hich started on 18 August 1944, Saint-Denis was liberated by General Leclerc on 27 August 1944.
After the war, the economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s hit the city, which was heavily dependent on its heavy industry.
During the 1990s, however, the city started to grow again. The 1998 FIFA World Cup provided an enormous impulse; the main stadium for the tournament, the Stade de France, was built in Saint-Denis, along with many infrastructural improvements, such as the extension of the metro to Saint-Denis-Université.
Since 2000, Saint-Denis works together with seven neighbouring communes (Aubervilliers, Villetaneuse, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Épinay-sur-Seine, L'Île-Saint-Denis (since 2003), Stains (since 2003) and La Courneuve (since 2005) in Plaine Commune.
In 2003, together with Paris, Saint-Denis hosted the second European Social Forum
