How do ordinary people make sense of a world turned upside down? When the German army occupied France in 1940, German censorship and propaganda sought to manipulate and silence the population. Yet, beneath the surface, millions continued to exchange news, debate politics, and challenge official narratives. Manuel Mork uncovers this hidden world of informal communication - from rumours, anecdotal observations, self-made leaflets, shared BBC broadcasts, and political graffiti to denunciations and accusatory letters. Drawing on extensive archival research, he discusses the constant struggle between occupiers determined to control information and civilians looking to make sense of a rapidly changing world. Shedding new light on the long-standing debates about the French role during the Second World War, Mork offers fresh insights into everyday behaviour, public opinion, and cultural countercurrents to political regimes in times of war.

‘A meticulously researched, nuanced and highly readable account of the working of rumour, propaganda and prophecy under the German Occupation, judiciously critical of the dominant narrative of the French as a nation of resisters.'

Robert Gildea - University of Oxford

‘A riveting and illuminating account of how ordinary French citizens under German Occupation reclaimed agency over information. With remarkable ingenuity, they forged informal networks, repurposed familiar media, and used radio to evade Nazi control. This brilliant book reveals how resilience and resourcefulness defied the occupiers' ambitions for total information dominance.'

Hélène Miard-Delacroix - Sorbonne University

‘This ambitious work reconsiders the agency of the French population during the German Occupation (1940–44).  Attending to the interplay of French informal communication and German efforts to influence popular opinion, it will reinvigorate discussions of how the French people responded to four years of German Occupation.'

Julia Torrie - St Thomas University