Revealed for the first time, the defiant French stained glass window portraying Hitler as King Herod

Dailymail.co.uk - Adolf Hitler was portrayed as a blood-thirsty King Herod killing a Jew in a church stained glass window created in France at the height of the Nazi Occupation, it emerged today.

The extraordinary ecclesiastical work of art remained unnoticed for a full 70 years at the St Jacques Church in Montgeron, south of Paris.

If it had been pointed out at the time of its inauguration – in July 1941 – it would have meant almost certain death for those who created it.

Third Reich soldiers were running France with fierce brutality at the time, and anything attacking the German Fuhrer would have been destroyed immediately.

As it was, the colourful window clearly depicts a black fringed Hitler as Herod, the infamous biblical King renowned for slaughtering children.

‘The figure has Hitler’s hair, but his moustache has been hidden behind his arm to avoid serious trouble,’ said Father Dominique Guerin, pastor of the parish.

Now the window is being viewed as a brave symbol of French Resistance during the Occupation of 1940 to 1944.

It was spotted by a journalist earlier this month, and then highlighted by the church authorities.

In the window, Herod is slaughtering St Jacques – French for St James – who represents the Jewish people, using a broadsword. 

‘Very few people have noticed it over the years,’ said local historian Renaud Arpin. ‘This ignorance would have been entirely understandable – if you’d known what it depicted during the war you would have been in a great deal of trouble.’

The Nazi Holocaust was pursued in France with as much vigour as other parts of the Reich, with French administrators and police assisting the Germans in rounding up Jews.

The window was created by a pair of brothers called Maumejean, master glassmakers whose work adorns numerous churches in France.

Mr Arpin said: ‘They often addressed political issues, setting them in a historical context. This would have made sense during the Occupation. It would have been a message of hope and resistance.’

Local MP  Isabelle Bigand-Viviani said: ‘This portrayal of Hitler was an act of artistic and religious resistance. It’s a haunting story showing great nerve on the part of the glassmakers.’

Resistance took many forms during the Second World War – from volunteers blowing up Nazi trains to spying – although the French have often been criticised for not taking part in as much as other occupied countries.

Many French people only took up arms once the Allies had invaded at D-Day in 1944, making the saga of the Montgeron window particularly interesting.