Sharing stories of occupied Europe

In June 1940, a momentous event took place in French history that until recently had been largely overlooked.

During the Second World War, as Hitler’s advancing armies approached Paris, the French government abandoned the city and its people, leaving behind them an atmosphere of panic. Roads heading south filled with nearly two million ordinary people fleeing for their lives.

Now a new interactive website has been unveiled that enables users to share their experiences from this significant event.

Fleeing Hitler

The website, entitled Fleeing Hitler, is devoted to the experiences of men, women and children who escaped Paris in 1940.

It was created by Dr Hanna Diamond who has a passionate interest for how digital technology can enhance the way readers and users engage with history.

The idea for the website came about through the many readers of Dr Diamond’s book entitled Fleeing Hitler: France 1940 (OUP, 2007). Many readers wrote to Dr Diamond offering their extraordinary and moving stories about their own family experiences in that period.

Having wished she had seen many of these stories before writing the book, Hanna now hopes the website will act as a forum for these stories, photographs and documents to be posted and discussed.

So far, some accounts have been made by people who experienced these events when they were themselves young children; others have been contributed by the friends and relatives of those who found themselves caught up in these traumatic events and sent me these memoirs and family accounts.

It has been vital to collect the testimonies of those who experienced first-hand the events of this period, as this furthers our understanding these historic events. The website can now form part of a living history.