Humbert Agnes - Resistance: Memoirs of Occupied France

Rsistance

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Louis David: peintre et conventionnel

Die franzsische Malerei, von den Anfngen zum Impressionismus

Vu et entendu en Yougoslavie

Max Lingner (with Henri Barbusse)

Les Nabis et leur poque, 18881900

Gaston Diehl. Henri Matisse

La Sculpture contemporaine au Muse national d'art moderne de Paris

Bonnard, Vuillard et les Nabis (with Bernard Dorival)

Henri Matisse, dessins

Jean-Jacques Morvan

Maurice Denis (exhibition catalogue)

Memoirs of Occupied France

Agns Humbert

Translated from the French
and with notes by Barbara Mellor

Afterword by Julien Blanc

First published in Great Britain 2008

Notre Guerre by Agns Humbert Editions Emile-Paul Frres, 1946
This edition Tallandier Editions 2004

English translation by Barbara Mellor 2008

This electronic edition published 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

The right of Agns Humbert to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

The publisher and translator would like to thank all sources for permission to reproduce the following extracts: page 309 from Sisters in Resistance, a film by Maia Wechsler; page 309 from Honor dEstienne dOrves, Rose et Philippe Honor dEstienne dOrves, Editions France Empire, 1999; pages 311 and 313 from Il sappelait Pierre Brossolette, Gilberte Brossolette et Jean-Marie Fitre, Editions Albin Michel, Paris S.A., 1976; page 312 from Pierre Brossolette, Hros de la Rsistance, Ren Ozouf, Librairie Gedalge, 1946; pages 314, 316, 319 and 321 from Gross-Paris, Place de la Concorde. 19411944 by Ernst Roskothen; page 322 from Encore Vous Sabbagh! by Pierre Sabbagh, Editions Stock, 1984; page 323 from Vu et Entendu en Yougoslavie, Agns Humbert, Editions des Deux Rives, 1950, courtesy of the Sabbagh family

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

eISBN: 978-1-40880-162-8

www.bloomsbury.com/agneshumbert

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When I first came upon Notre Guerre in its evocative 1946 edition I was unfamiliar with the text or its author. Soon, however, I was overwhelmed by the power and immediacy of the narrative, by the raw intensity of the subject matter, and by the compelling presence of Agns Humbert herself. First-hand, contemporaneous accounts of epoch-making events are rare; how much rarer, then, to find an account such as this, brimming with life and humour, passion and humanity, generosity and courage? Surely it deserved to be more widely known? Surely it should be made available in an English translation?

Rarely can a translation project and the accompanying research have received such committed support from so many quarters eloquent testimony in itself to the importance of Agns Humbert's memoir. First and foremost I am indebted to Rod Kedward, who fired my interest in the French Resistance at Sussex University and who has been a generous and infinitely learned mentor throughout this absorbing venture. To Nancy Wood I owe valuable insights into the essential and often undervalued role of women in the Resistance. Maia Wechsler kindly sent me her moving and illuminating film Sisters in Resistance. Catherine Clarke of the Felicity Bryan Literary Agency was generous in her finely judged advocacy of the project. At Bloomsbury, Bill Swainson guided it to publication with vision, discernment and aplomb, and Emily Sweet and Lisa Fiske lent the finished edition clarity and distinction. In France, Julien Blanc was unhesitating in his encouragement; Antoine Sabbagh offered a direct link with his remarkable grandmother and poignant mementos of her life and captivity; and Henri Bovet at Tallandier supported this English language edition from the beginning.

Gwen Chessell, Alison Dufour, Jo King, Ann Mellor, Jo Mountford and Joan Rushton provided greatly valued research and support; Wendy Dallas was as ever a peerless friend and colleague; and Gavin, Lucy and Jim Harding were the best and most forbearing of companions who made it all possible.

It has been an immense privilege to work on this translation; it is dedicated to the memory of Agns Humbert and her comrades.

Barbara Mellor, 2008

Agns Humbert in 1921, with her son Jean at Ploumanac'h. (With permission from Antoine Sabbagh)

Agns Humbert, 1930s. (With permission from Antoine Sabbagh)

Georges-Hanna Sabbagh, Les Devoirs de Vacances (Holiday Homework), 1924. (With permission from Antoine Sabbagh)

The Palais de Chaillot, which housed the Muse de l'Homme and its sister institution, the Muse des Arts et Traditions Populaires. (Charles E. Rotkin / Corbis)

Paris, 24 June 1940: Adolf Hitler and his party stroll in triumph down the Champ de Mars from the Eiffel Tower towards the Muse de l'Homme. ( Bettmann / Corbis)

Under the scorching sun of June 1940 the terrified people of Paris fled in unspeakable confusion, watched helplessly by their own defeated soldiers. (Roger Viollet/ Topfoto)

Civilians have their papers scrutinized before crossing the demarcation line between Occupied and unoccupied France (here at Moulins). (Etablissement de Communication et de Production Audio-visuel de la Dfense)

Boris Vild, linguist, ethnographer and specialist in polar civilizations. (Comit de l'Histoire de la 2e Guerre Mondiale, Paris)

Anatole Lewitsky, head of the European-Asiatic department at the Muse de l'Homme and world authority on Siberian shamanism. (Comit de l'Histoire de la 2e Guerre Mondiale, Paris)

Pierre Walter, society photographer and debonair man-about-town. (All rights reserved)

Lon-Maurice Nordmann, prominent Jewish lawyer and associate of Jewish socialist former prime minister Lon Blum. (Comit de l'Histoire de la 2e Guerre Mondiale, Paris)

Ren Snchal, an eighteen-year-old accountant at the outbreak of war. (Comit de l'Histoire de la 2e Guerre Mondiale, Paris)

Pierre Brossolette, prominent left-wing journalist and broadcaster. (Comit de l'Histoire de la 2e Guerre Mondiale, Paris)

Yvonne Oddon, highly respected chief librarian at the Muse de l'Homme. (All rights reserved)

Jean Cassou, distinguished writer, art critic and poet. (Collections Muse de l'Ordre de la Libration, Paris)

Simone Martin-Chauffier, writer and translator. (Comit de l'Histoire de la 2e Guerre Mondiale, Paris)

Claude Aveline (Evgen Avtsine), influential poet and writer. (