A Landscape of Loss: The Furniture Operation and the Geography of Looting and Restitution in Paris, 1942-1946

Shannon Fogg, “A Landscape of Loss: The Furniture Operation and the Geography of Looting and Restitution in Paris, 1942-1946”, Histoire Urbaine 62, 2021, p. 59-78. Dossier special “Persécution des Juifs et espace urbain. Paris 1940-1946”

Presentation

This article draws on information provided in over 5,000 restitution claims related to the looting of private homes in Paris to analyze looting and restitution within the wider context of antisemitic persecution and urban space. It begins by locating the administrative centers of looting and restitution as well as the addresses of looted apartments (as reported by the victims) throughout the city. It then focuses specifically on the 17^th arrondissement, an area not traditionally associated with Jewish life in Paris. Examining these documents reveals the extent of persecution even in ‘‘non-Jewish’’ neighborhoods. Additionally, adjusting the scale of analysis from arrondissement to quartier to street and even to building level reveals insights into the methods and timing of exclusion in Paris, the geographic differences of persecution, and the role of material and social dynamics during the Holocaust.

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