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Dr Chris Millington Swansea University c.d.millington@swansea.ac.uk @DrChris82 Frenchhistoryonline.com
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Life in Occupied Paris The Resistance a) De Gaulle and the Free French b) Domestic resistance c) Communist resistance What was ‘resistance’? How many French resisted?
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Above: Pétain meets Hitler at Montoire, Oct.1940 Left: ‘Are you more French than him?’
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1. Street sellers offer them [the Germans] maps of Paris and phrasebooks; buses pour out incessant waves of them in front of Notre-Dame and the Panthéon; there is not one of them who has not got a camera to his eye. Be under no illusion: they are not tourists.
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‘Paris through a Nazi’s Lens’, Daily Mail, 11 September 2013
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No, not in 1940: there was resistance inside and outside France Charles de Gaulle, leader of the London-based Free French Christian Pineau, founder of Libération-Nord
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Based in London De Gaulle speaks to France via the BBC
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Located at the Arc de Triomphe, Paris
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1940-1941: de Gaulle and his comrades are isolated Free French agents, under Dewavrin, operate in France On 2 October 1941 de Gaulle claims to be directing the resistance…… But he has little knowledge of, and contact with, resistance movements in France BBC radio is primary means of actions
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1940: disjointed and diverse Practical problems – such as the Demarcation Line - obstruct operations There are several groups in the North and the South such as Libération-Nord and Libération- Sud – two different groups
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The presence of the Germans makes resistance difficult Groups were fragmented, small, often did not survive Printing materials controlled A 1944 British propaganda poster: ‘French resistance helps throttle the Boche’
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Groups are freer to act than in the North But there is a need to break public complacency Image from a resistance poster
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Vichy propaganda presented the Marshal as the saviour of France and the French
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Jean Moulin Gathers information on the resistance movements during 1941, and meets de Gaulle in London in October that year He was the link between London and France
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Resistance leaders meet with de Gaulle (1942) 13 July 1942, Britain recognises the Free French as leader of the whole resistance Conseil National de la Résistance, created May 1943, under the impetus of Jean Moulin The CNR was ‘the voice of the internal resistance’ (Nick Atkin) The CNR recognised de Gaulle as representative of French interest.
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A Free French poster, showing the Cross of Lorraine
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1940 – French Communist Party is officially neutral 1941 – Nazi invasion of USSR sees a change in policy Communists commit violent attacks against Germans L’Humanité was, and is, the newspaper of French communism
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A Communist recruitment poster: ‘The Irregulars and French Partisans are going to spill their blood for the people of Paris’
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-A vital form of propaganda -Most important in the South -Used for recruitment, spread of ideas, opposition -But how many people read them? -Example of 14 July 1942 – shows public awareness of the Resistance Combat (Southern resistance)
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Published by The Midnight Press Written by Jean Bruller, aka ‘Vercors’ Encouraged ‘moral’ resistance – in this way it reflected the time in which it was written (before 1942) Image from Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1949 film
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Not very! Few French had heard of a movement Only in mid-1942 did the public begin to turn away from Vichy 14 July 1942, first signs of mass public disaffection
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- Women did take part in combat but were more important In logistical and support roles - Fighting still thought of as a man’s job
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Is it simply active resistance? According to US historian Robert Paxton, about 400, 000 French were members or a movement 2 million read the underground press Only in 1943 did French turn away from Vichy The ‘overwhelming majority’ of French were not prepared to resist – they were as good as collaborators
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Should we count minor acts, and passive resistance, too? US historian John Sweets thinks so There were many brave but small acts of resistance outside the movements We need to think again about the meaning of ‘resistance’ Was it enough to just think anti-German thoughts?
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Imagine that Britain was defeated in 1940 The Nazis are in London and a collaborationist government runs the country Visions of a Nazi Britain
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Resist, of course! But, on second thoughts…….
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