Occupation

Today is Tuesday so I will be off to market later. With this in mind I thought that I would try and post early. With my youngest being in quarantine for 5 days, there isn’t much that will be happening here. Sunday was D-day and so that has made me think about the experiences of those that were living here in occupied Brittany.

The UK and the USA were never occupied territories in either of the World Wars during the 20^th century. France though was occupied and particularly here in Brittany. My neighbour who I believe is in her 90s now, remembers it clearly and regularly talks about it.

The other day she was telling me about how the Germans, she refers to them as the Boche, turned them out of the school building. They took that over for their own purposes. The children then had their lessons in the tiny chapel behind our gite d’etape in La Feuillee. The children were not allowed to learn English but had to learn German. She regularly tells me that she cannot speak any English because she wasn’t allowed to learn it at school.

Conversations with Marcelleine can be challenging. My French is not great and she often breaks into Breton which becomes even more confusing. Last week she was telling me how not only La Feuillee was occupied but also Kerbargain. The building to the left of my house, number 8 on the plan I put up last week, was occupied by German soldiers. Apparently there were others in other buildings in the hamlet too.

She began last week to also talk to me about the resistance. It would seem that Brittany was the first area in France to seriously develop a resistance organisation. In fact Brittany fisherman brought in members of the intelligence services to France through the Northern tip of Brittany. Brittany was also an active part of English networks of escape routes. Marcelleine talked about the children passing messages and I assume that she was including herself in this. I have no way of verifying what she was saying however I have no reason to disbelieve her. She is an incredibly strong woman and living through those experiences no doubt left an indelible mark and have enabled her to choose her own path in life.

I am incredibly thankful that I have not lived through a war in my lifetime and even more thankful that I have not lived in an occupied country.