Paris as a Trap? The Organisation of Student Mobility in the Capital during the Second World War

Abstract

While Paris was one of the world’s leading centres of attraction for students, the German occupation considerably changed the situation in terms of academic mobility. In addition to the war itself limiting exchanges, host institutions were weakened or even disappeared. Yet, a stable number of foreign students, often unable to join their relatives, remained in the capital, forced to adapt to this new situation. This article shows how the war, while not entirely eliminating this academic mobility, profoundly modified the organisation of this foreign presence, to the point of changing the social categories of the foreign student, and made the daily life of these young men and women particularly difficult.