European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Gradually we felt a certain degree of liberation, but we were in such a state, we barely reacted.

Take my case: I weighed 70kg/72kg upon my arrival, I used to do exercise, to bike, I was strong.

In the end I had reached half my weight: 35kg/36kg.

Under those conditions, so weak, things don’t work the same way anymore, including reactions and the way the brain works.

But we also started to take deep breaths of fresh air, telling ourselves that it was over.

When we were liberated, they put us onto wagons, depending on the region we were going to.

I went back to Rouen. There were three or four of us. We had lost hundreds of friends.

Upon our arrival there were ambulances waiting for us, taking us where we told them to. In my case, that was to my parents.

The arrival at home was different for each of us. The parents were all different from each other of course.

I arrived home in the morning and my mother was there.

She was a textile worker, but they sometimes had days off, and she was home. Ah! That was …!

My father arrived in the evening. He was a coppersmith, working very hard. He was also very firm.

He said:

“So there you are! Where are you coming from?”

Quite nice. That was how he was. I had already imagined it would be that way. But things got straightened out in the end.

I had been called to the police headquarters because a family was asking for information about their son.

I hesitated for a long time, but finally I decided to go, as it was to help.

When I walked into the police office, one of these individuals who had arrested me, entered.

I did a huge leap, with my 35kg at the time, yelling at the police officer:

“Ask that cop what he did in the night of October 21st, 1941!” I made a big fuss.