Sardines Are Not For Sale Today
 A STREET PROTEST IN OCCUPIED PARIS


On Mother's Day in 1942, a corner shop in Occupied Paris became the site of a memorable protest. At a time when collaborationist, government-enforced rationing and hunger were rampant, an organized group of women stormed that shop, and Paula Schwartz's expert exploration of their protest actions, Today Sardines Are Not for Sale, places their protest in context-introducing the players involved and considering their legacy more than seventy years later.
The women who led the French Communist Party-organized protest took tins of sardines and distributed them to people in line while their supporters chanted support. Men tasked with protecting the women clashed with the police; some were arrested, and later executed, after two policemen were killed in the conflict.

The book emphasizes the importance of the event being led by women; the firsthand account of its lead organizer, Madeleine Marzin, informs its research. These and other participants are fascinating in their own rights; an account of Marzin's daring escape from custody, and underground life during the remainder of the war, holds attention.
Excerpted review by  BY Jeff Fleischer for FOREWARD REVIEWS
VEL d'HIV
Originally scheduled for July 14 even the Nazis thought it inappropriate.

Beginning in the early morning hours of July 16, 1942, and lasting for two days, the French police went beyond Nazi ordinances and took it upon themselves to arrest and imprison more than 13,000 Jews at a Paris sporting arena, the Vélodrome d'Hiver. For most of the Jews, this detention without water, food, or sleep was the first horrific step toward death in the concentration camps. 

16 juillet 1942, la rafle du Vel d'Hiv | Archive INA
16 juillet 1942, la rafle du Vel d'Hiv | Archive INA

Monsieur Klein

In Nazi-occupied Paris  art dealer, Robert Klein buys priceless art at cut rate prices from Jews escaping Paris. He leads a life of luxury, until a copy of a Jewish newspaper brings him to the attention of the police, linking him with a mysterious doppelgänger. Will Mr Klein clear his name?

Alain Delon felt it so important that this film be made that he fronted most of the production costs.

Monsieur Klein - Bande annonce HD VFSTA (Version restaurée)
Monsieur Klein - Bande annonce HD VFSTA (Version restaurée)

Readers Comments

"I have always imagined that Paradise would be a kind of library"
Jorge Luis Borges

What are you reading?

Hey T-that is one fabulous book! (CITIZENS) 

Almost 800 pages long but tres fascinant. If you haven't read it , do so. Puts a whole new prospective on the French . In my opinion the Revolution is still affecting the French to this day!
��������June , Houston





Share your latest reading experience, perhaps with a two paragraph review
If you are not currently receiving Thursday's WEEK-ENDER please subscribe at
paris-expat.com  and start receiving my personal guide to weekend  pleasures .