Coping, resisting, collaborating: Artists and intellectuals in Nazi-occupied Paris, with Alan Riding, author of And The Show Went On
in conversation with Pamela DruckermanWhen German tanks rolled into Paris in 1940, they conquered the cultural center of the Western world. It was the era of Picasso and Piaf, Sartre and Malraux, Colette and Némirovsky. And it was a city where, since the time of Voltaire, the intellectuel engagé has shaped the national thinking on political events. How did Paris’ great writers, painters, musicians and actors respond to the long German occupation? Did continuing to publish and produce art necessarily entail collaboration? Do artists and writers have a special duty to show moral leadership in moments of national trauma?
Alan Riding, former Paris bureau chief and European cultural correspondent of The New York Times, is the author of And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-occupied Paris. A Brazilian-born Briton, he became intrigued by the political role of writers and intellectuals while covering Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, a period when most countries there were under dictatorships, and many artists were forced into exile, persecuted or silenced. Riding is very involved with the NGO La Korsa, which works in health, education and farming in Senegal.
Pamela Druckerman is the author of five books, including the forthcoming rhyming picture book for children Paris by Phone.
