Place des Martyrs de l'Occupation Allemande

The square you are entering was once the site of a restaurant called Chez Papa, which served as a critical headquarters for the French Resistance during the Second World War. Resistance fighters operated in secrecy from the back rooms of this establishment, drafting plans and printing illegal tracts to undermine the occupying German forces. When the nightly curfew arrived, these individuals would retreat into the vaulted cellars beneath the building to continue their work away from prying eyes. On March 2, 1944, members of the Comité de libération, a local liberation committee for the northwestern suburbs of Paris, officially formed their organization within those same walls. A copper plaque remains to mark the spot where these men and women organized against the occupation. Eventually, as the local resistance movement expanded in size and danger, the committee shifted its operations to the basement of the former public baths that stood at the same address. This location remains a physical connection to the clandestine efforts that eventually paved the way for the liberation of the region.