VE Day, 75 years ago today, marked the end of WW2 in Europe. But for many, the beginning of the end had started some months earlier: "On 18 August the Cartier firm closed until further notice," the head Cartier Paris salesman wrote in 1944. "The Germans occupied the Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries and fired on all the passers-by who wanted to cross over."
A few days later, the French Resistance and Allies advanced into Paris under the cover of darkness. Arriving at the Hôtel de Ville shortly before midnight, they hoped to free the city from occupation but for those living there, the outcome remained uncertain: "We are currently living in historic hours. There is a lot of damage everywhere and yesterday evening the Germans sent us their bombing planes. There was light in the street at 11 o'clock in the evening, the sky was fiery pink… the area has become dangerous, the Germans have no reason to spare us."
But the next day, Paris' military governor surrendered, famously disobeying Hitler's orders to destroy the capital's monuments and bridges. Spontaneous displays of joy erupted as Parisians rushed out to hold impromptu street parties and De Gaulle gave a speech to a swaying mass of rapturous citizens at City Hall: "Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated! Liberated by itself. Liberated by its people."
It would be almost a year before Germany surrendered to the Allies. But that moment in Paris had been a crucial turning point: a sign to the world that the tide was finally turning. To commemorate the Liberation, the Cartier designer Pierre Lemarchand created a new bird brooch that in time would come to symbolise the end of the war. This one featured a bird in France's national colours: red (coral), white (diamonds), and blue (lapis lazuli), in proud acknowledgment of the symbolism the Germans had apparently suspected but been unable to prove. And this time, the bird was outside the cage, wings spread and singing in joy. It was free.
