Copyright: Marianne Baisnee/BBC
D-Day events marking the contribution of French men and women who worked for the French Resistance seem somewhat muted, compared to the boisterous array of events commemorating Allied soldiers.
“I don’t forget them. Please don’t forget them,” urges Catherine Nivromont, an elegant, spritely 81-year-old, as she leans forward, intently, in her chair.
Catherine’s brother Pierre was just 17 in 1944. He worked alongside other Resistance members, gathering intelligence on German positions along the Normandy coast, to help Allied forces plan their June assault.
Pierre was in touch with locals who did German soldiers’ laundry. Their clothing was marked with battalion details, revealing the quantity and location of troops.
“Each person played their small part. Under occupation, you had to resist silently. Secretly. You never knew who you could trust.”
Copyright: Marianne Baisnee
Catherine’s dad Robert, who was also in the Resistance, along with Pierre, were eventually betrayed by a Frenchman they’d relied on to help make fake passports for Allied airmen stuck behind enemy lines.
Both men were sent to concentration camps. Her brother to Buchenwald. Her father, to Auschwitz.
“I think his homeland was more important to him than family,” Catherine observes a little sadly. “The risks he took were huge.”
But you’re proud of him, I ask. “Oh yes. So proud. That is why I see it as my job to still visit schools and universities. To tell the youth what the Resistance did. And how much they sacrificed for us.”
It’s thought only 2% of French citizens worked full time for the Resistance, though they relied on a far broader network of people willing to help.
For such a small group, they’ve had a big influence on modern-day France too.
Many in the Resistance were left-leaning. A large proportion, communist. After the war, they helped set up the new French Republic, implementing France’s strong welfare and health system which is still firmly in place today.
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2024-06-06 05:03:45Z
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