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
  • Vichy in Paris
  • Collaborationists’ Paris
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The Palais Bourbon, the main façade showing the 'V' of German victory and a banner that read "Germany Wins on Every Front"


Anonymous photograph, July 1941 © Lapi/Roger-Viollet

On March 22, 1941, the French section of the BBC launched the "V campaign." Handwritten Vs for Victory proliferated on the walls of Paris. The occupying forces attempted to re-appropriate the symbol by posting huge Vs in reference to the Latin word Victoria.