Des Résistants polonais en Vercors (Polish Resistance Fighters in the Vercors)
"Polish Resistance fighters in the Vercors? Based in a hotel in Villard-de-Lans from 1940 to 1946? The story is little known. At a time when Stalin and Hitler were crushing their homeland, some eight hundred Poles gathered at this school ""unlike any other"", the only free Polish secondary school in occupied Europe. The Cyprian Norwid High School was a school of moral, cultural and military resistance.
Des Résistants polonais en Vercors (Polish Resistance Fighters in the Vercors)
Publications • 2012
Des résistants polonais en Vercors describes the creation of the school, the training of Poland's future elite, the clandestine departures to London, the fighting in Vassieux-en-Vercors and elsewhere, the twenty-five dead and the thirty or so deported, and the return – or not – to the homeland. It also explains how, over the years, links were forged between the inhabitants of the Vercors and the students and teachers at the school, links so strong that these Poles would refer to themselves as ""Villardians""!
This book was made possible by work on preserving the memory of the Cyprian Norwid Polish High School in Villard de Lans carried out by alumni and their children over more than thirty years. It covers the period from 1940 to 1946.
Using eyewitness accounts and Polish historical works, the association aims to inform the general public, as well as historians, students and researchers, about a little-known episode in the history of the Resistance and relations between France and Poland. The book includes historical descriptions, specific explanations and personal accounts from those directly involved.
168 pages, 104 photos and documents - Published by Presses Universitaires de Grenoble - Sold in all good bookshops, by the association and at the Maison du Patrimoine de Villard-de-Lans.
""Packed with photos and anecdotes, this book is particularly moving.” (Charlie Hebdo)