European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

On September 3rd, 1939, war was declared.

My father was mobilized as we had become French citizens.

He was sent to the East. But they did not even have weapons.

Unfortunately, I lost my mother at that time and my father came back to take care of the family.

During the time it took him to come home, my aunt and uncle took care of us, my brother and me.

In 1940, when the danger of German occupation was imminent, my aunt wanted us to go to Southern France.

We got to know the so-called “débacle” – the total collapse – during our flight.

We left by foot, pushing our suitcases on bikes.

In Le Mans the Germans caught up with us.

When the Germans got in front of us, we returned to Nanterre.

The city was almost empty at the time.

It was July and Nanterre had been occupied on June 14th, 1940.

There were very few working factories.

I got back in touch with my comrades from the Communist Youth Movement and we started…

how could I best describe it? The people did not understand anything.

They were suddenly imprisoned instead of in a free country.

This happened in less than a month.

The Nazis crossed the French border on May 10th, 1940 and on June 10th they were in Paris.

Everybody was scared and tried to leave.

We did not understand how in this country of freedom,