By around 1937 Eva Busch was living and working as a singer and cabaret artist in Paris. She featured on the cabaret stage with Suzy Solidor. She met Picasso, Cocteau and Giraudoux. She appeared for the first time in the cabaret of in January 1939. She also featured as a singer on the radio stations and began to make recordings. In May/June 1940 the German invasion of northern France took her by surprise. During the first part of the decade Paris had been a welcoming refuge for political refugees from Nazi Germany, but as international tensions increased French immigration policy had become less welcoming. By 1940 all the German born residents were obliged to register their address with their local town hall, and report to the local authorities once per week. That meant that once the Germans invaded and the government worked out what to do, the authorities had up to date information on the whereabouts of the many German exiles in Paris. Like all the registered German born citizens of Paris she was identified as an enemy alien and invited to report to the Winter Velodrome. Here they were detained, held for a few days in Paris, and then transported to the Gurs internment camp in the far southwest of the country where Busch remained between May and July 1940.