These Jews fought for freedom in France

During the German occupation of France from 1940-1945 groups of resistants sprang up in all areas. Many were allied to political movements (especially communists), but the network established at Vabre (Tarn) was unusual in that it was composed mainly of protestant and Jewish resistants. Young men and women who were hiding from forced labour deportations (and worse) were under the leadership of "Pol Roux", the code name of Guy de Rouville who died this week aged 101.
Many of the 450 members of what was the only Jewish resistant group joined the army of liberation and de Rouville founded the association "Amicale des Maquis de Vabre" and a museum in the village of Vabre.

Guy de Rouville aged 100

On a day when our villages have been marked by what many see as perversion of catholic history, especially by groups whose anti-Semitism and nazi sympathies are at odds with the principles of the republic, it is good to remember that there were brave  Frenchmen and women who stood up for freedom from tyranny.
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