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Paris WWII Occupation and Liberation Walking Tour
Paris, Île-de-France, France, Europe
$46.77
This is an experience gift voucher. The recipient will book the experience after
they redeem the gift voucher.
Overview
Between June 1940 and August 1944, Paris lived under Nazi occupation. This walking tour retraces that story where it happened, from the fall of the city to its liberation.
Meet at 11 Rue des Saussaies, former Gestapo headquarters, where prisoners' carved inscriptions still survive. Walk to Place de la Concorde, site of the 1940 German parade and bullet scars from 1944, facing the Hôtel de Crillon, requisitioned from day one of the Occupation. At Place Vendôme, hear how Göring settled into the Ritz amid looted art, alongside Coco Chanel. On Rue de Rivoli, stop at Hôtel Le Meurice, where General von Choltitz defied Hitler's order to burn Paris.
Pass the Louvre, emptied of its masterpieces before the invasion, where curator Rose Valland secretly tracked the looting of Jewish-owned art. Your guide shows archival photos of each spot as it looked in 1940–44.
The tour ends at the Préfecture de Police, birthplace of the 19 August 1944 uprising, near the scarred Saint-Michel fountain.
Meet at 11 Rue des Saussaies, former Gestapo headquarters, where prisoners' carved inscriptions still survive. Walk to Place de la Concorde, site of the 1940 German parade and bullet scars from 1944, facing the Hôtel de Crillon, requisitioned from day one of the Occupation. At Place Vendôme, hear how Göring settled into the Ritz amid looted art, alongside Coco Chanel. On Rue de Rivoli, stop at Hôtel Le Meurice, where General von Choltitz defied Hitler's order to burn Paris.
Pass the Louvre, emptied of its masterpieces before the invasion, where curator Rose Valland secretly tracked the looting of Jewish-owned art. Your guide shows archival photos of each spot as it looked in 1940–44.
The tour ends at the Préfecture de Police, birthplace of the 19 August 1944 uprising, near the scarred Saint-Michel fountain.
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Standard Group (2 hours)
Duration: 2 hours: 2-hour guided walk from Place de la Concorde to Place Saint-Michel.
Duration: 2 hours: 2-hour guided walk from Place de la Concorde to Place Saint-Michel.
Tour guide
Language: English
Human tour guide
Duration: 2 hours
- Guided walking tour in English
- Professional local guide
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Entrance to any monument or museum (not required)
Meeting point
Meet your guide at 11 rue des Saussaies in front of Ministry of the interior.
Return details
- Once the headquarters of the Gestapo in Paris, this building was used to interrogate and torture members of the French Resistance. Inscriptions carved into the walls by prisoners can still be seen today, silent traces of what took place inside. (pass by)
- Requisitioned by the German army from the very first days of the Occupation in June 1940, the Crillon served as a Wehrmacht headquarters overlooking Place de la Concorde, placing the occupier's command post at the heart of the city it now controlled. (pass by)
- Home to the Ritz, this elegant square became a symbol of the Occupation's excess: Hermann Göring stayed here while looting art across France, and Coco Chanel lived under the same roof throughout the war, a controversial chapter in her story. (pass by)
- Requisitioned in part by the German high command, the Ritz became a stage for the Occupation's contradictions: Hermann Göring installed himself here amid looted artworks, while Coco Chanel lived on through the war in her suite upstairs, her wartime conduct still debated today. (pass by)
- Headquarters of the German military governor of Paris, the Meurice is where General Dietrich von Choltitz, defying Hitler's direct order to burn the city, chose to spare Paris rather than leave it in ruins. (pass by)
- Under its arcades, daily life carried on in the shadow of Occupation: German soldiers strolled past shop windows, propaganda posters lined the walls, and the street's grand hotels and buildings had, one by one, been requisitioned to house the machinery of German rule over Paris. (pass by)
- Anticipating the invasion, museum director Jacques Jaujard organized the evacuation of the Louvre's masterpieces to châteaux across the countryside in 1939, leaving its galleries stripped bare throughout the Occupation. His quiet defiance, alongside curator Rose Valland's secret work, helped ensure the museum's collections survived the war intact. (pass by)
- On 19 August 1944, police officers here raised the tricolour flag and took up arms against the German occupier, sparking the uprising that ignited the Battle for the Liberation of Paris just days before Allied troops entered the city. (pass by)
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You choose from 10,000+ experience gifts
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We deliver the eVoucher or the Physical box to the recipient
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Recipient books the experience and creates unforgettable memories!
Paris WWII Occupation and Liberation Walking Tour
Paris, Île-de-France, France, Europe
$46.77
This is an experience gift voucher. The recipient will book the experience after
they redeem the gift voucher.
How it works?
01
—
You choose from 10,000+ experience gifts
02
—
We deliver the eVoucher or the Physical box to the recipient
03
—
Recipient books the experience and creates unforgettable memories!