The North of France under the Occupation, 1940-1944
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From the invasion to the liberation, a little known part of history ...
	1. The violence of the invasion 2. A particular status 3. A harsh occupation 4. The problems of daily life 5. The refusal to collaborate 6. The persecution of the Jews 7. The Resistance in the Nord—Pas-de-Calais 8. Waiting for the Normandy landings 9. A lightning liberation

A harsh occupation

Notice of the requisition of a school by the occupying army (August 1940).

Because of its geographical closeness to England, the Nazis’ toughest enemy, the Nord—Pas-de-Calais found itself in a war zone.

The German military presence was much greater there than in the rest of the French territory. This was especially so in the summer of 1940, during the preparations for a landing in Great Britain which never took place, and in 1943-1944, when the Pas-de-Calais coastline became the most important zone in the "Atlantic Wall", the spot where everybody was waiting for the Allies to land.

This massive troop presence resulted in an enormous number of requisitions (lodgings, horses, forage, etc.) and bullying. The living conditions of the civilian population in the "red zone", demarcated along the coast, were particularly hard.

Patrol of fast German launches in the straits of the Pas-de-Calais.	German parade on the Grand’place in Béthune.

German soldiers posing in front of the requisitioned house where they were lodging (Pas-de-Calais, 1943).	German soldiers in a street in the centre of Lille.

Notice announcing the requisition of radio sets by the occupying forces (April 1944).	Poster for an art exhibition designed for the German soldiers, in Lille (1941).

The occupying forces methodically pillaged the resources of the land and of the industry. Most of the metallurgical, chemical and textile production was exported to Germany.

Drawing done by a young inhabitant of Lille, showing various elements of the army of occupation in the streets of his town.

However, it was the pillaging of manpower that was felt the hardest: workers rounded up from the end of 1940, work on the Todt Organisation’s sites, implementation of the STO (obligatory work service) which forced thousands of young people to go to Germany.