Location: 64 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN, 75009 PARIS, Paris.
Raoul Minot (1893-1945), nicknamed the 'ghost photographer', worked at Printemps Haussmann as a handkerchief salesman and later assistant manager. Between 1940 and 1942, he clandestinely photographed over 700 images of occupied Paris using a Kodak Brownie camera, documenting daily life under Occupation, German military presence, and anti-German inscriptions. He developed his photos in the department store's own laboratory. Denounced in November 1942, he was arrested by the Special Brigades, deported to Mauthausen then Buchenwald, and tragically died on April 28, 1945, just days after his liberation. Recognized as 'Died for France' in September 2024.
Period recorded for this site: 20th century.
Theme: Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Coordinates: 48.87380, 2.32830.
This plaque is a stop on the walk: Resistance & Liberation of Paris.
On Resistance & Liberation of Paris: The Printemps department store where Raoul Minot, the "ghost photographer", worked as a handkerchief salesman. Between 1940-1942, he secretly photographed over 700 images of occupied Paris with a Kodak Brownie, developing them in the store's lab. Denounced in 1942, he was deported to Mauthausen and Buchenwald, dying just days after liberation in April 1945. His remarkable photographic archive remains a unique testimony of daily life under Occupation.
Other plaques within a few minutes' walk: Edouard de Max (155 m); Georges et Ludmilla Pitoëff (209 m); Constantin Guys (212 m); Reynaldo Hahn (252 m); Ugo Ugaro (254 m).