Humanity Festival 1945: the taste of freedom and peace rediscovered
Banned during the Occupation, the Fête de l'Humanité reopened its doors on September 2, 1945. Nearly a million participants savored the newfound peace. The newspaper celebrated its re-publication in broad daylight, and the French Communist Party, at the heart of the "battle of production," demonstrated its militant power, just weeks before a decisive election for the country's political future.
It's just past 6:00 a.m., and already, immense crowds are pouring out of the metro entrances in waves, greeted by people broadcasting Jaurès's newspaper: "Deeeeeemandez l'Humanité !" The campers who set up camp the day before in the Bois de Vincennes are waiting impatiently. Dormant during the occupation, the Fête de l'Humanité is about to open its doors again. And triumphantly reborn. On September 2, 1945, nearly a million people will walk the lawns of Reuilly.
L'Humanité celebrates its republication in broad daylight. The communists, then the "party of the 75,000 executed," who played a decisive role in the Resistance, demonstrate their militant power, just weeks before a decisive election for the country's political future. On October 21, the French will vote in the first legislative elections since the end of the war, and in the referendum on the powers of the new Assembly, tasked with drafting the future Constitution.
Having crossed the imposing entrance portico, the audience goes up an immense "avenue of honor" leading to the central stage, where the...
L'Humanité
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