Doing their bit

Part three of a series of three blogs.

Guest written by Brian

My vision of a resistance fighter was someone dressed in dusty, French style work clothes, a beret, maybe a trench coat, stealthily creating havoc around occupied territory with an ancient sub machine gun. There were definitely some that fitted that description, but there were many more that didn’t.

It’s impossible to mention the Second World War without talking about the resistance. They frustrated the nazi war machine at every opportunity, from blowing up bridges to printing newsletters to keep the populace updated on the war effort. There was a vast secret army doing their bit, no matter how small, to make a difference. But big or small, any resistance could be met with severe punishment.

When we visited the Charles de Gaulle museum recently I was struck by one such tale. Charles de Gaulle was to become the image of resistance in France, the man who would take the fight to the nazis. Before he made his open call for resistance however, having fled a divided France for England, he had been stripped of his military titles and sentenced to death by a French, Vichy court in his absence. Effectively exiled as he began his rallying cries, nobody could put a face to this would-be leader, the man that was asking them to risk their lives for him and their country. To help resolve this problem, his sister-in-law and niece, both working for the resistance, slid photographs of the general into secondhand books, and lightly pasted the pages together to hold them there. These books were then distributed by like-minded people, who knew their purpose. It was important to give a face to the man who was asking the people to resist, and his now famous portrait was soon to be recognised by all. This tiny act gave focus to what would become a massive force for resistance, but could easily have cost them their lives. Thankfully they were not caught in the process.

This simple act of defiance was brought beautifully to life in the museum with a set constructed vertically on a wall at the end of a corridor devoted to the resisters. You approach it as you see it below, a striking display that captures your interest and forces you to read their story. It truly is a wonderful museum, more a vibrant story than a dusty collection of artefacts.