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Advice for German-Occupied Nations

Soon after the German occupation of France, 51-year-old Jean Texcier, who worked at
the French Ministry of Trade, created a list of tips for the “occupied population.” He
printed his advice on flyers that were later stuffed into mailboxes, slid under doors, and
placed on chairs in cafes and restaurants:

Street sellers offer [the Germans] maps of Paris and phrasebooks; buses pour
out incessant waves of them in front of Notre-Dame and the Panthéon; there is
not one of them who has not got a camera to his eye. Be under no illusion: they
are not tourists.
They are the victors. Act correctly with them. But don’t go beyond their desires.
Don’t go out of your way.
If one of them speaks to you in German, make a sign of impotence [non-
comprehension], and without remorse be on your way.
If they ask for a light, offer your cigarette. Never, not for a long time, have we
refused a light to anyone—not even to our most mortal enemy.
If they think it useful to spread defeatism among the citizens by offering concerts
in public places, you are not obliged to go. Stay at home, or go to the countryside
to listen to the birds.
Reading our newspapers has never been good if one wanted to learn how to
express oneself correctly in French. Today, the Parisian daily newspapers no
longer even think in French.
Act with total indifference; but nurture secretly your anger. It will be useful [in the
future].
You moan because they ask you to return home at 11 p.m. Don’t you understand
that this means you can listen to English radio?1

A group of young people created a similar flyer in Poland at about the same time. It
included the following advice:

Polish is your mother tongue. You shall not learn the language of the
enemy under the knout. Even if you speak his language, you should
not use it. Do not make the aggressor’s unwanted stay in your
Fatherland any easier. Answer all questions in Polish: “I don’t
understand.” You should not give the enemy an address nor show him
the way (unless it is wrong). Restrain your inborn Polish courtesy and
hospitality. For you, the occupying soldier, the enemy official, and the
 occupier’s celebrations should not exist. Maintain reserve and
seriousness on the streets and in public places, do not laugh or talk
loudly: you might end up in one of the enemy’s perfidious propaganda
films. . . . You are expected neither to deal with nor to provoke the
invader. You should be calm and collected. No laughing. You should
never forget for a moment who has destroyed your country; who has
robbed and murdered your compatriots, who has kicked and abused
your brothers and sisters.2

Citations

1 : Jean Texcier, “Advice to an Occupied Population” (Conseils á l’occupé), July

1940. Quoted in Ronald C. Rosbottom. When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light
Under German Occupation, 1940–1944 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
2014).

2 : Quoted in Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History (New York: Hill
and Wang, 2000), 414.

Connection Questions

1. Compare the two sets of advice given to the occupied populations. Do they have
similar goals?
2. Historian David Drake refers to Texcier’s suggestions for how to live under
German occupation as acts of “passive resistance.” What do you think that
means? What might “passive resistance” accomplish? What is the difference
between “passive” and “active” resistance?
3. What do these pamphlets suggest about the pressures of living in an occupied
country? What do they suggest about the differences between living in occupied
France and occupied Poland?
4. What elements of the pamphlets most stand out to you? In what ways do the
authors of the pamphlets suggest resistance? In what ways do they suggest that
individuals should accommodate the German occupiers by adjusting their own
behavior?

Related Content
https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-8/advice-german-
occupied-nations

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