Reshaping perceptions of the Second World War in France

Research by Cardiff University shows how individuals’ personal experiences are central to new understandings of this crucial period in history.

Two weeks before COVID-19 sent France into lockdown, a major exhibition was being launched in Paris to critical acclaim.

The subject being covered was the Paris Exodus, a period of the Second World War that had, until now, been overlooked. Research by Cardiff University's Professor Hanna Diamond has helped change that.

In June 1940 two million frightened men, women and children fled Paris in just a few days, after word spread that the Germans were advancing on the French capital. They joined six million other refugees already on the road. It was an unprecedented flight of people to the south and west of the country.

But although it was an event that would be etched in the memories of those who experienced it, it became buried in France’s consciousness, superseded in the media and in history books by the Occupation of the country by the Germans, which followed.

The exhibition at the newly opened Museum of the Liberation of Paris – Museum of General Leclerc – Jean Moulin Museum was a highlight of Professor Diamond’s extensive research into the Second World War, specifically looking at the individual experiences of those who lived through it.