Chapter 8: War and Resistance - Cafés Under Occupation

The German occupation of 1940-1944 threatened to destroy café culture. Coffee became scarce, replaced by ersatz made from chicory and acorns. Many cafés closed or were requisitioned by German forces. The iconic terraces disappeared behind blackout curtains.

Yet cafés played crucial roles in the Resistance. Their public nature provided perfect cover for clandestine meetings. Messages were passed in sugar packets, plans sketched on paper napkins. The backrooms of cafés hid printing presses and weapons. Some café owners paid the ultimate price—the Germans executed the owner of Café de Flore's competitor, Brasserie Lipp, for Resistance activities.

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir made Café de Flore their headquarters during the occupation, partly because it had a wood stove. Here, surrounded by German officers, they wrote works that would define existentialism. The café as a space for intellectual resistance became part of French national mythology.