on the Vercors plateau, “freedom has always been at home”, greets Emmanuel Macron

Emmanuel Macron arrived on Tuesday April 16 in the Vercors for an unprecedented tribute to this maquis, “incarnation of a France inseparable from the Republic”attacked exactly 80 years ago by French militia, before a final assault by Nazi troops. “On this set, freedom has always been at home”greeted the Head of State during his speech at the necropolis of Vassieux-en-Vercors, a small village in the Drôme mountains completely destroyed during the Second World War. “A little free France”which represented “all of France, in its pain and its greatness”praised the president.

Since 2 p.m., France 2 and franceinfo have been offering a special edition presented by Jean-Baptiste Marteau and Nathalie Saint-Cricq. They will receive on set Jean-Yves Le Naour, historian, Francis Ginsbourger, writer, Philippe Saint-André, former coach of the XV of France whose grandfather was a resistance fighter, and Gil Emprin, historian at the Resistance Museum. Follow our live stream.

A first presidential tribute. Never, until now, has a serving head of state traveled officially to the Vercors to pay tribute to the resistance fighters. A visit welcomed by the mayors of these villages. General de Gaulle visited there in 1963, as part of a more general trip to the Drôme. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, for his part, visited a neighboring town, La Chapelle-en-Vercors, in 2009.

• A martyr region. Considered a “natural fortress”, the Vercors plateau constituted a point of support for the Allies at the time of the Landing. The village of Vassieux was used for airdrops of men and equipment, which is why it was the subject of an operation carried out by the French militia between April 16 and 24, 1944. But this did not affect the determination of the resistance fighters. , whatThe Wehrmacht violently repressed from July 21. If the fighting stopped on July 27, the repression continued until August 3. In total, German soldiers killed 201 of the 800 inhabitants of the plateau. Of the 4,000 fighters of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI), 639 lost their lives.

• The memory cycle of Emmanuel Macron. This visit by the Head of State constitutes the second stage of a long cycle of tributes, initiated at the beginning of the month by the president on the Glières plateau, another decimated maquis, and at the Izieu house, where children Jews were rounded up by the Gestapo. On June 5, 6 and 7, the president will pay tribute to the sacrifices of the civilian victims of the city of Saint-Lô (Manche). Three days later, he will go to Tulle (Corrèze) and Oradour-sur-Glane (Haute-Vienne), scene of Nazi abuses. Emmanuel Macron also encouraged the organization of “thousands of local events”.