Europe on Trial by Istvan Deak

Author:Istvan Deak [Deák, István; Naimark, Norman M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780813347905
Publisher: Westview Press

The National Council of the Resistance (Conseil National de la Résistance [CNR]), which was the umbrella organization that Jean Moulin had created, proved to be resilient and exercised some influence on the action groups, which went by the name of Free French Forces of the Interior (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur [FFI]). The CNR and the FFI achieved their moment of glory in the summer of 1944 when they effectively helped the Allies to liberate France. The great political parties of the resistance, namely, the Communists, the moderate Socialists, the radicals, the progressive Catholics, and the Gaullists, formed the first governments of la France Libre, or Free France.

Resistance in the occupied countries of Western and northern Europe other than France varied according to the terrain, the country’s ethnic makeup, the prewar political system, and the nature of the German occupation. In Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which after World War II constituted the Benelux countries, the terrain was of little use to the resisters, although the Dutch could hide in flooded areas, and Belgium as well as Luxembourg possessed some forests and hills. The crowded cities would have been more useful for the purpose had the superbly efficient national and municipal administrations in all three countries not made it extremely difficult for a person to disappear from sight. The Dutch identity cards, for instance, proved very hard to forge. Moreover, people, especially in smaller towns, knew each other only too well. As political and social identity was traditionally based on religious affiliation,* outsiders were quite conspicuous, which proved especially catastrophic for the Jews.

The Dutch of the Netherlands and the Flemish in Belgium both spoke Dutch; this might have helped in the creation of a united political front against the occupiers, but while the Dutch generally disliked the German occupation, many Flemish, perhaps the majority, welcomed it in the hope that the German presence might allow for Flemish separation from their French-speaking Walloon compatriots.

The venerable, independent Grand Duchy of Luxembourg constituted a special case. Even though most of the grand duchy’s inhabitants spoke Luxemburgish, a German dialect that most Germans could not understand (the grand duchy’s official languages at that time were French and literary High German; since then, Luxemburgish has also become an official language), most people in the grand duchy resented the unprovoked German invasion. This was incidentally a repeat performance from World War I, but the occupiers in 1914 had not tried to indoctrinate and integrate the locals, nor were young Luxembourgers drafted into German military service. This time all of the above ensued, with the result that thousands of young Luxembourgers went into hiding and some even engaged in partisan activity. Meanwhile, the brothers of the resisters served, fought, and died in German uniform. After the war, the reconstituted Luxembourg government successfully negotiated the early release of its sons from Allied and Soviet captivity. The examples of Luxembourg and of the province of Alsace-Lorraine in France prove, incidentally, that linguistic affinities do not necessarily incline the population toward accepting foreign occupation.

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