Thank you for you work ! I know Jean Moulin might be a “small” figure in the world during world war two, but he was and still is considered one of the major figure of the french resistance. From the day he fled France for Britain, came back to unite the different resistance groups, and got captured, tortured and died at the hands of the nazis, and especially Klaus Barbie.
I have noticed that you haven’t mentionned him yet, even tho he’s been a bit active (September 1941, he join the UK, December 1941, he gets his order to unify the different restance movement and january 1942 he gets parachuted back in France !)
I know he’s kind of a minor figure in WW2, and it might be a bit time consuming to even search on him, but still, I think he deserve a special biography
Keep up the good work ! I’ll be waiting for your next video !
Side story about this- quite a few years ago, we were visiting Paris, and we planned on visiting the French Resistance Museum. While the location was easy to spot thanks to Google, the entrance took some time to find.
Odd that it was so hard to find- kind of played into the thought that for most of the war, the French Resistance was more an annoyance than something significant. Until they helped delay German reaction to the Normandy invasion, and when de Gaulle gave them so much credit for taking Paris.
They have already done some great videos about the Resistance, so it will be interesting to see how they advance.
Yes ! To be honest, even myself (a Frenchman) I did not visit the Musée de la Résistance in Paris, but I have visited a few outside of the capital, including the one in Lyon, and my father did a few donation to the Museum in Nantua.
It is true that the role of the resistance is always exagerated, but now this “Mythe résistancialiste” is well studied even in high school.
But that doesn’t stop us for remembering great sacrifice, like the one of Jean Moulin or the Manouchian group (Affiche Rouge - Wikipedia). Sacrifice of young men and women to stand up against the german occupation.
Recently, the last resistant I was close friend with died of old age, and I will always remember how he told me that his youth had been stolen, and how he would never recover from the loss of his brother who was deported.
I hope we will see a bit more ! But I can understand that it is far from a priority compared to the fight in the east, in the Pacific or Africa.
Thank you Spartacus and the team to share the story of Jean Moulin in the Gallery ! Having him presented along with all those great people is a great honor.
On Dec. 19, 1964, Moulin’s ashes were transferred to the Panthéon in a ceremony attended by President Charles de Gaulle and many surviving members of the Resistance. Cultural minister André Malraux, former member of the Resistance, French army officer, and author, delivered the eulogy that is considered one of the greatest speeches in French history.
One thing I will be interested in (as I’m too lazy to do the research myself, lol…) is how the Resistance in France develops. While there are plenty of thoughts that it was pretty minor (I even read it in a D-Day book- claiming that it was not helpful), there are other historians who point out how effective they were, especially for the invasion and the battle for the entire area. IIRC, one historian has pointed out that one German battle size (I can’t recall the size) was delayed for way over a month to support the battle.
Let alone the French contributions to specific sabotage that was organized by England.