The Local France

Germany hands back Nazi-looted artwork to French heirs

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 10:19:28 +0200

Germany on Wednesday returned a painting looted by the Nazis which ended up in the spectacular art hoard of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Third Reich-era art dealer, to the family of a French real estate broker.

1,800 evacuated as France defuses British WWII bomb

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 18:07:16 +0200

Some 1,800 people were ordered to evacuate their homes in northwest France on Sunday as a bomb squad defused a British bomb from World War II, officials said.

Last survivor of famed immigrant French Resistance group dies at 101

Mon, 06 Aug 2018 10:25:07 +0200

The last surviving member of a group of immigrant workers who courageously resisted the Nazi occupation of France during World War II has died at the age of 101, his family said Sunday.

French navy defuses WWII shell on Riviera beach

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 10:38:28 +0200

French navy divers on Thursday defused an unexploded World War II shell found in the sea near a popular beach in the southern city of Cannes, police said.

Trudeau says 'Canada was born here' during commemorative visit to France

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 11:06:00 +0200

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country "was born here" as he led commemorations in France on Sunday for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

France awards top honour to UK veterans

Fri, 05 Jun 2015 10:36:46 +0200

France presented 19 of Britain's famous "Chelsea Pensioners" with the Legion d'Honneur at a ceremony in London on Thursday, recognising their role in liberating France during World War II.

France to honour four French Resistance heros

Wed, 27 May 2015 10:24:55 +0200

Four heros of the French Resistance will be honoured with a burial at the Pantheon mausoleum in Paris on Wednesday. Although two of the coffins will remain empty after objections from family members.

Paris to honour 70th anniversary of liberation

Mon, 18 Aug 2014 17:03:00 +0200

Tuesday starts a week of events to mark the 70th anniversary of Paris’s liberation from four years of Nazi occupation. The Local looks back at the retaking of the City of Light in August 1944, which in true French fashion began with a strike.

The 'forgotten' invasion of southern France

Fri, 08 Aug 2014 14:42:00 +0200

Friday August 15th will mark the 70th anniversary of the allied landings on the beaches of southern of France. Anita Rieu-Sicart looks back at a crucial operation, dubbed "The Forgotten Campaign", that is often overlooked because of the Normandy landings.

Parachutists fill the skies to mark D-Day landings

Mon, 09 Jun 2014 12:21:00 +0200

Nearly 900 European and American military parachutists filled the skies above Normandy on Sunday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Paris 'invites' the Queen, Obama for D-Day service

Wed, 27 Nov 2013 13:09:00 +0100

French President François Hollande is set to invite 16 world leaders to next summer’s 70th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings, including US President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, according to reports on Wednesday.

Churchill feared France would declare war on UK

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 09:38:00 +0100

A 1940 telegram sold at auction in London on Sunday revealed that British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill feared France was about declare war on Britain, after a naval skirmish off the coast of Algeria.

Uproar over French wind park plan for D-Day sites

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:56:00 +0200

A controversy is brewing over plans to construct 75 windmills in Normandy, next to the site of the D-Day landings in WWII. Opponents of the French project say the windpark would be an act of desecration.

Daughter finds remains of resistance fighter

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:27:28 +0200

A woman has discovered the remains of her father, a WWII Belgian resistance fighter, 68 years after he was shot by the Nazis.

96-year-old WWII resistance fighter dies

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:58:00 +0200

Former resistance fighter Lise London, the widow of Arthur London who wrote "The Confession" about his 1951 Stalinist show trial, died on Saturday, aged 96, the French Communist party said Sunday.