Best of the Spectator Book Club: Paris in the Shadow of War
Mar 7, 2026
Jane Rogoyska, historian and author focused on European exile experiences, frames Paris through the Hotel Lutetia. She traces networks of exiled intellectuals, close calls like Samuel Beckett’s near-deportation, and Walter Benjamin’s tragic fate. The conversation covers spies, betrayals, escape routes, the hotel's wartime role, and its postwar use as a reception centre for survivors.
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Walter Benjamin’s Failed Escape Over The Pyrenees
- Walter Benjamin attempted to cross the Pyrenees to escape and reached the Spanish border when his paperwork was invalidated.
- In despair after being turned back, Benjamin took poison and died at a hotel on the border.
Paul Léon’s Arrest And Letters From Drancy
- Paul Léon returned to Paris and was arrested in a July 1942 roundup of foreign-born Jews, sent to Drancy then Auschwitz.
- From Drancy he wrote moving letters focused on love, scholarship and his son’s education before his deportation.
Lutetia Requisitioned As Abwehr Headquarters
- The Lutetia was requisitioned by the German Abwehr during occupation and hosted over 100 intelligence staff who lived and worked there.
- Staff retention (one third kept) let the hotel run as both residence and office, offering a neutral, civilized veneer.
