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1. What is your new book
about? WE CHOSE RESISTANCE is a WW2 story about a
stubborn, poorly armed, volunteer ‘army’ in rural France that helped turn the
tide of war in 1944. My characters, like the true French Resistance, proceed
with the best of intentions—to rid France of an oppressive occupying enemy.
Their actions, however, sometimes have tragic consequences. Battles will be
won, yes, but at a cost. Friendships will realign, families will separate, and
sacred beliefs will be questioned
2. What was the resistance like — who was a part of it and what did it do? Those who supported or fought for the French Resistance included farmers, shop owners, clergy, working people, landed aristocracy and even members of the Vichy Government, a puppet bureaucracy set up when France was divided in half in 1940. Resistance members had major political differences, but chose to put those aside to fight Hitler, their common enemy. In 1943 the enemy began recruiting young people to work in their factories. Distraught family members encouraged their children to hide or leave home. A groundswell of men and women aged 15-25 joined the Resistance movement during this time.
3. Anyone in the resistance risked their life. Why did they do it? Henri Pean, a Catholic curate in central France, helped the oppressed and downed Allied aviators escape through the ‘Marie-Claire’ Resistance network. Pean also gathered intelligence for the Allies. In 1944 his actions were discovered. He was arrested and tortured. He died on a train headed for German concentration camps.
Viscomtesse Marie Therese de Poix, also from central France, worked with Henri
Pean. She helped people targeted by the Nazi regime escape France until her
activities were also discovered. Arrested by the gestapo and sent to
Ravensbruck in 1943, she survived.
Chantal de Pouilly and her family risked everything to hide downed, injured, Allied pilots in their home. Her siblings were part of a Resistance network that helped oppressed people leave occupied France. Chantal’s story inspired my curiosity about local Resistance activities that helped win the war.
Jean Moulin, whom Charles DeGaulle named defacto head of the French Resistance. Moulin is credited with unifying the Resistance movement, integrating their political differences, instilling discipline and giving structure to the fractured organization. He was captured by the Nazi Gestapo’s notorious Klaus Barbie and tortured. He died from his injuries in Metz, France.
4. How does your story expose the hardships the French Resistance endured to help defeat such a powerful enemy? My story focuses on the importance of trust in relationships. During WW2, it was important to know a person’s background. Members of the Resistance had only each other to rely upon. Sometimes local communities viewed them as ‘terrorists’ because of their actions. Often, the occupying regime would kill or torture innocent French following Resistance actions against the Reich, so secretiveness was imperative. To keep hidden, many Resisters lived rough in forests throughout France, often scrounging for food and weapons. Some had only a family’s hunting rifle for protection, or if they were lucky, weapons stolen from the Germans. It wasn’t until late in 1943 that better guns were obtained through the Allies.
5. Is it true that some people in France supported the Hitler regime? Yes. Prior to the war, France was in political turmoil and some French thought the German occupation brought order to the country. The far left (socialists and communists) had formed what’s called the popular front. Their liberal views are often touted as being the reason for France’s downfall, but in fact, militarily, the Germans had superior tanks and outwitted the French strategically.
The country was divided in half after the takeover, and a former WW1 war hero, Marechal Petain, was appointed Vice Premier of Vichy by Hitler. Petain antagonized many French with his traditional demands: that women stay home and not work, for instance. His changing of the national motto from Liberty, Equality and Fraternity to Work, Family, Labor was very unpopular. Petain also turned on the Jewish population and blamed them, along with the liberals, for the downfall of France. His actions, while not fascist, were seen as being very authoritarian. It is Petain who developed the Milice, a French police force dedicated to finding and arresting members of the Resistance. There is an excellent article about this time in Smithsonian magazine. See: Was Vichy France a Puppet Government or a Willing Nazi Collaborator? written by Lorraine Boissoneault on November 9, 2017.
6. What type of research about the rural
resistance in France did you undertake? My
research began with interviews. While having dinner with French friends,
familial stories of the Resistance emerged. Elderly family members who were
children during WW2 recounted family involvement with the Resistance.
Interviews with Chantal de Pouilly before she died, and two other elderly
French citizens helped to clarify what the occupation was like, who
participated in Resistance movements, and how even children had a part to play.
Further research involved reading about the French Resistance, particularly
books about local ‘circuits,’ such as the ones in towns near where I live— La
Ferte St. Aubin and Souesmes. The circuits there were betrayed by enemy
informants within their communities. Some publications of GRAHS (Groupe de
Recherches Archaeoloques et Historiques were also
instrumental. And to better understand the Resistance itself, I
visited museums throughout France dedicated to the movement.
7. When you came upon firsthand accounts of what these Resistance
fighters risked and did, what most sticks out? The hard choices they had to make. If they choose to follow their
inner conscience, they endangered not only themselves but their families. It
took courage to decide to go against such a powerful political structure as
Hitler’s Reich. Sometimes Resistance members completely cut ties with their
families and friends to protect them.
8. What allowed
for these untrained ordinary citizens to overcome numerous limitations and
fears to make valuable contributions to the defeat of the enemy? The courage and dedication of those who joined
the Resistance movement carried them through. But also, Churchill’s Special
Operations Executive (SOE) agents began developing networks in France with the
Resistance. By 1944, the two very different entities had formed an alliance
that helped win the war. The Resistance often hid SOE couriers, and couriers
helped organize Resistance efforts in tandem with Allied actions.
9. What inspired you to
write this book? Interviews
with Chantal de Pouilly and two others who lived during that time. Also, when I
began writing this, there seemed to be limited knowledge of how the Resistance helped
prepare the ground prior to the Allied invasion on June 6, 1944—especially
regarding small, local, actions. Americans with whom I spoke knew little about
the French Resistance movement or about the politics that led to its creation.
10. It’s the 80th
anniversary of the end of World War II. Upon reflection, what role did
resistance play in the war? For me, the Resistance movement was instrumental to the Allied success.
Their efforts and sacrifices remind me of early American colonists who fought a
well-armed British monarchy. Both groups risked everything to defend their
rights: freedom from tyranny and independence from authoritarianism.
For more information, please see: https://www.margiebucheit.com/
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