ABSTRACT
I belong to the Voluntary Combatants of the Resistance. My resistance took place in Loir-et-Cher. Before developing what I have to say, I would like to read the last paragraph of the editorial of Mr. Couffrant, to whom tribute was rendered at the Invalides two months ago in October (he died in July). His editorial is in the February issue of the Fondation de la Résistance and says this: “[T]hird risk, finally: that the agents or witnesses tell tall tales sixty years afterwards is excusable, but still prejudicial to the historical truth. For all our comrades who died in combat or in the camps we ought to take care that the Resistance is truthfully represented to future generations. In this lies the importance and the difficulty of the work of the historian. Historical and pedagogical consensus, the common points of reference that unite historians known for the quality of their work, ought to aid us in maintaining historical vigilance and in speaking the truth when falsification becomes too flagrant.”
