Paris 1940-1944The daily routine
of Parisians
under the Occupation

  • Paris 1940-1944, The Routine under Siege
  • Masters of the Image
  • The German Presence
  • Paris and Collaboration
  • Expositions
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Deliberately "Blurring Daily Life"
  • Paris is hungry, Paris is cold
  • Production
  • Labor Unions in Disarray
  • The War Goes On
  • Multiple Resistances
  • The Resistance Goes Public
  • Cracking Down
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  • The Original Exhibit at the Réfectoire des Cordeliers in Paris
  • Acknowledgements and credits
  • Accessibility
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  • Français / English
  • Protesting
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Register of the Bourse du travail (Labor Exchange), 1940


Montreuil, Institut d'histoire sociale © IHS-CGT
The functioning of unions that legally continued to operate was highly complex. Some unions that participated in the Paris Labor Exchange continued their customary activities. The idea of German language classes to allow hotel, café, and restaurant personnel to accommodate their clients' needs might have corresponded very well to the typical purposes of the Labor Exchange, but Germans could not enroll in such classes because they could not be considered "ordinary tourists." As this exhibit gradually makes clear, this seeming normality, although there was always the risk of small mistakes that might expose the movement, was consistent with the goals of industry and the operations of the Resistance, which both continued to co-exist under the framework of the same organization and involving the same individuals.