Jane Rogoyska tells the story of the Hôtel Lutetia, the only ‘grand’ hotel on the city’s bohemian Left Bank, serving 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. But when war came and Paris was occupied, 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 this talk, we explore the stories of those who passed through the hotel’s doors, why they came, and how they interacted with one another.

Jane Rogoyska is a writer whose work explores themes of conflict, exile, memory and politics in 20th-century Europe. She has a particular interest in the turbulent period between the 1930s and the beginning of the Cold War. Her books include Hôtel Exile, Surviving Katyn: Stalin’s Polish Massacre and the novel Kozlowski. She has recently been nominated for Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction Shortlist for Hotel Exile.

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