France - Paris liberation

Paris marks 65th anniversary of liberation from Nazi occupation

Article published on the 2009-08-25 Latest update 2009-08-25 16:27 TU

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy attends a ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation
(Credit: Reuters)

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was on hand at the Paris prefecture on Tuesday to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation. Sarkozy paid tribute to Gerneral Charles De Gaulle. He also hailed "the everyday heroes of the time, for the most part anonymous, citizen of Paris, membes of the Resistance, policemen and soldiers" who battled to liberate Paris.

In Paris, workers will place flowers by thousands of commemorative plaques that have been erected to keep alive the memory of those who suffered.

Half the plaques are from the Parisian uprising of August 1944, where people fought in the streets. They also commemorate General Philippe Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division, who arrived in Paris and helped to liberate the capital.

In order not to forget those who died during this time, Francois Tanniou started a website in 2004 to record all the plaques in Paris connected to the occupation and the liberation.

Plaques include inscriptions such as "Guillois Michel fell here for the liberation on 20 August 1944" and "France Bloch-Serazin, deported resistance member, executed in Hamburg, February 12, 1943."

Tanniou initially registered 600 plaques on the website, but many have contributed photos of plaques in their neighbourhoods, and the site today has a total of 1,060 plaques, including photos and comments.

Also included on the website are placques dedicated to the memory of 12,000 Jewish Parisian students who were deported.