Four-Year Investigation Uncovers Photographer Who Took 700 Images of Nazi Occupied France

A years-long investigation has uncovered the identity of a photographer who risked his life taking hundreds of pictures of Nazi Occupied France — and paid the price for it.

In April 2020, an album containing hundreds of photos of daily life during the German Nazi occupation of Paris from 1940 to 1942 was discovered in a flea market in Barjac in Gard, France.

Le Monde journalist Philippe Broussard began a four-year-long investigation to discover the mysterious photographer who took at least 700 pictures of Paris during the first two years of the Occupation — a time when unauthorized photography was banned by the Nazis.

In a series of articles for Le Monde published this summer, Broussard revealed how his investigation identified a man named Raoul Minot as the heroic photographer of this unprecedented collection.

Minot, who was born on September 28, 1893 in Montluçon, central France, was an amateur photographer who risked his life to take pictures of the Nazi occupation — ultimately paying the price for his bravery.

Minot worked as a handkerchief salesman at the Parisian department store Au Printemps. However, in his spare time, Minot was passionate about photography and regularly took pictures of his wife Marthe Bedos and their daughter Jacqueline.

However, when the Nazis began their occupation of France in 1940, Minot took over a thousand photographs of day-to-day life in Paris.

The Nazis had made unauthorized photography illegal in France and taking such images could lead to the death penalty.

According to Le Monde, Minot used a “little Kodak Brownie 6/9 camera” and developed prints using the photographic laboratory of the department store where he worked.

Minot’s photos capture wartime Paris and its nearby suburbs, filled with Nazi soldiers occupying the capital.

Some images depict buildings and streets while others show military equipment, propaganda posters, and anti-German inscriptions in the city.

Minot would sell hundreds of his images to Louis Juven — an occasional agent of the French Resistance (a collection of groups that fought the Nazi occupation during the Second World War).

However, Minot’s courageous photographic mission came to an end just two years later in November 1942 when an unidentified informer reported his activities to the Nazis.

Following an investigation, Minot was imprisoned the next year and deported to Mauthausen concentration camp in upper Austria on April 20, 1943, to perform labor.

Minot was later sent to Flossenbürg concentration camp in Bavaria. The photographer was later liberated by the by the U.S. on April 23, 1945.

However, tragically, Minot died just a few days later, on April 28, 1945, at the hospital in Cham, Bavaria.

Broussard says he was blown away by Minot’s life and images. The journalist questions how his legacy and identity remained unknown for over 80 years.

Minot accomplished an incredible feat with his images — especially given that many of the images that exist today of Paris between 1940 to 1942 are solely Nazi propaganda.

According to Le Monde, on September 11, 2024, Minot was awarded the honor of “Mort pour le France” (Died for France) — a posthumous recognition of his sacrifice in the service of France.

 
Image credits: Header photo via Service historique de la défense/ Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0.