Dhe Palace of Versailles shows how one takes on one’s own history and makes it available on the Internet: With its four-part web series “Versailles occupé”, it illuminates episodes of Franco-German history, the time frame of which extends far beyond the four-year occupation during the Second World War . In 1871 the founding of the German Reich was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace, and the Peace Treaty of Versailles was signed there in 1919.
Twenty years later, the “Third Reich” invaded Poland, whereupon France and Great Britain declared war on it. Trenches were dug in the park of Versailles, statues were taken away in crates, others were covered with sandbags. A protective structure made of brick and reinforced concrete was erected over the figures of the famous Apollo chariot in the center of the pool of the same name. The Grand Canal and all basins were emptied to avoid serving as landmarks for the Luftwaffe. Makeshift air raid shelters, for example in the grotto of a bosquet, were intended to protect the few remaining personnel in the event of bombing. Inside, all paneling and bronze decorations were removed and the arched entrances of the Hall of Mirrors were walled up to prevent the fire from spreading in the event of a fire. Many works came carefully packed into the vaulted orangery; the most valuable were transported to remote castles and abbeys.