French Resistance

  • Just before Christmas 2011, I lost sight in my right eye. The retina had become detached, but after two operations, the sight could not be saved, in fact, my eye shrunk dramatically, and I now have a glass shell with an eye painted on it in front of the remainder of my eye. In November

    Read more →

  • Charles Aznavour, widely recognized as one of France’s greatest singer-songwriters, led a life that extended far beyond the stage and spotlight. Born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian on May 22, 1924, in Paris to Armenian immigrant parents, Aznavour’s early life was marked by the struggle of displaced peoples and the complexities of identity. While his artistic legacy

    Read more →

  • The Six Nations Championship, commonly known as the Six Nations and branded as Guinness Six Nations, is an annual international rugby union competition featuring the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales. As the oldest tournament contested by the Home Nations, it holds a distinguished place in the history of the sport. The

    Read more →

  • I have mixed feelings about the story of Marcel Pinte. I didn’t think that any child, especially a child as young as six, should ever be used in a war situation. However, I have also never lived in a wartime situation. Marcel was born on 12 April 1938 in Valenciennes, France. He was the youngest

    Read more →

  • Vél d’Hiv It always amazes me how easy it was for some Europeans to give up their Jewish neighbours. I know it’s easy for me to say that in retrospect, because I don’t know how I would have reacted if put in that situation. But I have a feeling I would have spoken out about

    Read more →

  • Charles Aznavour born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, on 22 May 1924, he was a French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat. Aznavour was known for his distinctive tenor voice:, clear and ringing in its upper reaches, with gravelly and profound low notes. In a career as a composer, singer and songwriter, spanning over 70 years, he recorded

    Read more →

  • (originally posted March 22, 2020) I did a blog on Marcel Marceau about two years ago. Today, he would have been 100 years old. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to do another tribute to this Silent Hero. He survived the Nazi occupation and saved many children during World War II. He was regarded for his

    Read more →

  • This story is both heartbreaking and uplifting. Heartbreaking because it is a story about a mother who knew she was going to die. Uplifting because her last words were so positive and courageous, despite the fate that awaited her. Olga Bancic was born on May 10, 1912 to a large Jewish family living in the

    Read more →

  • What a sense of relief it must have been when the French people found out that the allied troops had finally arrived on June 6 1944. Unfortunately though D-Day wasn’t the end of the war it was only the start of the end and many innocent lives were still lost between that day and the

    Read more →

  • Many people have this misconception about the resistance of the Jews against the Nazi regime, many think they just gave up without a fight. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. There were many Jewish partisan groups and resistance fighters across Europe. In this blog I will put the focus on the French Armée Juive,

    Read more →