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French Resistance books


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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry about the lack of details but there is a book written by an English woman living in France about the resistance and concentration camps in France.

Apparently, she is not very popular in some quarters because it shows some of the collaboration that went on.

The woman was at the French Show in January (was the first name Barbara?).

I will get to read it once the OH has finished it. I will get the name and add it - have been told I need to read it before our next visit so that we can visit some of the sites.

Paul

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I'm about 2/3 through "FRANCE, The Dark Years 1940-1944" by Julian Jackson.  ISBN 978-0-19-925457-6

This covers the resistance but primarily focusses on the Vichy years. It's very useful for putting this whole period in context.

It's a serious read and although I've found parts of it go into a little more detail than I felt I needed, I've found it worth the effort.

I certainly hadn't really appreciated what Vichy was all about.

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Hi, Try ordering this book from Play.com it's called SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE by NIGEL PERRIN The life story of SOE agent HARRY PEULEVE' DSO MC. This is a very interesting read and is based mainly on a triangle from Brive, Bordeaux and Cahors, although he operated in many other parts of France before being captured.

Regards Sam

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Have you been to the Museum de la Resistance in Cahors. Great little museum and you can buy little copies of hand books giving you info about the Resistance. I think it cost me just a few euros. Its at the top of town where the 2 main car parks are,sports centre and the main police station. Sorry but forgot the name of the street. 2 floors full of very interesting information and stories well worth a visit. I don't think they are open everyday or for full days so you will need to check this out.
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  • 1 year later...
The story of the Comet Line is also fascinating.. Set up by Andree de Jongh, an incredibly brave 24yr old Belgian woman, to expedite the return of Allied aircrew shot-down over Belgium, she ran it for 3 years before being betrayed. She was interrogated by the Gestapo before being sent to Ravensbruck where she spent 2 years. She survived and died only in 2007 aged 90. Google any of the key words and read her fascinating and awe-inspiring story. She was awarded the GM after the war. For me, her courage was of the highest order - as a civilian, she had no POW status or Geneva Convention to protect her and her colleagues.

Her base in the SW of France is only 5 mins from here.. I found it a few weeks ago.
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If you read french it's worth looking in the tabac/newsagent for locally written books about the resistance. I've found a few, privately printed and published, which are specially interesting as the activity took place in area that you know, and might even have characters who are still alive and live locally.

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I'm participating in a 3 day march (interspersed with a few opportunities for eating & drinking!) over the Pyrenees in September in the annual commemoration of the Comet Line and one or two of the actual people involved should be there..
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One of the most famous re French Resistance ...Violette Szabo was captured near my part of France . There will be plenty of books on her story and I found this article from 2008.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-608475/Follow-path-pride.html#ixzz0vl7xsFH9

"In June 1944, for anyone fearless enough to fly from London to Limoges, the journey took about four hours. Nowadays Limoges has a lovely airport, reached by airlines such as flybe and Ryanair in little more than 60 minutes.
Sixty-four years ago, however, if you were travelling to this part of France, your worry wouldn't have been about baggage allowance, more the risk of being shot down by the Luftwaffe.
When you reached your destination the pilot would literally drop you off: a parachute would control your descent to a very uncertain welcome. When I landed at Limoges airport earlier this month, the arrival was painless - an immigration official merely glanced at my passport before nodding me through."

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  • 4 weeks later...
I'm reading Love and War in the Pyrenees now. It really gives a great perspective on life in the early forties and a good back drop to what was going on.

It really opens your eyes to the concentration camps on the French beaches and arounf Rivesaltes etc.
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Seeing this topic rise up again got me thinking and doing a little research with regard to the Comet Line.

It just reinforced to me how incredibly brave some of these people were.

They must have known that there were people who would betray them. Capture could mean death but even worse than that the torture before.

There are some monuments and plaques etc. For example, there is one as you head up the hill away from Boulogne sur Gesse towards Aurignac. There is a large monument to the West of L'Isle en Dodon, in Dunes there is a plaque to about 20 people with ages ranging from 17 to their 50s who were strung up with piano wire and in Rieumes a plaque.

I always think when we travel down when the Pyrenees come in to view how close they appear yet how far away they actually are. For those escaping they must have found it difficult the time it actually took to get in to the mountains and eventually to the border. For those of the resistance a glimpse of where they needed to get but knowing the difficulties that still lay ahead.

What wonderful people who do not get the recognition that they rightly deserve. It would be fitting for there to be a book listing where all the monuments are and a little history.

Paul

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there is a "museum de resistance" in Tarbes. And to my undying shame, i've never been.

We spent a week in brittany over the summer and there is a fantastic little 1939-45 museum in dinan (or it could have been dinard) if you are passing. The one piece that even made the kids quiet, was a collection of bullets collected from the wood of trees by the local saw mill.

 

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