The authorities did not think the war would last long. As a result, solidarity networks for the poor first formed informally based on the model of 19th-century charities at the initiative of private philanthropists and sponsors. The social elite often involved the same individuals as the political elite, and charities began to surface in every one of the twenty administrative divisions or arrondissements. Here, we offer a small sampling of the many charities, with various purposes and recipients, that connected the areas of the capital and appealed to Parisians’ generosity.
Charity sale at the Murat Hotel to help war widows
The number of war widows in France by war's end has been estimated at 600,000. War widows were the primary beneficiaries of this charity sale.
Poster, June 16, 1919
