On Bastille Day 1940, just weeks after Paris fell to Nazi forces, an ordinary department store employee named Raoul Minot risked his life to capture this haunting image.

The photograph shows German soldiers casually lounging at the entrance of the Richelieu Drouot metro station - a stark symbol of the occupation that had befallen the City of Light.

What makes this image particularly remarkable is that it was taken in complete secrecy at a time when unauthorized photography was punishable by death. Minot, who worked at the Le Printemps department store, would ultimately pay the highest price for his quiet act of resistance - he was later arrested, deported to Buchenwald concentration camp, and never returned home.

*Many Mercis to our reader, Heather, for sending this image to me.

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