Charles de Gaulle

"Paris libéré" speech at the Hôtel de Ville, Paris, August 25, 1944 Charles de Gaulle improvised this on the evening Paris was freed, and it remains one of his most famous speeches, built around the run of words "Paris outragé! Paris brisé! Paris martyrisé! mais Paris libéré!" The point to watch for is whose victory he describes: the speech claims the liberation for Paris and for France. Newsreel cameras caught him at the microphone in the first hours of liberation, so students can see the leader of Free France step forward and speak for the nation. The text is short and repays a slow reading alongside a translation.