Event Type: HA

Takes Place: 3rd March 2026

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Online

Description: The Hotel Lutetia is a Paris institution, the only ‘grand’ hotel on the city’s bohemian Left Bank. Ever since it opened, it has served as a meeting place for artists, musicians and politicians. André Gide took his lunch here, James Joyce lived in one of its rooms, Picasso and Matisse were regular guests. It has a darker history, too. During one short period, it became a focus for some of the most dramatic and terrible events in recent history. In the 1930s the Hotel Lutetia attracted intellectuals and political activists, forced to flee their homes when Hitler came to power, who met here with the hope of forming an alternative government. But when war came, Paris was occupied, and the hotel became the headquarters of the German military intelligence service – and the centre of their operation to root out enemies of the Reich. In 1945, the Lutetia was requisitioned once more, this time transformed into a reception centre for deportees returning from concentration camps. In this talk some of the stories of those who passed through the doors of the hotel will be discussed, why they were there are how they interacted with each other. Jane Rogoyska is the author of Surviving Katyn: Stalin’s Polish Massacre and the Search for Truth, Gerda Taro: Inventing Robert Capa and the novel Kozlowski.

How to book: Book via Zoom link below

Price: Free & open to all. Recordings of talk will be available to HA members.

Website: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HoV-gKU4TiyIEJ_Syjlg0w

Organiser: HA

Lecturer: Jane Rogoyska