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A Ballerina Who Stabbed an SS Guard With a Stiletto and Other Historic Rebels

Khalid Elhassan August 10, 2020 34 min

33. Sabotaging a Landmark to Spite Hitler

The Eiffel Tower has been one of the world’s most recognizable structures, ever since its inauguration as the entrance to Paris’ 1889 World Fair. It was initially planned as a temporary structure, that would be torn down and sold for scrap after 20 years. Early on, many criticized it as an eyesore, and could not wait until the 20 years were up.

German soldiers near the Eiffel Tower. Pintrest

However, the tower grew on people, and 20 years came and went without it getting torn down. Eventually, the Eiffel Tower became the City of Light’s most popular attraction, and a beloved fixture of the Parisian skyline that only a philistine would dislike. When the Germans captured Paris in 1940, Hitler wanted to savor his conquest from atop the Eiffel Tower. He was thwarted by workers – a de facto budding resistance – who sabotaged the tower to deny the Fuhrer the pleasure of gloating over the captive city.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.