How to Flee the Gestapo

I am pleased to announce the creation of the Association Dutch-Paris (dutch-paris.com), a non-profit registered in Thann, France. The family of Suzanne Hiltermann, who played such an important role in […]

During WWII the German security services were very good at their jobs. The Abwehr (German army intelligence) were especially professional and successful. The Gestapo (Nazi party secret police) were also […]

Following the last few posts, I have one last comment about resisters being identified with a resistance group that did not officially acknowledge them. In most cases there are only […]

The last post about Josette Molland brings up the interesting question of how an individual ended up belonging to a particular resistance group in the postwar documents that now constitute […]

Here’s an example of the sort of confusion about who worked with what resistance group that I’ve been discussing in the last few posts. On 8 March 2024, The New […]

Let’s continue our discussion of why many people assume that anyone who made it from the Netherlands to Spain or Switzerland during the war did so with the help of […]

In the last post we discussed the localized fragmentation of the resistance and how there were many different rescue groups that helped fugitives get away from the Nazis. So why […]

Despite the common term “the Resistance” and the claims of politicians like Charles de Gaulle, the civilian resistance against Nazi occupation during the Second World War was not monolithic. It […]

We’ve been discussing the essential qualities of a resistance leader, including being a good judge of character, having social skills, and being decisive, flexible and steady. Perhaps the most essential […]

Here’s another essential quality in a resistance leader: courage, or holding steady through anxiety. Resisters knew they had a lot to fear. By the end of the war the occupation […]