HITLER MADE 3 HOUR TOUR OF PARIS 75 YEARS AGO TODAY
Paris, France (JFK+50) Seventy-five years ago today, June 23, 1940, Adolf Hitler made his first and only tour of Paris. The visit came the day following the signing of an armistice between the Third Reich and German-occupied France.
According to the "Murder is Everywhere" website, there is a controversy regarding the date of the visit because architect Albert Speer, who was with Hitler on the trip, gave the date in his memoirs as June 28th. MIE verifies that the visit was on a Sunday which would have fallen on June 23rd in 1940 and two other members of Hitler's group confirmed the visit was on the 23rd.
There is also some disagreement on just how impressed the Fuhrer was with the city. According to the History Channel, Hitler was "so impressed" that he would have Speer begin plans on a massive building program in Berlin. Speer's own memoir, however, indicates that Hitler "showed no interest in the most beautiful" architecture of Paris.
Hitler was only in Paris for about 3 hours, but that was long enough for him to order the destruction of two French World War I monuments.
Among the sites Hitler visited that day were Opera Garnier, Champs-Elysses, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
SOURCES
"Hitler takes a tour of Paris," This Day in History, June 23, The History Channel, www.history.com/
"Hitler's Tour of Paris," Murder is Everywhere, www.murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/
"Hitler Tours Paris: June 23, 1940," Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/
Paris, France (JFK+50) Seventy-five years ago today, June 23, 1940, Adolf Hitler made his first and only tour of Paris. The visit came the day following the signing of an armistice between the Third Reich and German-occupied France.
According to the "Murder is Everywhere" website, there is a controversy regarding the date of the visit because architect Albert Speer, who was with Hitler on the trip, gave the date in his memoirs as June 28th. MIE verifies that the visit was on a Sunday which would have fallen on June 23rd in 1940 and two other members of Hitler's group confirmed the visit was on the 23rd.
There is also some disagreement on just how impressed the Fuhrer was with the city. According to the History Channel, Hitler was "so impressed" that he would have Speer begin plans on a massive building program in Berlin. Speer's own memoir, however, indicates that Hitler "showed no interest in the most beautiful" architecture of Paris.
Hitler was only in Paris for about 3 hours, but that was long enough for him to order the destruction of two French World War I monuments.
Among the sites Hitler visited that day were Opera Garnier, Champs-Elysses, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
SOURCES
"Hitler takes a tour of Paris," This Day in History, June 23, The History Channel, www.history.com/
"Hitler's Tour of Paris," Murder is Everywhere, www.murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/
"Hitler Tours Paris: June 23, 1940," Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/
Adolf Hitler in Paris*
June 23, 1940
Office of War Information
NARA Image
*Pictured with AH are Albert Speer (left) & Arno Breker (right)
