Le Caveau de la Huchette dates as far back as the 16^th century when it was a used as a meeting place for the Rosicricians and the Templars.[1] In 1772, almost two centuries later, the building was converted and transformed into a secret freemason lodge.[2] The building served this purpose until 1789 when it came to be known as le Caveau de la Terreur and was used by both the 'Club des Cordeliers' and 'des Montgards' during the French Revolution.[3] It is believed that even Robespierre was known to have frequented the establishment during the Revolution.[4] The lower rooms of the building were used for some of the executions during the Revolutions Terror and have been preserved in their original condition to this day.[5] It would be almost another two centuries before Le Caveau de la Huchette would open in 1946 as a jazz club in the aftermath of the Second World War.[6] With France's liberation Paris was celebrating its return to freedom at the same time that American GI's were helping jazz and be-bop exploded in the city.[7] When the club first opened it was called "le Caveau de Terreur" a reminder of the buildings history in Paris.[8] The club was frequented and home to some of the most famous jazz musicians of all time such as Sidney Bechet who performed there frequently.[9],[10] In 1970 Dany Doriz took over ownership of the club and put a large dancefloor in the main cellar turning Le Caveau de la Huchette into the club that it is today.[11] In 2016 the critically acclaimed film La La Land by Damien Chazelle featured Le Caveau de la Huchette as a part of its 1940s/50s backdrop.

Although jazz existed in Paris prior to the Second World War it was not until the break of war in 1939 that Jazz would really begin to grab a foothold in Paris and establish itself a truly Parisian form of music. When jazz first entered Paris in WWI it was not much more than an imported novelty for the French to participate in.[12] It was after the start of WWII with most foreign musicians leaving Paris leaving only French musicians that jazz was truly transformed into a French institution.[13] However, jazz would encounter many obstacles in the war years on its journey to becoming a staple of Parisian culture. As one author puts it, "although Jazz was alive at the time, it was not well, and its performance and the lives of those that performed it were difficult."[14] The Nazi party and the Third Reich were violently opposed to jazz music and took measures to outlaw it during their reign as it was a non-Germanic music rooted in African American culture.[15] As early as October of 1935 the Nazi party was attempting to outlaw Jazz when Goebbels's banned the broadcasting of any jazz music and established a committee to determine what qualified as jazz music.[16] When Germany hosted the Olympic Games in 1936 they even went as far as to play jazz-like music on the radio but not actually jazz so they could create a fake façade of cultural tolerance.[17] In the war years participating in the performance, consumption, and culture of jazz became incredibly difficult as Nazi oppression attempted to root it out. Those that chose to resist and continue to first for the survival of jazz did so through listening to foreign radio stations, collecting records, distributing new musical sheets and performing jazz live and in studios, all of which went against Nazi law.[18] Participating in jazz became a show of opposition to the Nazi regime and an outlet for increasing hatred pointed at oppressive policies and war.[19] Jazz was a sign of opposition to the events that were unfolding under the Third Reich, not only in Paris but in Germany as well where citizens used jazz as protest to what their regime was doing.[20] Jazz quickly became an avenue for producing expressions of opposition to the Nazis in both a formal and material form.[21] In Paris efforts were made to protect Jazz from Nazi suppression by doing things such as changing song names and leaving out musicians names where possible.[22] Jazz was a tool to fight the oppression that Parisians suffered under Nazi occupation, "Its appeal was more than just escapism, it was also political. Jazz made an ideological statement. With its unrestrained style and African-American origins, it became the antithesis of everything for which fascism stood."[23] In the postwar years jazz continued to thrive in clubs like Le Caveau de la Huchette as a French institution through which the people could make political and ideological statements.

[1] "From Revolution to Today." CAVEAU DE LA HUCHETTE. Accessed March 19, 2019.

[2] "Un peu d'Histoire." CAVEAU DE LA HUCHETTE. Accessed March 19, 2019.

[3] "From Revolution to Today."

[4] "From Revolution to Today."

[5] "Un peu d'Histoire."

[6] Contat, Michel. "De Sidney Bechet à "La La Land", L'incroyable Histoire Du Caveau De La Huchette." Télérama. Accessed March 19, 2019.

[7] "From Revolution to Today."

[8] Contat.

[9] "Un peu d'Histoire."

[10] "From Revolution to Today."

[11] Contat.

[12] Pelzer, John D. "Django, Jazz and the Nazis in Paris." History Today 51, no. 10 (October 2001): 34.

[13] Pelzer, 38.

[14] Sánchez-Seco, Fernando C. "The Frankfurt Hot Club Jazz Band under the Nazis: Much More than Music." Law & Humanities 12, no. 2 (November 2018): 185.

[15] Kater, Michael H. "Forbidden Fruit? Jazz in the Third Reich." American Historical Review 94, no. 1 (February 1989): 15-6.

[16] Kater, 16.

[17] Kater, 17.

[18] Sánchez-Seco, 185.

[19] Sánchez-Seco, 199-200.

[20] Sánchez-Seco, 200.

[21] Sánchez-Seco, 203.

[22] Pelzer, 38.

[23] Pelzer, 36.

Contat, Michel. "De Sidney Bechet à "La La Land", L'incroyable Histoire Du Caveau De La Huchette." Télérama. Accessed March 19, 2019. https://www.telerama.fr/sortir/de-sidney-bechet-a-la-la-land-l-incroyable-histoire-du-caveau-de-la-huchette,153984.php.

"From Revolution to Today." CAVEAU DE LA HUCHETTE. Accessed March 19, 2019. http://www.caveaudelahuchette.fr/2/from_revolution_to_today_621799.html.

Kater, Michael H. "Forbidden Fruit? Jazz in the Third Reich." American Historical Review 94, no. 1 (February 1989): 11-43. doi:10.2307/1862076.

Pelzer, John D. "Django, Jazz and the Nazis in Paris." History Today 51, no. 10 (October 2001): 33-9. https://proxy.library.brocku.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=30h&AN=5270369&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Sánchez-Seco, Fernando C. "The Frankfurt Hot Club Jazz Band under the Nazis: Much More than Music." Law & Humanities 12, no. 2 (November 2018): 184–203. doi:10.1080/17521483.2018.1514948.

"Un peu d'Histoire." CAVEAU DE LA HUCHETTE. Accessed March 19, 2019. http://www.caveaudelahuchette.fr/1/un_peu_d_histoire_715972.html.