European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)
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In 1936 we participated in the Trade Union’s activities. We participated in the strikes and then I joined the Communist Youth Movement.
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It meant that we had to prepare ourselves to go undercover. We were in a semi-undercover state.
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The Communist Party and the Communist Youth Movement had been outlawed, which caused a lot of turmoil.
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My father, who had anarchist tendencies,
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asked me if I was going to stop my activities as he thought I was going to pay dearly.
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I answered him, that it was my business. I was 17 at the time and argued: “Should one stop just because…”
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I asked him how he could work as a coppersmith on ships in 1936/1937 and not even join the trade union.
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We had quite a discussion. He himself was not politically active. That took some effort and he worked a lot.
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We had to keep a low profile. You can not really call it undercover; we were known to the police.
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So we had to take some precautionary measures:
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Only going out at night, and also being careful because of police raids. It was extremely difficult. But we did not give up.
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When distributing leaflets we would try to go out at night, but also not too often, because one had to be careful.
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Under these circumstances I became politically active, at work and in my daily life.
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Introduction: family, school, work
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My name is Lucien Ducastel. I am from the Seine-Maritime, in Normandy.
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For three years, I was an apprentice butcher, but did not like it at all. I started working in construction, as a metal worker.
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I worked very hard.
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My parents, my father was a metal worker, a hard working man. He repaired ships.
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Sometimes he worked on two or three ships a week. My mother was a textile worker.
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I have my elementary school certificate. I was barely twelve years old.
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