Beret Burning in Thionville

The burning happens in the summer of 1940, in the centre of Thionville. During WWII, the French region of Lorraine was placed under a German civilian administration and was thus unofficially part of the German Reich. Names were Germanized; on the Market Square, a sign indicates "Marktplatz". Visible are the (French) Hitler Youth recognizable by its banners bearing the SS runes. On either side, are the members of the German Volksgemeinschaft (DVG), the German People's Union, which hold swastika flags. Books by the Alsatian illustrator Hansi (author of anti-German cartoons) are burned, and berets, the symbol of French patriotism.