Let’s keep talking about how to find documents about WWII in archives.
First thing you need to do is make a list of all the details you already know. It will help a lot of if you know the following:
Person’s birthdate
Person’s name
Any aliases, pseudonyms, schuilnamen, noms de guerre or odd spelling of the name
Names of anyone who helped that person or worked with him or her in the resistance
Name of any resistance group to which the person belonged
Where did he or she do his or her illegal work?
Type of resistance work (rescue, intelligence, maquis etc)
If arrested, when and where
If deported, dates and names of camps
The most important facts are the person’s name and the locations of his or her illegal work and, if relevant, arrest.
Locations are important because most archives have some sort of geographical limitation. You are very unlikely to find anything about a resister who worked in Lyon, France, if you look in archives in Belgium.
But there are several places in France where you could look. If the person was arrested, you want to look in the war victims’ files in Caen that I mentioned last time. You definitely want to look in the archives of the Bureau Resistance of the service historique de la defense in Vincennes. The Bureau Resistance has files on individual people but also files on most resistance networks in France. That’s because for 60 years the task of that Bureau was to evaluate claims for benefits and pay them out. There might be something at the archives nationales in Paris, but it’s a long shot.
And don’t forget the local archives. Some of them are treasure troves.
Next time: strategies in the archives