Tourist intervention: Americans in post-war Paris

Abstract

The article tells about the so-called “war tourism” in 1944-1945, about the reasons for the tourist boom in 1948-1949, analyzes the social and professional composition of visiting U.S. citizens, their impressions of the capital of France. After the Liberation, in 1944-1945, some American commanders and journalists were based in Paris, and U.S. Army soldiers visited the city while on leave. The living conditions of Americans in hungry and cold Paris were much more comfortable than those of the locals. The soldiers made good money selling scarce items on the black market. Over the next few years, the flow of Americans to Paris increased due to the devaluation of the franc and cheaper transportation costs. Americans did not visit Paris just to see the sights. Many came to work, to study in French educational institutions, or for permanent residence. As separate types of tourism can be distinguished gastronomic tourism and shopping tourism, when people came for luxury goods and fashionable novelties of French couturiers. Paris attracted African Americans who dreamed of freedom from racial discrimination and hoped to find a decent job or realize their creative potential here.