What does that mean?
This page will be updated with annotations to the script explaining historical references, etc.
- Ici Londres (pg 3): a radio program made by Frenchpeople in exile in London to pass secret messages and hope along to their Occupied countrypeople. The name of the program literally translates to "this is London."
- Daybreak (pg 4): 1939 French Film, banned by the Vichy government for being "demoralizing". In it, the main character shoots himself in the heart rather than be taken by police. The main character had previously killed the lover of the woman he was in love with. (x)
- Radio Paris(pg 5): A radio station that had been nationalized in 1933 (before the war) and was taken over by the Nazis in 1940. The voice we hear, Phillippe Henriot, was the "spokesman" for the Vichy government. Henriot was also called the "French Goebbels" (after Hitler's head of propaganda).
- Vichy (pg 5): The French State, relocated across the demarcation line from Paris to the town of Vichy. The Vichy government, lead by Philippe Petain, cooperated with the Germans in exchange for more leniency with Nazi.
- The Marseillaise (pg 5): The national anthem of France.
- The Internationale (pg 5): A socialist anthem written by a Frenchman.
- Mother Russia (pg 6): A term popularized in pop culture during the Soviet Union. Ironically, there is no word in Russian for "motherland" - the most common word is 'rodina', which translates to 'birth land'.
- De Gaulle (pg 6): A general who was exiled almost as soon as Petain's government took hold. He quickly became a figurehead for the French resistance and started Ici Londres from London.
- Winston Churchill (pg 6): Prime minster of England from 1940-1945. His lack of military support for the Resistance frustrated many of the brave people who risked their lives daily on the ground.
- Athos (pg 8): A mountain god from Greek mythology. Read more here and here.
- Porthos (pg 8): As the script says, Porthos is a name associated with gaiety and passionate love.
- Aramis (pg 8): As the script says, a king who abdicated his throne.
- Prefecture of Police (pg 10): A place where captured spies and other undesirables were held by the Nazis and their collaborators.
- Tacitus, the Germania (pg 12): Publius Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian, wrote this history of the early Germans at the end of the 1st century CE. It was as much a commentary on Rome as it was on Germany. Read it here.
- Otto von Stulpnagel (pg 13): Monocole-wearing general of French Occupation, he had supported Hitler from the get-go and was responsible for thousands of deaths.
- Marshall Petain (pg 13): The leader of Nazi-controlled Vichy France. Widely despised as a collaborator. Petain was also the one who surrendered France to the Nazis.
- The Special Brigades (pg 14): This was a French police force that specialized in tracking down internal threats to the Nazi regime.
- Great War (pg 17): What World War I was called before World War II was declared, so called because it was the most devastating war in memory. It was also called the World War, but Great War was more common.
- barley water (pg 18): Parisians lived under strict rationing, with very few luxuries unless they bought from the black market.
- Annam (pg 19): The name for the region of Vietnam that was a French Protectorate. It was first "protected" by the French in 1883 and remained a French property until after WWII.
- Coal miners in the strike (pg 19): Planchet refers to a strike that happened in 1941. The short version is that Germans abolished breaks, lengthened hours, and cut wages while they tried to get more coal for the war effort. In May of 1941, the miners fought back, eventually costing the war effort 500,000 tons of coal. The longer version is here.
- The Maquis (pg 20): The maquis (maquisards) were guerrilla fighters who carried out stealth attacks on German forces. The word 'maquis' actually refers to scrubby underbrush, aka where the Maquisards would launch attacks from.
- The Youth Battalion (pg 21): Also known as "Battalions de la Jeunesse", it was established in 1920 as a way to introduce youth to communism. Click here for more information.
- The novitiate (pg 22): Ever seen the Sound of Music? Maria is a novice, in training to become a nun. The requirements of the novitiate, or training program, vary order to order, but the novitiate typically lasts two years while novices pray and study.
- Arrondissements (pg 23): A district of Paris. See the maps under the "Paris" tab.
- Dot one/dash five (pg 35): A radio code.
- Preparing the velodrome (pg 46): Richelieu refers to a true terrible thing that happened. Over 12,000 Jewish citizens were shipped from the velodrome out to concentration camps.
- Allons enfants de la patrie... (pg 48): This is the Marseillaise. English translation and tune available here.
- Avenue Foch (pg 49): 84 Avenue Foch was the headquarters of the counter-intelligence branch of the SS during WWII. Captured Frenchpeople were interrogated here.
- Major Lischka (pg 49): Kurt Lischka was an SS member who specialized in "the Jewish Question." He was also the commander of police in Occupied France.
- Plus the refugees (pg 58): This could refer just to refugees from the war front in France who fled south to escape violence. It could also refer to the refugees (mostly Jews) who fled Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany to get away from the Reich.
- Amo amas amat amamus (pg 68): Conjugations of the Latin verb "amare", which means "to love". A direct translation of the line is: "I love, you love, he/she/they loves, we love".
- Third Reich invasion of Greece (pg 77): By early 1941, the Nazis and their allies (mainly Italy) held all the major cities in Greece. They would occupy Greece for four years.
- Gestapo Number (pg 79): A number issued by the Nazi government that gave foreigners the rights of a Reich citizen.