France

Daily Life in the early 40s The women replaced their husbands,  gone for to War, for their work. In the War, the role of the women was very important. Don’t mind if they had a hard work, like agriculture. They had to  perform their duties as housewives too. They needed to take care of their children. they had to do everything at home and outside home. So their lives were hard but they did it. That’s why nowadays, our generation is grateful. If they hadn’t been there the story would not have been like that and maybe more traumatizing. During a bombing, people who were on trains or boats to be sent in free zones (village , city areas ). The poorest were often separated for then grouped to their destination, while the richest were evacuated via private means of transport. School groups and families were separeted during the transfer of mainlines trains ti loal transport. Transport often he spread of certain Kid’s disease especially. Paris is the seat between 1939 and 1940 and between 1943 and 1945 the National Broadcasting. Paris has a role radio propaganda. During the war, how to reduce distractions but are still present. Cinemas, cabarets or the restaurant stay open. Cabarets are often frequented by Germans seeking to be entertained. There were in Paris a hundred of these cabarets, some of whom were themselves bilingual.

It is organized exhibitions Speaking of propaganda but also Jews and the genocide they face. It is also organized horse racing (Longchamp) but racing Vel D'Hiv bicycles before it became the place of transfer of Jews. Recreation is not changed daily too. So called STO, ‘’Service du Travail Obligatoire’’ means in English Compulsory Work Service. All French men who were capable to work and who weren’t soldiers were forced by the Nazis to work in Germany in factories, in agriculture railways etc. 650,000 French people were brought to Germany between June 1942 and July 1944. During the second world war , people needed rationing tickets in order to buy food but they had to wait for many hours and hours in front of a shop , and when their turn came , there wasn’t anything left! There was also the black out : people weren’t allowed to  go out  at night ( 7hPM) or early the morning and after a special hour, listening  to the radio is prohibited. Also, they used coded messages so that  German people couldn’t understand ( communicate secret information, to prepare a resistance operation ) on the BBC ( a London radio). Many personal messages were also exchanged .

Rationing in WWII, blackouts and shelters

Rationing

Before the Second World War began, France imported about 53 million tons of food from many different countries every year. Everyone was issued with a ration book containing coupons that had to be handed to the shop keeper when buying goods. Bacon, butter and sugar were the first foods to be rationed, followed by others such as meat, eggs, cheese and milk.  Potatoes, fruit and fish were not rationed. To buy restricted foods, people handed their ration book to the shop keeper. They removed the coupons and took the appropriate amount of money. People were encouraged to grow their own food.  The ‘dig for victory’ campaign asked every man, woman and child to keep an allotment. Gardens and parks were used to grow vegetables to eat at home.  Children were encouraged to get involved by digging and planting seeds. Scraps of food were kept to feed to pigs and other animals.  Kitchen waste was kept in big bins and collected to feed the animals. Clothing rationing began in June 1941.  There was a shortage of cloth to make clothes so people were encouraged to ‘make do and mend’. To buy new clothes people used coupons as well as money.  Every person had a clothes ration book which allowed them one new outfit a year. In France during the second world war, the petrol rationing consisted in having petrol despite the war and the shortage. To have petrol you have to give a ticket  to a trader.

The blackout during the second world war

What did the blackout consist in? The population had to be submitted at new laws and constraints. Among these constraints was the blackout. It was a means for Germans to deprive French people of their liberties. Each night from 10.00 pm to 6.00 am people weren’t allowed to get out of their house and they had to turn off all the lights of the town and they had to cover up the windows and doors at night with black material and in the train bulbs where painted in blue. For what? It was a means for Germans to prevent  actions of the Resistance and this was to make it difficult for German bombers to find their target in the dark. If ever someone was founded in the town he was arrested immediately. During the night,  there were German  patrols and if someone wanted to move in  town  he  had to get  special documents.  

Shelters         

An air shelter is a shelter that  was used in case of an air raid enemy or bombings. The buildings of these air shelters were more and more numerous in Germany. Following initial raids in the country, ADOLF HITLER set up “the sofort programm” ( programme imédiat). There are some famous air shelters:

L'abri des Feuillantines dit "abri Laval„, L'abri de Montparnasse, L'abri Sainte-Anne. These air shelters are situated in Paris. If air shelters didn’t exist, this man would be dead.

The children in the Second World War

For many of them, it was a period of family separation. For some of them, it was a time of deep loss. Nearly two million children were evacuated from their homes at the beginning of the Second World War. They were evacuated to the countryside to escape the bombings. Children experienced a restricted diet because of rationing. Thousands of Jewish children, were pursued to be murdered with their parents or the other Jews were sent to extermination camps in Europe under the Nazi domination. 220,000 Jews and approximately 70,000 children under age 18 escaped the deportations in France during the German occupation. We estimate that 60,000 children were saved. Most of these children who were pursued by the police of Vichy, and the Gestapo, were hidden.