European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

The school has now disappeared to make way for the University Paris X.

I went to that school until the age of 13 and got my Elementary School Certificate - Certificat d’Etudes.

To please my teacher, I took an entry test for high school, but it was not my goal.

At the time my brother had just been born,

my mother was not working because she had a heart disease.

We needed to call the doctor often and my father was only a worker, so we were not very rich.

On one hand, I wanted to contribute to the family by working.

On the other hand, I wanted

to be free and independent. That was even more important.

So at the age of 14, I started working.

That was in 1937/1938, during the first crisis, and unemployment was a big issue.

As I had learned no trade, I did a little bit of everything.

I worked in a toy factory; I also worked unloading the little boats on the Seine.

I was not very picky about the work, as it was quite hard to find a job at the time.

Song about the conspiracy

‘There is a word: the underground.

What does it mean? No one knows.

It’s a heavenly attraction, rather poor board.

An illusion, air, ether, mist?

Yet quite essential it is!