Lutetia

HISTORY IN BRIEF

• 1910: Hôtel Lutetia opens its doors, designed by architects Louis-Hippolyte Boileau and Henri Tauzin.

• • 1914–1918 (World War I): Hotel Lutetia served as a military hospital for wounded front-line soldiers.

  • Interwar Period, especially post-1933:

  • Lutetia became the center of the German “Front populaire” in exile.

  • Aim: To unite German émigrés in a coalition of Social Democrats and Communists.

  • Inspired by the French “Front populaire,” which came to power under Léon Blum, Prime Minister of France three times between 1930 and 1940.

  • Lutetia Committee: Based at Hotel Lutetia.

  • Led by Heinrich Mann, militant humanist and symbolic figure of the German Popular Front in Paris.

  • Sought to represent “the other Germany” opposed to Hitler until 1937.

  • Hosted figures from across the political spectrum who would later become opponents:

  • Willy Brandt, Walter Ulbricht, Herbert Wehner, Wilhelm Pieck.

  • Notable guests included:

  • Max Horkheimer, Lion Feuchtwanger, Ernst Toller, Arnold Zweig.

  • The utopian unity was dismantled by Stalin’s directives, which forbade Communist participation in open exile fronts.

  • 1940–1945 (German Occupation of Paris):

  • Hotel Lutetia was taken over by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Hitler’s chief of military intelligence.

  • Hotel staff lived in a state of double loyalty—obliged to serve German officers while secretly resisting.

  • According to legend, the cellar master hid both escaped German prisoners and rare wines in the hotel’s vaults—an “Astérix and Obélix” version of turning defeat into mythic victory.

  • End of World War II (1945):

  • Lutetia became the most important reception center for survivors of Nazi concentration camps returning across Europe and beyond.

  • Commemorated by a plaque on the hotel’s façade, installed in 1985.

  • Post-1945:

  • Hotel reopened to civilian life and resumed its cultural role.

  • Welcomed artists to redesign the lobby and select suites, leaving their stylistic imprint.

• 2014-2018: Undergoes a significant renovation to restore and modernize its facilities. ​

HISTORY TEXT:

Hôtel Lutetia opened its doors on December 28, 1910, marking the transition between Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The hotel’s historian, Pascaline Balland, notes that its name pays tribute to Lutetia, the ancient Roman settlement that later became Paris. Its emblem, a storm-tossed ship, proudly bears the city's enduring motto: Fluctuat Nec Mergitur—“Tossed by the waves but never sinks.”  

By 1912, twelve grand salons were added for special events. Orchestras performed from balconies adorned with wrought-iron grapevines, a symbol of resilience. But the celebrations ended abruptly in 1914 when war broke out. Half the staff, including the general manager, left for the front, and the hotel’s main salon became a Red Cross hospital ward, its rooms stripped of beds for wounded soldiers.  

The 1920s saw the Lutetia come alive once more, becoming a haven for artists, writers, and intellectuals. James Joyce sought refuge from the cold in its elegant halls, composing parts of Ulysses with the assistance of his secretary. Among its most notable visitors was Charles de Gaulle, who spent his wedding night at the Lutetia on April 7, 1921, long before his rise to the presidency. Samuel Beckett. Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Charlie Chaplin, Henri Matisse, and Josephine Baker were all frequent guests. Over the years, Pablo Picasso, Isadora Duncan, Peggy Guggenheim, and François Truffaut also left their mark on its history.

In the 1930s, the Lutetia attracted a predominantly French clientele – a rarity in the capital’s world of cosmopolitan palace hotels. In 1936, two-thirds of its guests were French. Its elegant brasserie and café, rather than the rooms, generated the majority of its income – a house of conversation, not just accommodation. Unlike the gilded opulence of the Ritz or George V, the Lutetia radiated a quieter modernity, infused with local life. It was the Left Bank’s answer to the grand tradition, more literary salon than royal stage.

Lutetia Circle

In the 1930s, the hotel became a gathering place for German exiles, including Thomas Mann and his brother Heinrich, who convened at the Committee Lutetia, envisioning a post-Hitler Germany.  The meeting is presided over by Heinrich Mann. Münzenberg leads the session and calls for the restoration of a “Republic in the Weimar tradition.” However, he insists it must be socialist in nature and unite all anti-Hitler forces in a proletarian united front. Münzenberg admits to past errors and declares his commitment to democratic freedoms.

The “inner committee” of the so-called Lutetia Circle brings together the intellectual Left — including Leopold Schwarzschild, Heinrich Mann, Max Braun, Hans Schulz, Else Lasker-Schüler, Otto Katz, Gustav Regler, and Arthur Koestler — most of whom align themselves with Münzenberg’s efforts. This circle evolves into an organized “Preparatory Committee,” later known as the *Lutetia Committee* or *Lutetia Ausschuss*. It consciously avoids the term “Popular Front Committee,” due to its associations with the Comintern.

---> Context – The Lutetia Circle at Hôtel Lutetia 
In the 1930s, the Hôtel Lutetia — traditionally seen as a dignified retreat for French bourgeois society — briefly became the nervous centre of German anti-fascist exile politics. The Lutetia Circle formed there in 1935, led by Willi Münzenberg, a former Comintern propagandist turned anti-Nazi organiser. The group aimed to mobilize leftist intellectuals and democrats against the rising Nazi threat, attempting to forge a broad coalition.

With Heinrich Mann as its symbolic president, the Lutetia Circle stood for a socialist yet democratic vision, seeking unity across political divides. The hotel’s salons hosted charged, often heated debates among exiled writers, politicians, and thinkers — a last attempt to rekindle the spirit of Weimar from the safety of Paris.

Though short-lived, the Lutetia Committee remains a remarkable footnote in both the hotel’s and Europe’s political history — a moment when art, exile, and resistance shared the same address.

However, during the war German Abwehr occupied the hotel.

Even in its staffing, the Lutetia remained distinct. Édouard Kiefer, legendary head of security, lived under the same roof he guarded – a living witness to the house’s blend of elegance and humanity.

Hôtel Lutetia has remained a symbol of Parisian elegance and resilience, surviving wars, revolutions, and cultural shifts while continuing to host the world’s most distinguished figures.

Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Josephine Baker, and Charles de Gaulle ... among many otehrs.

• During World War II, the hotel was requisitioned by German forces and later served as a repatriation center for concentration camp survivors.

• In the 1980s, fashion designer Sonia Rykiel redesigned parts of the hotel, blending contemporary style with its historic features. 

• Of particular interest: Pierre Assouline wrote a highly regarded biographical novel about the Hôtel Lutetia, titled simply Lutetia (2005), which blends historical fact and fiction to capture the soul of the hotel across decades — from its interwar glamour to its dark wartime role.

  Pierre Assouline is a prominent French writer, journalist, and biographer, born in 1953 in Casablanca, Morocco. He is known for his elegant literary biographies and historical novels, as well as his deep interest in cultural and intellectual history.

  Assouline has written acclaimed biographies of major figures such as:

  Gaston Gallimard (founder of Éditions Gallimard)
  Hergé (creator of Tintin)
  Henri Cartier-Bresson (photographer)
  Georges Simenon (author of Maigret)
  Marcel Dassault (industrialist and aviation pioneer)
  He is also a contributor to publications like Le Monde, Lire, and La République des Livres (his own literary blog). His writing style is precise, literary, and deeply informed by archival research.

  Pierre Assouline is considered one of France’s foremost literary chroniclers of institutions, characters, and places that shaped the cultural identity of the 20th century. Despite the shared surname and cultural orbit, he must not to be confused with Prosper Assouline and his wife Martine, who founded Assouline Publishing in 1994.