Charles Godefroy flies through Arc de Triomphe, 7th of August 1919, Jacques Mortane

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Charles Godefroy (29 December 1888 at La Flèche (Sarthe) – 11 December 1958 at Soisy-sous-Montmorency, (Val d’Oise), north of Paris) was a French aviator who became famous by his spectacular flight passing through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in 1919.

On 7 August 1919, three weeks after the victory parade, under cover of secrecy and dressed in his warrant officer uniform, Charles Godefroy took off at 7.20 a.m. from the airfield of Villacoublay in a biplane “Nieuport 11 Bébé” (Bébé = baby - because of its low wing span of 24.67 ft / 24’8’’ or 7.52 m). He reached the Porte Maillot shortly thereafter. Coming from the west, he circled the Arc de Triomphe twice and began the approach along the Avenue de la Grande-Armée. He gathered speed and forced the plane down and through the Arc. He did not have much clearance – the width of the Arc is 47.57 ft / 47’6’’ (14.50 m). He passed at a low level over a tram in which passengers threw themselves to the ground, and many passers-by ran away frightened. Godefroy flew over the Place de la Concorde before returning to the airfield, where his mechanic checked over the engine. No one at the airfield had taken any notice of the flight, which had lasted half an hour.

The journalist Jacques Mortane had the whole event filmed and photographed. Articles have been published in many newspapers.The film screening was banned by the Commissioner of Police.Godefroy stayed officially in the background, but his name could not be kept secret for long. The authorities disapproved of the event and were afraid of it being imitated, but Godefroy escaped with only a warning.

Suzanne Landgard

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When Paul and Louise Landy met in 1911 in Paris, they instantly fell in love and soon married. When the war broke out in August 1914, Paul was finishing his military service; he was sent to the front and injured just a few weeks later. After a second injury, in November 1914, he was falsely accused of self-mutilation. He was soon found not guilty and six months later told to return to his unit.

Paul chose instead to become a deserter. Since the sight of a healthy young man in civilian clothes would have looked suspicious on the streets of Paris, Paul changed his identity and became Suzanne Landgard, his wife’s lesbian partner. Although Paul had never before attempted to be a transvestite, he loved his new identity and reveled in the new sexual experiences that came with it.

In 1925, the French state declared a general amnesty for deserters, making it possible for Paul, as Suzanne, to resume his previous identity. His story made national headlines and his life was followed closely by the press. For Paul, the hardest part was becoming a man again. He started to drink heavily, and when drunk he often beat his wife and menaced their infant son. One night, Louise seized a gun, shot, and killed Paul. Following one of the most talked-about trials of the time, Louise was acquitted; she lived until 1981.

theoddmentemporium:

An anti-masturbation device. The rare 19th century item is made of copper and was designed to be worn by boys so they could not commit the ‘sin’. Attached to a belt it would have encased the genitalia. The bizarre antique dates back to around 1880 and was used in Catholic France.

Jeune enfant avec les pigeons de la cour du Louvre : [photographie de presse] / Jacquet

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Louis-Auguste Cyparis

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Ludger Sylbaris (born circa 1875 - died circa 1929), born either August Cyparis or Louis-Auguste Cyparis, was an Afro-Caribbean man who travelled with the Barnum & Bailey circus. He had become something of an early 20th century celebrity for being the (reported) sole survivor of the devastating volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelée on the French-Caribbean island of Martinique on the 8 May 1902. This same eruption completely flattened an entire city, the “Paris of the West Indies”, St. Pierre, and killed an estimated 30-40,000 people.

Expulsion d’Alsace des fonctionnaires allemands et de leurs familles

Colmar

Expulsion from Alsace of German civil servants and their families (Colmar)

 (C) BPK, Berlin, Dist. RMN / Photographe inconnu

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After WW1, the French Government immediately started a Francization campaign in Alsace and Moselle that included the forced deportation of all Germans who had settled in the area after 1870. Around 210 000 German or germanophile Alsacian-Lorrainers left the region. 

For that purpose, the population was divided in four categories, A to D - from A for the ones who would have been French if the annexation hadn’t happened to D for the ones born in Germany or from German parents.

Des policiers municipaux lillois et des gendarmes à cheval sans leur monture se sont saisis d’un manifestant socialiste à Lille, le 1er juillet 1914 (?). Source : BNF, site Gallica, URL : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb404962121. Cette image fixe rend visible l’association de policiers en tenue et en civil à des gendarmes, à Lille, dans un contexte de maintien de l’ordre. Les hommes coiffés de canotiers ou de « melons » sont des inspecteurs « en bourgeois ». Le casque des gendarmes indique leur appartenance à la gendarmerie à cheval

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In Lille, the municipal police and horse riding gendarmes (without their horses) are holding a socialist demonstrator, and shows the cooperation of the two forces in an action to maintain the social order.

Fête du Ramadan [le 1er août 1916 au siège des “Amitiés musulmanes”, 2 rue Le Peletier, Paris 9e] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

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Postcard of a Tuareg displayed with his camel in the 1907 Colonial Exhibition.

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Des soldats français du général Gouraud avec leurs mitrailleuses positionnés dans les ruines d’une église près de la Marne, repoussant l’assaut des allemands. 1918 (date précise inconnue). Central News Photo Service. (War Dept.) NARA FILE #: 165-WW-286-36 WAR & CONFLICT BOOK #: 619

French troopers under General Gouraud, with their machine guns amongst the ruins of a church near the Marne, driving back the Germans. 1918. Central News Photo Service. (War Dept.) Exact Date Shot Unknown NARA FILE #: 165-WW-286-36 WAR & CONFLICT BOOK #: 619

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The Second Battle of the Marne (French: Seconde Bataille de la Marne), or Battle of Reims (15 July-6 August 1918) was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by France overwhelmed the Germans, inflicting severe casualties. It was the turning point of the war in the western front.