Villard-de-Lans in the 1930s. Postcard (Public domain).

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The choice of Villard-de-Lans

The choice of Villard-de-Lans

Charpters

1. Before
2. Origins
3. The participants
4. Daily life
5. ”A school unlike any other”
6. Fighting
7. Twilight
8. The aftermath
9. Today

Grenoble seemed an ideal location: a university town with numerous refugees, including the Warsaw elite, and close to neutral, benevolent Switzerland. The final choice was a more discreet village in the surrounding area: Villard-de-Lans and its many hotels that had been deserted since the beginning of the war.

Where should the new high school be established? Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski visited the universities with Polish-language departments: Toulouse, Montpellier, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon and finally Grenoble on 24 September. Grenoble was a university town that hosted many Polish students. Among them were demobilised soldiers who, after challenging journeys, had found refuge there. Some of the pre-war intelligentsia had gathered there: former ministers, ambassadors, senior civil servants, magistrates, artists, etc. The prefecture (government administration buildings) for Isère, a department with a long history of Polish immigration, was also in Grenoble. Finally, a further benefit was that Grenoble is close to Switzerland, which was considered to be neutral and benevolent.

Lubicz-Zaleski met the rector of the Sarrailh academy and its representative, a Polonophile teacher named Ambroise Jobert. He obtained a commitment from the academy that it would oversee the school and that the French authorities would recognise the diplomas awarded. The rector suggested that, rather than Grenoble, the high school should be based in a discreet village not too far away, Villard-de-Lans: a tourism-oriented community where hotels were plentiful, and empty. Lubicz-Zaleski also met with Czesław Bobrowski-Korolko, who organised the reception centres for Poles in France: a collaboration was agreed.

On 28 September, Lubicz-Zaleski and Godlewski were called to Vichy for a summit meeting with representatives of the government in exile. The principle of a new high school was accepted, on the basis that it would keep the name of the old one. It would be established in Villard-de-Lans.

2.5.1 “I went to Villard yesterday. It 's magnificent. I 'm very hopeful.”

Extract from a letter from Wacław Godlewski to Marcel Malbos (Association Mémoire du lycée polonais - Polish High School Memorial Association).

—Wacław Godlewski, headmaster. Correspondence with Marcel Malbos

” On Saturday morning, I was greeted in Vichy by some quite friendly handshakes and kind, if not joyous, smiles. They ‘d been waiting for me since Friday. Messrs Zaleski, Kawałkowski and Domański quickly invited me to discuss the general state of affairs. There ‘s always a lot of talk, everywhere, because talking helps to hide reality, to cover up evil with the illusion that something is being done. Even when action is taken, talking conceals the relativity and fleeting nature of the present moment and allows us to endure.

” So. I learnt that the fate of the school was still up in the air…. But, finally, after few hours, everything became clearer and was decided. The school will be located in Villard-de-Lans, 30 km from Grenoble, in a large château hotel rented expressly for this purpose.”

Two days later, Godlewski was on site.

” I ‘ve got my hands full and the coming days are going to be even busier. I am arranging a pied à terre in Grenoble. I went to Villard yesterday. It ‘s magnificent. The site, hotel, climate, sports ground… I ‘m very hopeful.”

2.5.2 Villard-de-Lans in the 1940s.

Place de la Mairie, Villard-de-Lans, in the 1930s. Postcard (Public domain).

—Anonymous.

At the end of the 19th century, Villard-de-Lans had become more than just a farming and forestry community. The village had gained a reputation as a tourist resort. By 1926, it was also a “health spa” from which tuberculosis carriers – a real scourge at the time – and other seriously contagious patients were excluded from visiting. Numerous establishments were created, all under strict medical supervision. They mainly catered for children, but also for adults who had been advised that their health would benefit from the Vercors fresh air and sunshine.

The war, of course, quickly emptied these hotels and children ‘s homes. The Polish school had no problem finding accommodation for its two hundred students and teachers of both sexes.

In 1940, the commune of Villard-de-Lans had a population of around two thousand three hundred people. The mayor of Villard had been René Mure-Ravaud since 1935. He was involved in the development of Villard as a health resort. From 1940 to 1944, he took risks to defend a population that was seriously compromised in the eyes of the occupying forces.

From September 1944 to May 1945, he was replaced by Édouard Masson. His term of office was the same as that of the Liberation Committee, which was set up as everywhere else in France while new elections were organised. A banker, Édouard Masson played a major role in financing the Resistance.

In May 1945, René Mure-Ravaud was re-elected mayor, a post he held for a record twenty-five years.

2.5.3 The Hôtel du Parc et du Château.

The Hôtel du Parc et du Château in the 1930s. Postcard (Public domain).

—Anonymous.

The main building of the Hôtel du Parc and the Château was a mansion dating from the second half of the 18th century, as confirmed by a stone lintel dated 1761. It was built by the wealthy cloth merchant Jean Piffard, whose heiress Marie-Rose married the notary Gabriel Antoine Jullien. The property passed to their son, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-Gabriel, also a notary, who was mayor of Villard-de-Lans from 1810 to 1817, and again from 1822 to 1835. His time in office was marked by the steady development of the plateau ‘s roads.

The house was extended in 1827: a west wing with high arched basket-handle windows. Soon afterwards, it passed into the hands of the Bertrand family, other Villard notables originally from Autrans, who gave the buildings the name “château” , which has remained to this day.

The Baudoingt family became the owners at the beginning of the 20th century, followed by the Guichard family, who in 1929 built the upmarket Hôtel du Parc et du Château in the grounds, on the site of the former stables. By the eve of the Second World War, the hotel had more than fifty rooms, a tennis court, an ice rink, central heating and even a telephone! It was frequented by distinguished guests, such as the King of Morocco, Empress Zita of Austria, and Fernandel.

From October 1940 to June 1946, the Polish high school occupied what its residents called the “Hôtel du Parc” . After the Poles had left, the hotel reopened until 1962. The buildings were then converted into a holiday centre, owned by the city of Avignon. In 2000, the local council bought them with a view to preserving the oldest building for its historical value, and undertook several projects. In 2008, the hotel wing was demolished. In 2018, this was followed by the wing built that was in 1827. Only the “château” remains. It now houses the municipal tourist office, the reservations centre, Radio Oxygène and, in a conservatory added at the garden level, a large multi-purpose space.

2.4The fight continues

Start of the school year2.6