swiss. he was not an albania. finally it just disappears. it comes out and the entry turns out to be correct. at first i did not attribute this to the wisdom of crowds because i said the wisdom of crowds got it wrong. i was the one who fixed it. i fixed it and then i realized i'm just a part of the crowd. every now now and then i added a tiny bit of wisdom to the wisdom of the crowd but that's what the crowd was. it included me and you and everybody else. that's when i became a fan of crowdsourcing and collaboration in the wisdom. >> i love that story and i love your vision of the future telling of history. i would love to collaborate with you on that. so that's it on the audience questions and i want to close with a return to the theme that you sounded earlier.

you credited steve jobs that it was an original idea for you the way you are talking about these days. you gave the jefferson lecture the summer for the national endowment for the humanities and he talked about in great detail that intersection the humanities and technology. it's a theme you are beginning to explore. i wonder she would talk a little bit more about that. >> the book begins with ada and it ends ends with a then it ends with data forever because their vision of the combination of human creativity and machines has turned out to be more powerful even though someday we will hit the singularity and you can bite all the people that were predicted that it but it's always 20 years away or whatever but in the meantime the connection of human creativity augmented by the power of machines as doug engelbrecht and others have said and even today the end of the book is with google. the google algorithm is not just some computer algorithm.

if the computer algorithm that also connects to the individual human judgments millions a day made by people who put links on the web. so it's a combination of human creativity and computer processing power. when you have jenny rama t. here ask her what are they watching for today? what are they using to collaborate with doctors? they have teams in which the computer in the human can always be either the best human are the best computer. i believe in that and at the heart of that vision of ada lovelace is if you are going to connect humans to technology you have to connect the humanities to the scientist. you have to feel comfortable with both. that is what google is all about and that is what justin hall creating blogging is all about. that is what f. williams when he does blogger in twitter but now

medium. medium his new platform, that isn't just about computer platform. it's about connecting it and making more -- making a more intimate a more personal. allen kay scott that vision at xerox parc. make it personal and stand with that connection of the humanities and art technology. so maybe someday there will be a singularity in which the machines won't need us and we'll leave the spine. lord byron felt that and he was there with barry shellen when they were at frankenstein's monster which is the great sort of theme of that. but i have always believed that those who feel comfortable that the enter section of the humanities and the sciences are like steve jobs come the people who are going to be the most creative. >> we like our authors to read a

little bit in their own voice and let's close if we could with that. these are two paragraphs at the very end. start there and then right there. exactly. >> all right. >> i'm your producer. >> thank you very much. we humans can remain relevant and an air of cognitive computing because we are able to think different, something that an algorithm almost by definition cannot master. we possess an imagination that as ada lovelace said quote brings together things, facts, ideas and conceptions in new original and thus ever varying combinations. we discern patterns. we appreciate beauty. we weep information into narratives. we of storytelling as much as -- we involve aesthetic emotions

personal conscience and send the moral sense. these are what the arts and humanities teach us and wipe those realms are as valuable a part of education science and technology engineering and math. if we mortals are to uphold their end of the human computer symbiosis if we are retained a role as greater partners with our machines we must continue to nurture the wellsprings of our imagination and our originality and our humanity. that is what we bring to the party. >> fantastic. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] thank you so much. [applause] before walter leaves he is about to be very even more generous. walter got up that essentially 3:00 this morning our time because he was on television at

6:00 a.m. on morning joe. that's just emblematic of so much the walter has done. he has put the museum front and center and much of the discussion that he has been bringing forth publicly about the history of computing and the role of this technology in our lives and the implications for the future. we were front and center sunday morning with cbs. you are doing the interview here and i want to publicly knowledge and thank walter not only for the work that he has done but for the way that u.s.. >> thank you for this and thank you for supporting the museum. >> please join me in thanking walter. [applause]

>> just calling to tell you how much i enjoy q&a at 5:00 on sunday on the west coast. everything stops at my house.

i turn off my phones and i get my cup of coffee and it's the most enjoyable hour on television. >> today was very informative. it was good opinions and i enjoyed listening to him them in the comments that were done today. me myself living in the middle east he was very accurate and on point. he did not use his own personal innuendo and i greatly enjoyed it and i hope you have more gas like that. he was right on target this morning. >> i'm calling to say that i think like many people c-span is wonderful but as has two criticisms i almost have none. i'm a very partisan kind of person but the reason i have almost none is i think you all do a tremendous job of showing just about every side of everything and the way people look at things in d.c. and elsewhere.

i take my hat off to you. thank you very much. >> continue to let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at call us at (202)626-3400 and e-mail us at comments at c-span.org or send us a tweet at c-span hashtag comments. join the c-span conversation, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> and "when paris went dark" ronald rosbottom writes about the nazi occupation appears world war ii. the book covers daily life in the four years of occupation the underground resistance in the city's liberation by the allies. this is an hour. >> good evening everyone. i think we would like to get started with tonight's program.

to explain that short interaction we do have c-span booktv here tonight filming the talk so we are really excited about that and grateful that so many people will be able to see the program after this evening. to that end i just wanted to ask you please if you have questions under will be a fairly long question-and-answer period. we will pass the handheld mic around so you can be heard on recordings. indicate. there will be two of us looking for you and indicated they have a question we will come along and pass the mic. when you have it in your hand you will be able to asked the question so everyone in the audience will hear. appreciate your core pretty with that request. i do want to say that it's my pleasure to introduce professor and author ronald rosbottom who has recently written and released "when paris went dark" the city of light under german occupation, 1940-1944.

his appearance here is presented in partnership with our local independent bookstore so thank you very much for help us get ron to come to new canaan. paris -- pierce city of light was assertive and german tanks rolled in on june 14, 1940. within a week appears was defeated and occupied. many parisians adapted to the troubling state of occupation but still a strong united resistance movement began to build encompassing citizens from all walks of life despite differences in politics religion age and gender. the movement which included many cultural outcomes and intellectuals operated under the leadership of french military officer charles degaulle. ron, the author of "when paris went dark" was born in new orleans and educated at tulane university and princeton university. when he was a student at tulane

in the 60s he went to paris for the first time. while he was there he wondered what the city had been like under german occupation. it wasn't until 10 years ago that he turned his musings into a book. the result is a meticulously researched book that utilized a range of resources including diaries, archives come interviews, photographs and fi film. ron has written an astute unbiased book that captures not only the dark days of paris and its citizens but the mystery and loneliness of the young german troops as well. and we just learned today that it is in the top 10 list for the national book award this year so that's really exciting and great news. [applause] ron is the weatherford arms professor for arts and the humanities and a professor of arts and where he is servicing the faculty in addition to the

publication of "when paris went dark" he has published well over 100 articles and book reviews, has edited three essay collections and has written two monographs and novels. he lives in amherst massachusetts with his wife betty at cookbook writer so please join me in welcoming ron. [applause] >> thank you susan and thanks to elm street books for inviting me here. my wife betty is the cookbook writer and she came to elm street books a couple of years ago. her new book and this is why i'm here to to burkwell my wife. her new book called sunday casseroles, she will be back here in about a month to sign it. in fact i wanted to have an evening where we could talk

about casseroles for hitler. [laughter] she has much better taste than her husband and i want to thank the new canaan library. these libraries in england are marvelous and the way they bring people together like you who are interested in big questions and are big readers. thank goodness there are still people who read in america, who read books. this book, what i'm going to do is give you a very brief introduction to what i tried to do in the book and to excerpts and that i'm going to open up the discussion for questions. i found in speaking about this book into four was even published speaking about the subject that the question-and-answer question and answer sessions were by far the most interesting. certainly for you and for me as

well. "when paris went dark" is not an administrative or military or political or even a social history of the occupation. it is an attempt at what i have decided to call a tactile history showing how it might have felt for the occupied and occupier to be on edge in a familiar environment for over four years. the book will elicit and has elicited challenging responses from professional historians because it doesn't explain so much as it shows. i show and then i infer from a distance of three-quarters of a century what it may have been like to have lived in occupied paris.

i have endeavored to give a tone of suggestiveness rather than certainty about such vexed questions as should i resist and if so how? should i stay or leave? should i accommodate and wait for collaborate and perhaps prosper? where does accommodation fade and collaboration began? whom should i trust? whom can i trust? as the war goes on and as time passes how do i adjust to its changes? to distill possible answers from the memoirs, letters, diaries and early histories i have read the interviews i have had is perhaps presumptuous. yet it takes a certain amount of presumption to think one can

understand human actions and emotions several decades after they occur but i think we must try. so let me read you two passages which i think will give you a sense of what the book is about and then if you have questions, we can talk about it. and if you don't have questions since c-span is filming this, i will read some more. [laughter] in may /june of 1940 as the germans raced to paris french and foreign felt especially vulnerable. most distaste put bring somehow that the french government and its republican traditions would protect them from nazi racism. but if you read the writing on the wall more astutely than others one was a jewish diamond

merchants whose family had been french for generations and who was pressing it enough to understand that not only was his business about to suffer so were his wife and children as the nazis instituted their racial policies in france. he had quietly procured exit visas for his family and hired automobiles to drive them from paris to the spanish border and safety. one major problem remained. border guards all over europe have discovered how easy it was to demand bribes from jews and other hunted persons in the merchant knew that he would not be able to successfully carry his valuable stock of diamonds over the border. and it was stock that you could hold in the palm of your hand. he had to leave them hidden in paris, but where?

taking a rather risky chance he decided to rely on a friend, a soccer buddy, a gentile. the plan he devised was audacious. heating up large amounts of lard like i'm gwen he poured the mixture into a tall clear jar and then he tripled the clear precious stones into the liquid constantly stirring it as it cooled so that the gems would not settle to the bottom. soon the concoction congealed from the outside the suspended diamonds were invisible. he arrived at his friend's home holding the apparently innocuous bottle as if he were carrying a child. his friend welcomed him with the warmth he had expected after

they worry together about the current state of paris and france. a diamond trader said i must leave france for obvious reaso reasons. i am unsure about when i will be able to return but i do know that i would like to have this jar of a family remedy and i'm gwen for all that ails you waiting here for me when i come back. it means a lot to my family and to our memories. could i ask you to keep that? been used his friend accepted the consignments relieved that the request was a simple list during bottle in his house. the merchant left unburdened but apprehensive anti-outsmarted himself. should we have told his friend what the jar contained? but more immediate concerns dominated. fortunately the merchants escape

with his family was a success. making their way into and across spain they set sail for portugal from the united states where they remained for five long years. around the dinner table hundreds of times the family wondered about that apparently innocuous bottle sitting in a dark cupboard back in occupied paris. in early 1946 when our merchant could finally return to the city he found himself once again in his friend's kitchen. for a while exchange stories of the war years. after that the jewish friend broached the subject that had preoccupied him for half a decade. do you recall that jar of unguent i left with you in june of 1940? at first his friend looked puzzled. jar? unguent? then he remembered but it did

not cross his mind since his friend and let. getting up from the table he rummaged around at a remote cupboard. i hope we didn't throw it out when we moved things around during the war and the merchant politely waited, his guts and then not. oh i found it i think. is this it? oh yes the merchant answered told me once again as if it were a mean bass. now i have a story for you. would you light up your stove and get me as it is an deadpan? soon the contents of the jar were bubbling away over an old flame. taking this sieve the merchant poured the pots contents into another container and they are not sold in the match was his diamond reserve. the gems sparkling as if they had never been covered with animal fats and south.

the grateful merchant selected the brightest and largest diamond from the pio and handed to his speech was supposed. take this one for your dear wife. the story was told to me by the son of this man. and now i want to move to another side of the story. and that is how did the germans feel? one of the things that i tried to illustrate in my book was what it was like to be an occupier, what it was like to be a young german officer and soldier in a city at the germans definitely respected, in a city where the parisians as we know are not always the most welcoming people even if you are a german occupier were less than

friendly. and so this is an anecdote written by an officer whose job had primarily been as a censor. yet been to send to paris. he knew french quite well and his job was to censure french publications to make sure that a there were no jews involved in the writing or publishing of them in b there was nothing anti-german or anti-nazi in them. his was gerhardt heller. an assertive knock brought madam heller to her apartment door or it was november of 1940 and the germans had been in paris for five months. she had grown used to seeing them in the street but she was stunned when she saw on her landing a man in the uniform of

a vermox lieutenant. quickly she called her husband. what could he possibly want? >> officer politely saluted and asked if this is where certain younger heller lived. they answered, yes but told their unnerving visitor that their son was presently a prisoner of war. the germans had over 1.5 million french soldiers as prisoners of war. the german officer introduced himself as gerhardt heller who had known their son while he was studying medicine in germany. that is he, the young frenchman was studying medicine in germany. coincidently they have the same family name and they had bonded because of it. heller told the couple that he was new to paris and that their son was the only person he knew to call on.

the parisian hellers were confused. their son had never spoken of another student named heller. at any rate he was not there and would not be for a long time. ..

>> >> on the one hand try to use the censorship to chop away. soon after arriving he had to except -- except that.

noninvasive bureaucrats in the time he could address it in civilian clothes. and then for the save reason though one could tell the difference and he discovered the to be construed as swiss rather than german. not only as a mild form of rejection but not all part

dissipated in the occupation. i always lived in a state of disarray. that wed when knows the gestapo by your comrades and wonder offers the services along the champs-elysees where his dad was a banker just under the roof of the park separated from the lower floor he carried on

with a little group of germans of traffic and alcohol i went up there several times. at the very end of the occupation they would offer a secret room near his own isolated department or the germans could stay intel things calmed down after words he argued the germans could resume. this is as an illustration of how friendly the germans were. there are simply trying to be a team member of the occupation. the shows how secretive paris was during this period

the basements and attics it leaves us with an anecdote that is an analog to the occupier but at night often walking through the gardens of a run on the champs-elysees but during the day these are playgrounds for children with a kiosk and the public conveniences' but at night

with few vehicles in the streets these bases are empty. and to have a strange encounter it speaks volumes as well as the patronizing attitude that many germans took to the french charges. with that of french girl. he said skip it. the curfew gets you outside and you could be picked up. and she had nowhere to stay in paris staying under the curfew in the morning when she could catch a ride home

and then will ask the concierge to let her sleep in the lobby until the next morning. issue with the burly leaving a notes. she would think gm and promised to call later and she did. for several months the two would have dates and bicycle rides in the country and walks through paris. what was her name? to where she? i never knew. they seem to be for several months she was my little queen. accompany me to the end of the road each day the world became heavier and a darker for me. the issuers he'd never laid a hand on the girl.

to maintain a respectful distance they do is keep it in a country stream. but for him he describes her they he reveals his sexual attraction to her then she disappeared and he never saw her again. and howard germany lost in initiative to engage into winning the war. and another teenager this time a similar sort of detachment. we show lot of tenderness toward each other and we will embrace when we met nothing more. and he to disappear forever.

and paris said proven for this german that what was so feared by nazis but the children that he would satisfy his sexual boldness long after his suspicion after the threat of assassination and bureaucrats stations to recognize those similar memoirs the sound of the constant unidentifiable buzzing. but he would refuse the offer the leave a piece of

himself under a tree, he buried a tin box filled with a note a and then died. in 1948 he would return for the first time since the war. but he could never find is buried treasure. like so many ithers part of his past lay hidden. thank you. [applause] so my focus and it shows how

complex that occupation was. on terms of moral and ethical issues. and you have to be careful when you try to use survive the war with the suspicions. because of the quarrels of the gestapo. you have to be suspicious but there still is a time but that they felt lonely. but there was still an element of that confusion so

i really like gas questions about this period and let's see how that goes. >> remember to raise your hand and someone will give you a microphone. >> i can hear you. i don't know of c-span can. >> with similar anecdotes. >> without a doubt. but the reason the second pair is by far was the best.

the most written about the most lot of sitting in oliveira. the whole world held their breath with a invaded paris. the warsaw was almost totally destroyed. paris was barely touched. so the germans were walking through this city there were just visiting last month or last year. it is that uniqueness the story that i chose more convincing. and for some reason i keep adjusting them.

but that is the very good question. what about amsterdam? what about from? and i think my answer is i am prejudiced but paris was special. and it was not touched. >> with those three should women who collaborated of the women being marched through the streets can you talk about and what have bid after words if they could resume a normal life? or were they cigna -- stigmatized for a long time?

>> yes they were stigmatized but eventually they were reassembly did -- three assimilated. and people knew that. women had a major role in the occupation most of the men were in prison. and therefore there is with its -- was considered a seven city was even more so. the mothers had the jobs in the children and with an intimate occupation there were many jobs alban would get working for the german occupation. for working in a cafeteria or a photographer or at the

canteen. and innocently in other ways. also women slept with german shoulders. -- soldiers there is an estimate about 300,000 little fritz was born and a bore children suffered. that is what they called them. so there was a lot of the innocent sexual relations between young people after all many of these women were teenagers and many german

soldiers were teenagers. that is another aspect that deserves a lot of attention. everyone wanted to be on the side of though liberators web liberation came. everyone wanted to get even with whoever it was who had caused them to have that life even somebody wanted to get even with the mademoiselle because she had a restaurant and another word i stooge german soldiers that were walking down the street. there was a lot of petty reasons that suddenly woman

were chided a kangaroo trial paraded half naked down the street than they were shaved or a swastika on their forehead or their press. and so were the men and it was even neighbors who did this. is a very, very complicated time and embarrass the americans to the point they had to instruct the soldiers to stop it if they saw it especially married women. prostitutes their head was not shaved because they had reputable professionals and we're doing their job. it was not just let the intimate or business in any other way. for awhile these villages

happened then they would come back later. summer of media the received two or three years later to save maybe not as obvious or justifiable. others left and never came back. and it was probably the most darkling photographs -- startling photographs. some of them were naked summit was every piece of hair on their bodies and they had to wear signs. it was primarily from the

misogyny. >> can you tell us about what happened? >> the nazi was a good political actor. they had already sent in the '30's that had been stolen from germany years ago, german or flemish. they knew where every painting and every museum.

every painting that they could justify was dramatic or would plan to go back to germany, the firm where he was born. number one. >> members choose a news the collection. but it didn't make any difference to take those paintings out. and they sold a lot of the paintings in order to get cash. but besides that there was a lot of march and then that

allowed the and to go into the museum for pro but there they burned all lot but they also but i think i thought maybe it was 20 or 30 trips to paris during the period and fortunately a woman and that was keeping track to every piece of art this is a story he was extraordinarily

chatty and is terrible. [laughter] o lot of the germans were a lot better with the potential value. one of the interesting thing is here is a man who already painted the most famous anti-war painting ever painted with the exposition in which he attacks.

just like so many innocent people. many germans consider to be a jew because he had darker skin and certainly hispanic. and he stayed. but when? said he was one of the richest to the point with the germans visited him and went to his studio. and they raided his lockbox but they did not steal from it.

there were two types of german attitudes. the story was i don't know but he was in the studio. he later sent it out all over the world there germans pointed out it the big photograph vance said you did this? they said no. you did. the germans visited and he survived without any undue discomfort but it had been

emptied by the french by the time the germans got there. when the germans got there there is nothing there but statutes and empty walls and they cannot stop and there is nothing to see. but many of those museums realized after the bombing of britain in the 30's that was very vulnerable to the air attack. and then to be spread out across the fear of destruction.

that gentleman. >> can you hear? >> the part of the time did you feel in your book about his life later and did he participate in the resistance at all? >> he was trying to get out of france. he was algerian. anyone did to get back to algeria that was controlled by the other government and did get rid of france -- out of france for a while but

then the doctor recommended butted 1942 the germans were published and that was tough philosophical argument about a suicide. >> the life-saving had was a reference. but otherwise the book was published but they came back and he went back down to breeze better and for the endeavor the occupation to join the public newspaper and was very, very active with the