Life In France Under German Occupation | WW2: I Was There
Vložit
- čas přidán 19. 07. 2020
- When France surrendered to Germany in June 1940, the son of a French army officer, 14-year-old John James and his family feared that their house would be commandeered by the Germans. However they hatched a successful plan to stay and, whenever he could, a teenage John would find ways to undermine the Nazis who now occupied France.
Subscribe: bit.ly/IWasThereSub
#WW2 #IWasThere #WorldWar2
I Was There: an original series from BBC Studios. The series portrays first-hand testimonies from pivotal moments in WW2, as well as detailed accounts of the everyday life of the soldiers, civilians and children of the time. Memories worth sharing.
Want to share your views with the team? Join our BBC Studios Voice: www.bbcstudiosvoice.com/register
This is a commercial channel from BBC Studios. Service information and feedback: bbcworldwide.com/vod-feedback-...
So articulate, he is extremely interesting and embodies all that is grand in France. Thank you.
Bravo! We in the States will never truly appreciate what you went through, but we very greatly respect you and your Country for your accomplishments! Best of luck!
Incredible man with an incredible story
I bet there was a lot of spitting going on into the germans food back in the kitchens at those cafes
What an amazing video, I am so glad he lived through to rebuild a life, best wishes from UK!
Thank you for sharing this important video of what this man experienced, during WWII.
Excellent. Thank you.
Amazing job, BBC, for boosting the french people’s spirits during those horrible times.
Sadly the BBC is NO longer the Bastion of impartiality.!
I luved the story of ur "string bayonets" ! That's priceless. I had a friend , who's now passed away, that was a child when they occupied France. She said it was very hard & they were always hungry. She said peo only learned the language out of self- perseverance. She said she had a greater who spoke a diff language but she was real small & not sure which. The Nazis took her & she nev saw her again
John, as an American we can all help each other to maintain our freedom and when needed I would answer the call to help your countrymen. Thank you for your remembrances.
Ever hear this one? "Ten million Frenchmen joined the resistance the day the Allies marched into Paris."
Exactly.
The French Resistance is a myth.
Not true ! "In France the resistance had liberated at least 15 "départements" (regions) on their own, and were in control of most of the south and the west of the country even before the Allies had reached Paris" - Keith Lowe "Savage continent" Page 50.
@@phlm9038 Look…
No one is denying the French Resistance existed. But their impact has been pretty overblown.
@@Ira88881 Not only in France, in other countries as well. I will mention Keith Lowe again as he gives an explanation for this :
"De Gaulle's expatriate government, for example, had spent most of the war portraying the French as a people united in their struggle against both the Germans and the tiny elite at Vichy. When de Gaulle came to power after the liberation it did not make sense to drop this myth of unity, especially since the French people were apparently united behind him. And besides, France would need to be united if it were ever to have the strength to rebuild itself. Collaborators and resisters still had to live together in the same communities after the war. To promote enmity between them would only store up trouble for the future. Other governments and Resistance groups across Europe played exactly the same game. The Norwegian, Dutch, Belgian and Czech expatriate governments also wanted to ease national tensions by portraying their respective peoples as united against the Nazis....".
At least in France the different Resistance groups worked together against the Nazis, unlike in Greece or in Yugoslavia, for example, where some Resistance groups spent much of their time fighting other Resistance groups rather than the occupier.
@@phlm9038 And the first thing De Gaulle was kick the Americans out.
Except those dead and buried, of course.
De Gaulle was universally disliked.
Powerful and moving.
touching story
Such a gentleman.
Poor man.
After the war with so many collaborators at all levels how did the French sort out who was punished and who was shunned?
The whole French nation collaborated with the Germans.
@@viktoriaironpride4977 Liar again ! Most of the French weren't in politics, they were just struggling to survive, because of the lack of food and essential necessities. Two million of French men were POWs in Germany or slaved laborers (the 3rd larger number after the Russians and the Poles). Around 3 to 4% of the French held by the Germans died in captivity. 75% of the Jews in France survived the holocaust while 90.91% of the Jews in Poland didn't survive, for instance. So stop to spread your lies on internet or I'll sue you for defamation !
Eye witnesses. Pictures.. hearsay... Some cases were obvious some people played both sides and some were innocent . Carnival day french women were shaved and beaten in a disgraceful act of revenge.
My mother was a young girl during occupation of Germany. She was in Nancy France, she told me some sad stories, Her mother died because her nurse was Jewish and had to leave France before German, s got her.
Im
Sorry Roger. Such pain for the human condition should not happen bc of possessed evil humans who perform evil against Gods created humankind! L
What is different to Melbourne, Australia 2021? C’est la meme chose!
Big bloody difference
Did the NAZI'S pay people a healthy wage to stay home and not work for months at a time until disease passed? Provide free vaccines to millions? Wake up.
Ofcourse there is a difference... the humiliation is greater, The aussies are doing it to themselves.
@@stevenspilly foreigner here, but are aussies really like that (OP) or just minority, lol
@@dieglhix antivaxers are just a very loud minority here in Aus. The rest of us have moved on but they are clinging to covid conspiracy theories. It's just uneducated fear mongering
Throughout history how many time did the French do this to other nations.
Hardly makes it ok to murder them and invade their country. None of the innocents alive during WW2 could be blamed for historic events, could they? .,Rubbish , blinkered argument and comment. You're a jerk
France was a paradise for French people and the German troops alike in comparison with the occupied countries of the eastern Europe, Balkans and of course the soviet union territories under the nazi forces.
Yes it was far better than Eastern Europe but the Germans got downright nasty towards the end not to mention the French collaborators. In the end it was a civil war between French really.
Tell That to the French people who were just picked up, on the Streets, and shot. Or the many Resistance fighters tortured and murdered.
How would you ignorant people, with NO idea of what it was like to live under
Enemy Occupation, have liked to have been surrounded by enemy soldiers every time you tried to just buy bread?? The French suffered greatly and were heroes!!!
A 'paradise' such an ignorant comment. British people may have been through the Blitz but NEVER had to suffer daily life in this way!
If the French people just had decent leadership they would of stopped the Germans cold. Nothing wrong with the french soldier except poor leadership.
Just like in 1870.
I imagine this gentleman felt like the original inhabitants of Algeria, Indochina, and other colonies the French had. Given all the fighting still going on, the world doesn't seemed to have learned much.
Indeed, and at the end of the war they celebrated freedom, and went right back to Indochina. Obviously the logic of it all can easily adapt to the situation you'"re in.
It's the human MIND which becomes what it believes. This mind "captures" attention which is innocent ( as in babies)and creates
our identity, fake - but needed to survive in this world. Our true self is silent BEING.
It's that old Roman pride rearing its ugly head.
None of what happened is to be condoned at all. But,what France did to Germany post ww1 was no different. As punitive if not more so. France occupied Germany and there were rapes of German women. Like I said,none of this is condoned. But,this was due to the treatment of the Germans by the French.
The Germans had destroyed the industrial capacity and the agricultural lands of France during WW1. It was normal that France asked Germany to pay war debts. Do you really think that the occupation of northern France (and also Belgium) was peaceful ?
Do you remember how WW2 started ? Not immediately after the invasion of Czechoslovakia but after the invasion of Poland by the German troops, when the allies started to understand that AH wouldn't stop here. And why did they invade ? To get back territories which had been taken away from them during the Treaty of Versailles. Who was the instigator of that ? Not France, but President Wilson of the USA. Do you really think France was the leader around the table of the Treaty of Versailles ?
The "harsh terms" of the Treaty of Versailles by the French is a pure myth, just another one. The "harsh terms" of the French were never accepted. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were much too lenient and that's why WW2 started.
The "harsh terms" of France in 1919 have been applied in 1945 and Germany never went to war again.
Peace and love !
Gotta love hearing french talk about freedom after all its colonial history that still continues today 🤑
😴😴💤💤💤💤 Boooringggg!!!
its amazing how well Hollywood romanticizes the miniscule French resistence, which was 90% made up of communists, while the French civil service, police, and much of the population collaborated widely with the Germans, even to the point of rounding up the Jews BEFORE the Germans asked them to...see: Drancy.....Meanwhile, heavily stigmatized Poland, had the largest and most successful resistence, made up of Center, left, and right wings. The Polish govt in exile even organzied aid to the Jews, spearheaded by leftists, again, called Zegota. DeGaulle did nothing of the sort...
@John Hailstone DeGaulle does seem to be the most overrated military figure of all time. Some battlefield anecdotes I've heard from soldiers about him didn't paint him in the most positive light
@@stevenspilly DeGaulle was a legend in his own mind.
Poor saoul ! Apparently you don't know that the holocaust in Poland went on even after the departure of the Germans.
@@stevenspilly Disgusting liar ! Even Churchill had respect for him as a military.
It is still better to lose your freedom than to lose your life, as to the curfew, we have the same right now because of covid, it is easy to adapt if you want to, the things you cannot change are not worth worrying about.
i think its better to lose your freedom because if u fight enough you can re-gain your freedom but if u lose life you can't be reborn
@@ashleyserria4633 Yes, many military people say they would rather die than surrender. that's stupid, sometimes it is wise to forget your pride.
Give me liberty or give me death. Live free or die.
@@scottspooner6070 Ridiculous, maybe you would gain your freedom back one year later, still wanna die?
@@rosesprog1722 So for you nothing is worth fighting for? I would fight for my freedom like my Grandfather did. Not just for our freedom but in this case for Europe and the free people of the world. Not ridiculous.
Are we supposed to forget about the 11 year Rhineland occupation by the French after WW1? War happens
Who asked you to forget it?
Et what you say for Alsace Lorraine?
Are we supposed to forget about the two world wars caused by Germany, and all the various crimes perpetrated by the Germans in the process including the greatest mass genocide in the history of mankind? Considering all the harm the german state managed to do to in the 60 years following its creation the french occupation of the Rhineland is just laughable.
Yeah. You know revenge must of been so sweet for Germans after they won the war against France. Just the British should of been fought a defensive war eventually sign a peace deal where you will leave France. Peace for our time