guehenno and Jean Paulhan, both writers and resisters, who wrote about their experiences; also Varian Fry, who was an American who came to France and helped rescue as many as 2,000 French and/or Jews under threat from the Germans.
I was also interested to learn something about the relation between the German occupiers and the Vichy government. In all circles, there were not a few hateful anti-semites and enthusiastic Nazi supporters. It is striking to read about people who believed Nazism held the key to correct for the supposed decadence of democratic political systems. But there are as well stories of great courage and clear-headedness.
I cannot help read a book like this and wonder how I might respond in similar circumstances, under the duress and fear of a totalitarian regime. It is easy to see how much one might prefer to stay small and go unnoticed and hope for the best. But that is also the measure of the courage exhibited by those who participated actively in the resistance.
Highly recommended.
I was also interested to learn something about the relation between the German occupiers and the Vichy government. In all circles, there were not a few hateful anti-semites and enthusiastic Nazi supporters. It is striking to read about people who believed Nazism held the key to correct for the supposed decadence of democratic political systems. But there are as well stories of great courage and clear-headedness.
I cannot help read a book like this and wonder how I might respond in similar circumstances, under the duress and fear of a totalitarian regime. It is easy to see how much one might prefer to stay small and go unnoticed and hope for the best. But that is also the measure of the courage exhibited by those who participated actively in the resistance.
Highly recommended.
June 20, 2024
And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alan Riding delves into the fascinating cultural landscape of Paris during the Nazi occupation. Riding skillfully weaves together the stories of writers, painters, composers, actors, and dancers who continued to create despite the dark times.
German tanks rolled into Paris on June 14, 1940, marking the beginning of a foreign occupation. Despite the swastika flying over the city, Paris remained undamaged, and a peculiar normalcy returned.
Theaters, opera houses, movie theaters, and nightclubs reopened, allowing artists to continue their work.
The book explains how artists persevered. Maurice Chevalier and Édith Piaf performed for both French and German audiences. Pablo Picasso defied the ban on his art and continued to paint. Over two hundred new French films were made, including the classic Les Enfants du Paradis.
Riding explores the moral dilemmas faced by artists. Were they saving French culture by working? Or were they betraying France by performing for German soldiers or making movies with Nazi approval? Some artists even joined the resistance, while others collaborated.
After Paris was liberated, questions arose about punishment for collaborated artists. The book raises thought-provoking questions about artists' duty during national trauma.
In summary, And the Show Went On sheds light on a critical moment in European cultural history, prompting us to consider whether artists and writers have a unique responsibility during times of crisis.
German tanks rolled into Paris on June 14, 1940, marking the beginning of a foreign occupation. Despite the swastika flying over the city, Paris remained undamaged, and a peculiar normalcy returned.
Theaters, opera houses, movie theaters, and nightclubs reopened, allowing artists to continue their work.
The book explains how artists persevered. Maurice Chevalier and Édith Piaf performed for both French and German audiences. Pablo Picasso defied the ban on his art and continued to paint. Over two hundred new French films were made, including the classic Les Enfants du Paradis.
Riding explores the moral dilemmas faced by artists. Were they saving French culture by working? Or were they betraying France by performing for German soldiers or making movies with Nazi approval? Some artists even joined the resistance, while others collaborated.
After Paris was liberated, questions arose about punishment for collaborated artists. The book raises thought-provoking questions about artists' duty during national trauma.
In summary, And the Show Went On sheds light on a critical moment in European cultural history, prompting us to consider whether artists and writers have a unique responsibility during times of crisis.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews