Radio Paris was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called
Radiola, founded by pioneering French engineer
Émile Girardeau in 1922. It became Radio Paris on March 29, 1924, and remained so through June 17, 1940, transitioning to state ownership in December 1933 as the premier station in the country.
It kept its name from July 1940 until August 1944, but the station was then run by Nazis and
French collaborators.
From 1940, collaborationist voices on Radio Paris included
Jacques Doriot
Jacques Doriot (; 26 September 1898 – 22 February 1945) was a French politician, initially communist, later fascist, before and during World War II.
In 1936, after his exclusion from the Communist Party, he founded the French Popular Party (P ...
and
Philippe Henriot
Philippe Henriot (7 January 1889 – 28 June 1944) was a French poet, journalist, politician, and minister in the French government at Vichy, where he directed propaganda broadcasts. He also joined the Milice part-time.
Career
Philippe Henriot, ...
. From 1942,
Jean Hérold-Paquis broadcast daily news reports on Radio Paris, in which he regularly called for the "destruction" of the United Kingdom. His catch phrase was "England, like Carthage, shall be destroyed!", echoing
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write his ...
's slogan ''
Carthago delenda est
("Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed"), often abbreviated to ("Carthage must be destroyed"), is a Latin oratorical phrase pronounced by Cato the Censor, a politician of the Roman Republic. The phrase originates from deb ...
''.
On September 19, 1941,
Maurice Chevalier sang in ''Le Poste Parisien'' his last success, "Notre Espoir", composed by his accompanist
Henri Betti.
Radio Paris broadcasts were intended to counter the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, who sang the taunting refrain, ''Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris est allemand'' ("Radio Paris lies, Radio Paris lies, Radio Paris is German"), to the tune of "
".
.
The station was shut down on the evening of 15 August 1944 by a trained police
.