Actualités

The following are useful links for research on the Resistance in the Vercors and elsewhere in France.

A selection of archive images can be found here. Many other photographs are available on this site. To find out about all the images and documents – of which there are currently nearly 800 – offered to the public by the National Association of the Pioneers and Volunteer Combatants of the Vercors Maquis – Families (…) Lire la suite

What is the role of the National Association of Pioneers and Volunteer Combatants of the Vercors today? The objectives of the association are threefold. First of all, to honour and maintain the memory. As such, the association maintains the places of remembrance, organises exhibitions, and disseminates information on what happened in the Vercors and the (…) Lire la suite

The National Association of Pioneers and Veterans of the Vercors, Families and Friends has decided to make its documentary resources available to families, historians and the general public. Several hundred documents (photographs, texts, reproductions, Le Pionnier du Vercors newsletters, etc.) can be consulted and downloaded here, including exceptional documents, such as the quotation from Eugène (…) Lire la suite

The statutes of the association can be downloaded from this link.

L’idée d’une association avait germé en pleine clandestinité. Dès l’origine, c’est le terme d’amicale qui fut choisi. Ainsi est née l’Amicale des Pionniers du Vercors (la présentation des origines de l’association par Jean-William Dereymez). En 1952, elle est reconnue d’utilité publique. A l’automne 1944, alors que la guerre se poursuit, l’amicale se fixe comme l’un (…) Lire la suite

The first bulletin of the National Association of Pioneers and Volunteer Combatants of the Vercors was published in 1945.The digitised collection of these bulletins can be found here, a collection that will be regularly completed. Each issue can be downloaded and its content is the subject of an inventory drawn up by Jean Jullien, which (…) Lire la suite

Introductory historical framework The Vercors maquis (late 1942 – May 1944) During the French Campaign (May-June 1940), the Vercors massif remained in the background of the fighting, even the Battle of the Alps which took place at its feet (Cluse de Voreppe). The inhabitants tried to acclimatise to the changes imposed by the French state, (…) Lire la suite

Spaces, times, actors Spaces: All these maquis are based on more or less mountainous refuge areas (the Cévennes, the Morbihan, the Morvan, the Glières, the Vercors), or even bocage areas (the Surcouf maquis in Normandy). The originality of the Vercors lies in its strategic geographical position in view of the vital German road and rail (…) Lire la suite