![]() ![]() As soon as we appeared under the archway of the Salon de la Paix, the representatives of Germany were led to the seats reserved for them, and the ceremony began."įor the two Germans, who had arrived in France in the middle of the previous night, the next three-quarters of an hour were an ordeal. ![]() And I could see tears forming in the eyes of Hermann Müller that he could not conceal. It was, for a few moments yet, the enemy passing by and the vanquished. I'll never forget the order given as we approached, repeated from room to room as we advanced, and the sound of steel being drawn back into its sheath. "When the signal came, I took the head of the little procession and led it, through salons that must have seemed never-ending, to the marble staircase where the republican guards formed a line on the steps. Souvenirs d'un Conservateur ("The Resurrection of Versailles: Memories of a Curator," 1937). ![]() "At one of the French windows appeared the German delegates, who were brought through the deserted grounds, and we had to lead them along these pretty rooms where the portraits of our history had recently come to life again," he said in La Résurrection de Versailles. Curator of the Château de Versailles since 1892, he was in charge of leading two German ministers to the Hall of Mirrors to sign the treaty intended to put an end to the war that began five years earlier, to the day, following the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne by a Serbian terrorist in Sarajevo. It was almost 3 pm on June 28, 1919, and Pierre de Nolhac was about to experience a few of the most intense minutes of his life. The Paris Peace Conference, the first major diplomatic meeting of the 20th century, following the end of the Great War, proved just how difficult it could be for the victors to agree on the fate of the vanquished. ![]() In 1919, Germany was dealt a shock treatment at Versailles By Jérôme Gautheret and Thomas Wieder Published on August 2, 2023, at 6:00 pm (Paris), updated on August 3, 2023, at 2:18 pm ![]()
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