Darkness in the City of Light

A masterful history of the tumultuous decade preceding World War II, as seen through the glittering showcase of the 1937 Paris Expo.

The 1937 Paris Expo, a dazzling showcase of technological and artistic advancements, took place in a Europe that had just two years of peace remaining before the start of World War II.

Held in the heart of Paris on both sides of the River Seine, the Expo attracted more than 31 million visitors between May and November. It’s organizers hoped for a celebration of art and progress, but the rise of fascism and communism, class tensions, a civil war in Spain, and a refugee crisis among Europe’s persecuted Jews all loomed menacingly over the festivities. The Expo served as a microcosm of Europe’s struggles, with national pavilions showcasing technical and artistic prowess but also revealing the fissures of a continent struggling to hold itself together amid many problems.

There has never been a more important time than now to take a fresh look at the 1930s. Economic stagnation, controversies over migration and refugees, the ambiguous role of the United States in European affairs, deep concerns about political dysfunction, and the threat of major war all affect Europe today just as they did then.

In another echo of today’s ideological and geopolitical contests, the liberal democracies of 1937 offered the totalitarian states the benefits of trade, diplomacy, and cultural exchanges in the hope that greater interaction would make the autocracies more moderate. Instead, the autocracies seized the stage that the democracies offered to them in Paris, then used the platform to undermine liberalism and promote their own, more menacing ideas about the past and the future.