European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

When the first people were arrested we realized we needed a new form of organization.

This was not specific for Nanterre. We were not used to working or organizing ourselves undercover.

The instructions we got from the Communist Youth or from the Communist Party were to organize in triangles.

We were to get together in groups of three comrades.

In case of an arrest we could only give away two names under torture.

One out of the three was responsible.

We formed a sort of spider web, with these triangles, on all levels of the organization.

That was the structure of the clandestine organization of the Communist Party, which then applied to the French snipers and partisans.

We structured ourselves by regions and sectors.

The regions were numbered (I was in region 7) and then there were the sectors.

Our sector comprised three or four municipalities around Nanterre.

One of our comrades had a big garage at his parent’s house.

There was a little pavilion where we installed our material.

With our manual duplicator, we produced leaflets.

Our leaders gave us these announcements for resistance and we had to reproduce leaflets and distribute them.

We usually did that at night, which was very dangerous

because there was a curfew from 22h00 until 6h00 in the morning.

One was only allowed outside with an Ausweis (pass) issued by the police or by the Germans.

It’s strange when you think about it: nowadays our mailboxes are filled with advertisement,

in those days we were risking our lives, risking being arrested, beaten and tortured.