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Video length: 3 min
80 years since the liberation of Marseille: the precious memories of the survivors
80 years since the liberation of Marseille: the precious memories of the survivors
(france 2)
On August 27, 1944, 80 years ago to the day, the city of Marseille was liberated from Nazi occupation. An important page in history that shook up the story of two survivors. Story.
They do not know each other and yet their history is marked by the liberation of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) in the summer of 1944. They met at the foot of Notre-Dame de la Garde, whose walls still bear the scars of the fighting. “The moment when the Virgin of the Guard had the white flag (…), it was a great relief”confides Josette Sakakini, daughter of resistance fighters Adrienne and Fernand Sakakini.
At 97 years old, Jacqueline Dellepiane-Patero was a nurse during the liberation of Marseille. “While it was bombing, I was playing the piano like this, I didn’t hear the bombings”she recalls. In August 1944, Jacqueline was just beginning her nursing career, at age 17. “They were all crying, they were calling for their mother.”. The unbearable memories of the wounded still haunt her. More than 3,000 soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the battle. For her part, Josette Sakakini was a child of the Liberation, because her parents fell in love during the fighting for the resistance. On the evening of August 28, 1944, the Phocaean city was finally free.
