When national memory retains only part of the Resistance

One form of the Resistance that was present throughout France has not entered the national memory, namely, the assistance provided by the civilian population to Allied fugitives – the fallen soldiers and airmen who tried to reach their bases in England. The article sheds light on the processes of invisibilisation that affected an activity that involved tens of thousands of local people, and led to the deaths of several thousand of them as a result of German repression. The text first conducts a counter-investigation to verify the systematic nature of the aid provided. It then examines the reasons for the lack of remembrance on a national scale, which contrasts with the liveliness of local and transnational memories. It concludes by raising the question of a political culture specific to the Resistance, based on civic autonomy and redoubled by the perception of the home as a space of sovereignty.