Convener Hanna Diamond, University of Bath and Robert Gildea, Worcester College
10.15 am WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION by Laurent Burin de Roziers, French Cultural Attaché and Director of the Institut Français, Hanna Diamond (University of Bath) and Robert Gildea (University of Oxford)
10.30am-11.45pm : COMBATANT EXPERIENCES Chaired by Matthew Cobb (University of Manchester) and Guillaume Piketty (MFO and Sciences Po) This session will focus on the day-to-day experience of the fighters during the battles for the liberation of France (1944-1945). The perspective will be ʻfrom the fieldʼ rather than from headquarters. Questions of training, morale, relationship to hierarchy, the resilience (or not) of the ʻprimary groupsʼ, replacements and adaptation to very harsh conditions will be explored. The two contributions will consider the French and the German cases, but it is hoped that a general discussion will also include the British, the Canadian and the American points of view. Claire Miot (Paris) ʻFrance liberated by itself? The soldiers of the First French Army during the second campaign of France (1944-1945)ʼ
11.45 – 12.30 RESISTANCE AND THE VERCORS Chaired by Paul Mason (Channel 4, formerly BBC Newsnight) We are delighted to welcome Paddy Ashdown who will be discussing his recent book with Paul Mason. Paddy Ashdown, ʻThe Cruel Victory - the French Resistance and the Battle for the Vercors 1944ʼ
12.30-1.30pm LUNCH BREAK
1.30-3pm: ORDINARY STORIES Chaired by Hanna Diamond (University of Bath) and Claire Gorrara (University of Cardiff) This session will explain the images and experiences of French people at the Liberation whose stories have been rarely told and heard. It will look at the photographic record of the Liberation of Paris and it will also explore responses to Allied bombing, a controversial topic for witnesses, historians and national communities. The session will aim to provoke general discussion of how these 'ordinary' memories shape our understandings of the Liberation in France today. Catherine E.Clark (MIT) ʻOrdinary Parisians: Photographic Portraits at the Barricadesʼ Lindsey Dodd (University of Huddersfield) ʻBombed to be free: consequences of the Allied bombing in oral narratives of the Liberationʼ Andrew Knapp (Reading) 'Bombing and Liberation: from Allied Strategy to French Memoryʼ
3-3.30pm BREAK
3.30-5.30pm: FAMILY AFFAIRS Chaired by Robert Gildea (University of Oxford) and Daniel Lee (University of Oxford) Memory of Resistance and Liberation operates at a number of levels; the memory of individuals, the memory of resistance groups and the memory of society as a whole, which establishes dominant narratives of heroism or of civil war. Less explored have been the memories of families that are in dialogue with all those memories and yet offer something different. What stories are told of resistance and liberation, and how are they handed down? What is said and what is not said? How do stories change between one generation and another? With the participation of: Cecile Rol-Tanguy acted as courier to her husband, Henri Rol-Tanguy, who joined the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War and led the Forces Françaises de lʼIntérieure in Paris in 1944. Claire Rol Tanguy, their daughter, is secretary general of The Amis des Combattants en Espagne républicaine (ACER). Julien Blanc (Université Paris-Dauphine) will speak for the first time about his relationship with his grandfather, Jean-Pierre Vernant, resistance leader in the Toulouse region and Ancient historian. Daniel Lerner (Bar Ilan University, Israel) ʻFrom personal quest to systematic research: My personal encounter with the Jewish-communist résistance in France, 1940-1944.ʼ If you are interested in the film at 6.30pm at the Ciné Lumière, see their website.
Saturday 14 June
9.30-10.45am: PERIPHERIES Chaired by Anne Simonin (MFO) and Berny Sèbe (University of Birmingham) The Liberation of France is often symbolized with the liberation of Paris on 25 August, but over the years stories of local liberation have come to form part of the greater narrative. However, what about those living beyond French metropolitan borders? How did they experience both their own liberation, and then consequently the liberation of the French capital? To what extent do their stories and memories emphasise the multi-faceted and even fractured history of the Liberation? The French empire and border regions, which have so often been sidelined from national narratives, will for once take centre stage in the story of the 1944 Liberation. Géraud Létang (Sciences Po) ʻOut of Africa? The Régiment de Marche du Tchad the liberation of France and the Empireʼ Daniel Lee (Oxford) ʻPay up or hold tight? The restitution of Jewish property in French North Africa at the Liberationʼ
10.45-11.15am: THE LITERATURE OF THE LIBERATION Chaired by Claire Gorrara (Cardiff University) We are delighted to welcome Sir Charles Chadwyck Healey who will be discussing his collection of written materials from the Liberation. with Guest Speaker Charles Chadwyck-Healey
11.15-11.45am: BREAK
11.45am-1.15pm: CLOSING REMARKS Chaired by Hanna Diamon (University of Bath) ith the collaboration of Karen Adler (University of Nottingham), Matthew Cobb (University of Manchester), Julian Jackson (Queen Mary University of London) and Rod Kedward (Emeritus Professor, University of Sussex).
