In June 1940 Paris fell & the citys lights went out. The worlds cultural capital had become the Nazis greatest prize. Following its cultural tradition from the century before
- having given birth to major artistic movements like Impressionism Cubism & Surrealism
- Paris remained home to the greatest artists writers & composers from Joyce to Picasso. After the invasion of France many artists fled & those still in Paris had to survive: Matisse kept out of view but Picasso could not avoid Nazi visitors. A few like Beckett joined the Resistance. Some were arrested & died in German hands. Others entertained the enemy. Maurice Chevalier & Edith Piaf sang the dancing girls returned the opera & theatres reopened the movie cameras rolled galleries sold paintings looted from Jewish families pro-German writers & their rivals fought in print. Told through the experiences of renowned creative figures & witnesses of the times & the Show Went On provides the authoritative account of how Pariss artistic world lived through the German Occupation. From the desperation of defeat to the heights of creativity this is a moving history of survival collaboration & resistance.