Mysteries in the Archives

1944: De Gaulle in Liberated Paris (1x2)

Air date: Jul 17, 2009

This episode of the "Mysteries in the Archives" collection is devoted to the triumphal disembarkation by General Charles de Gaulle on the event of the Liberation of Paris. In the early afternoon of August 26 1944, after four years of German occupation de Gaulle strides gallantly down the celebrated Avenue des Champs Elysees. Arriving in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, shots ring out. Renowned cameraman Gaston Madru filmed several minutes of the fire fight in front of Notre Dame and the start of panic in the crowd, but most of his footage was long forgotten, or lost. Or had they been intentionally forgotten? These unpublished images were recently found, testifying to this event that General De Gaulle had wished to downplay at the time. How could that have happened? What does his footage reveal of the gun fire – as well as other moments during that famous day?