The Portes of Paris
A gendarme named Daniel Leduc took these photos in 1941. It is possible that Leduc's official duties, which are unknown, included taking photographs and that he took advantage of the availability of photographic supplies to also represent occupied Paris in a less officially approved light.
His photos, as well as the remarks written on their reverse sides, reflect his personal thoughts and were clearly not intended to be made public. His family donated his photographs to the Musée de la Résistance nationale in 1999.
The defensive structures erected at the Portes [the city's major entrances] reveal aspects of the war in a light that the vast majority of the images contained in the sections that follow attempted to hide.
