The Search for the Mystery Man Who Took These Forbidden Photos of Nazi-Occupied Paris

In 2020, Stéphanie Colaux discovered an album of photos of Nazi-occupied Paris at a French flea market.

“As I flipped through the pages I realized, my God, it’s all scenes of [Nazi] occupied Paris. And I knew I’d found a treasure,” she says. “And then I read the little note in the front. ‘If you find this album,’ it said, ‘take care of it and have the courage to look at it.’ I thought, someone sent a message in a bottle and I just found it.”

The discovery set off a hunt for the unknown photographer, who took the photos at the risk of their own life — the unauthorized taking of such photos was “punishable by imprisonment or death”. The story of the search is very much worth reading.

Adding to the intrigue were the captions on the back of the photos, written in block letters as if someone were trying to mask their handwriting. Not only was the location, date and exact time of day noted, but there was also often a snarky caption about the German soldiers, whom the photographer referred to, pejoratively, as “Fritzes.”

One read: “After 10 months of Occupation, the Fritzes still can’t find their way around Paris.”

“The words are very sarcastic,” Broussard says. “There is a kind of irony. For example, he says ‘our protectors.’”

• Nazis
• Paris
• photography
• Raoul Minot
• Stéphanie Colaux
• war
• World War II