Official stamp of the Réseau Alliance. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

My attention is always drawn to stories about the brave members of the resistance movements who fought the Germans in their respective occupied countries. These men and women were always aware of their potential fatal outcomes if caught but largely ignored it to continue the fight for liberation. I’ve written in the past about some of these fighters including Nancy Wake (read here), the Boulloche sisters (read here), the Sussex Plan (read here), Rose Valland (read here), and the SOE—Special Operations Executive (read here).

Today, I’ll introduce you to the remarkable Hedgehog and the other animals of Noah’s Ark, one of the most successful résistance réseaux (resistance networks) operating in France during the German Occupation.

Did you Know?

Nazi concentration camp prisoners (i.e., those chosen for labor and not sent directly to the gas chambers) received a number tattooed on their arm. The misconception is that all camps tattooed their prisoners. That is not true. Only Auschwitz and two of its sub camps, Birkenau and Monowitz, practiced tattooing the prisoners. Learn more in our next blog, The Auschwitz Tattooist.

The French Resistance

Most people have the mistaken idea that the French resistance movement was a single organization comprised of men and women with the same motivation: identify and sabotage strategic German targets for the purpose of driving the occupiers out of France. It’s not that simple.

Strasbourg France memorial for the Réseau Alliance agents executed by the Nazis on 23 November 1944. Photo by Rolf Krahl (2014). © Rolf Krahl. PD-Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0. Wikimedia Commons.

The French Resistance movement was largely comprised of hundreds of independent networks, each with its own set of politics, motivations, and specific purposes. These networks were Communist, apolitical, right-leaning, left-leaning, and Christian democratic. Resistance activity began to gain strength after Hitler attacked Soviet positions in eastern Poland on 22 June 1941 in violation of the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Prior to the German attack, French communist resistance activities were not allowed by Moscow.

Eventually, Charles de Gaulle assigned Jean Moulin the task of uniting and organizing the various resistance networks. In May 1943, Moulin created the Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR) under which the primary networks would coordinate their activities with the Free French Forces of the Interior. Read More Noah’s Ark

One of the biggest disappointments of our recent trip to Paris was the inability to visit Picasso’s apartment studio where he lived and worked for almost twenty years including the entire four years of the German occupation. There are numerous photos of Picasso in the apartment and I was hoping to be able to present them to you along with contemporary images. Oh well—hopefully the building owners and the French government can work something out to allow visitors to the attic apartment (more on this later).

Despite an exodus of artists and gallery owners prior to the Germans entering Paris on 14 June 1940 and numerous offers to sponsor him in America, Pablo Picasso decided to remain in Paris. To this day, the real reason for why he stayed is unknown and can only be speculated.

There were three primary reasons why Picasso might have considered leaving France and conversely, reasons to be worried about his safety while remaining in Paris. First, the Nazis had declared his work to be “degenerate” art and eventually destroyed many of his paintings. Second, Picasso supported the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War and as such, was an opponent of fascism and Hitler. Third, Picasso was suspected of being a Communist or at least having Communist sympathies. The one thing he did have in his favor was an international reputation that may have protected him. Learn more here.

Picasso was kept under constant surveillance during the occupation. German officers would visit him in his attic apartment−studio, and “hideout” at 7, rue des Grands Augustins (aka Grenier des Grands Augustins) in the Left Bank’s sixth district. Sometimes the Gestapo visits were to interrogate him. Other visits were by German officers wanting to meet and talk with the world-famous painter.

7, rue des Grands Augustins. Photo by Mbzt (6 January 2012). PD-Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

Tag: French Resistance

Noah’s Ark

Did you Know?

The French Resistance

Picasso’s Wartime Man Cave

Let’s Meet Pablo Picasso

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