Based on personal interviews , eyewitness accounts, extensive research, and recently released archival material, comes this inspiring true story of men and women who risked death to help Allied airmen escape capture by the Nazis in occupied France. Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the multifarious motivations that inspired ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences. Some made an overt decision while others fell into it when a stranger needing help knocked at their door.
This book takes the reader inside the true story through the lens of varied experiences that link a diverse collection of individuals in the fight to free the French people from the hold of Hitler and Vichy France. They were responsible for direct action against Nazi targets that included sabotaging bridges and railways, covertly transporting weapons and
The heroes depicted here include French soldiers from Dunkirk and the Maginot Line, a secretary from the British Embassy, a countess, the village doctor, a tailor, a café owner, a veteran of WW1, mayors,housewives, and teenagers.