St. Germain-en-Laye and the Missing Sculpture
If you read the previous post about the photo of the two kids from 1919, you’ll remember that the Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye was signed that same year. The participants of the Paris Peace Conference met and signed the treaty in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The treaty recognized the independence of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary. In addition, it officially ended the Habsburg empire.
St. Germain-en-Laye is French town northwest of Paris with a rich, royal history. During World War II it attracted the Nazi’s, who used the town as a hub for much of the occupation’s operations. If you visit today, there are a twenty-two old, empty bunkers scattered throughout the town. The locals mostly ignore them and there are no plans to remove them. Yet, they serve as an ever present reminder of a time when life in St. Germain-en-Laye was turned upside down by occupying forces.
At the start of World War II, the town had a population around 20,000. When Germany invaded France, it had as many as 10,000 to 15,000 forces within its city limits. The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and many mansions within its borders proved attractive to the Nazi’s. Louis Louis-Dreyfus of the Louis Dreyfus group owned one of those mansions. The Nazi’s confiscated it after he fled. Today, we know his great-granddaughter Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Seinfeld — GET OUT!
As I researched the postcard’s subject for a story, I expected to be sharing St. Germain-en-Laye’s storied history of royalty, noblemen, Napoleon, and others. As things often go, once you start researching something, you end up learning there’s more to the story.
I searched for information on the statue that featured prominently in the postcard, but I ran into one road block after another. The only photos or artist renditions of the statue were all pre-World War II. I found many more old postcards of the scene, but nothing recent.
That’s when I began finding current day photos of the walkway and discovered the statue was no longer there.
My research led me to photographer Pierre Jahan. His photography during the occupation of Nazi forces is remarkable. I knew the Nazi’s destroyed or stole priceless artifacts during the occupation of France, but I didn’t realize the magnitude of the destruction. Nor, had I seen photos of the condemned artifacts.
I urge you to check out Pierre Jahan’s photograph documentation of the occupation. It is powerful. The photos I’m sharing in this post don’t touch the surface of his work.
The sheer volume of statues and sculptures the Nazi’s destroyed during the occupation is staggering. It’s estimated they destroyed some 17,000 artifacts throughout France. If it was bronze, it would be melted. If it was anything else, it would survive at the discretion of the Vichy government and Nazi forces.
Pierre Jahan’s photos don’t reveal the statue I was searching for from the postcard. But, they may have provided us a clue about what happened to it. Was it taken down and destroyed by the invading forces who for a time occupied St. Germain-en-Laye? I don’t have an answer, but the evidence I’ve been able to uncover seems to suggest they did.
If new information comes to my attention, I’ll be sure to provide an update. But, for now this seems to be where the story ends. In a broken, twisted pile of metal as World War II rages on.
Our featured postcard is an old memory of better days in St. Germain-en-Laye.
