Occupied Paris: when life was "normal..."

A new photography exhibition in Paris shows a milder side of the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, visitors say.

Visitors to "The Parisians Under the Occupation" exhibit by photographer Andre Zucca said the captured images offer a rare take on the brutal forced occupation, one that is without the misery typically associated with the war, the International Herald Tribune reported Friday.

"You can't really feel that it's the occupation," tourist Serge Thilloux said of the exhibit. "You have the impression that people can walk about freely, while today there are plaques around Paris indicating where this or that person was shot."

"It shows how frighteningly normal life was," exhibit visitor Robert Schenker told the Tribune. "With the exception of the Germans in uniform, you can hardly see any difference from daily life now."

Zucca took the photographs while working for the Nazi propaganda magazine Signal and are being presented at a Paris Historical Library annex without any historical information, the newspaper said.

Source: UPI

See some of the images and an article in French here...