Societies at war

Today the clandestine life and army of the Resistance are known as the most successful forms of opposition and the most heroic, but they also bore the greatest risk. Reducing the opposition to the occupier to this single armed Resistance movement gives a distorted view of reality, as one cannot simplify everything to a mere clash between resistant and collaborator. There were many ways to resist: guerrilla warfare, sabotage, subversive speech, the clandestine press, spiritual resistance, assistance to outcasts;  all examples of what is generally called the civilian Resistance.

Crossing the partitions of the central and bright space brings you to the intimate universe of the civilian during the war: forced separations, extreme conditions of existence and survival, daily life alongside the occupiers, secrecy… so many situations that shattered the lives of families, couples and lovers, sometimes dramatically.

Despite everything, despite the deprivations, the suffering and tragedies, life continued with all of its contrasts, leisure and intimate relationships. The film on leisure in France under the Occupation goes some way to translating this strong will to survive.

No army came through the battles endured under total war unscathed and the extremes experienced by soldiers, wherever they were – prisoners of war executed, units deliberately sacrificed, massacre of defenceless civilians, - with no thought of general considerations.