The Grenoble Resistance at the heart of the 10th album in the series “The Companions of the Liberation”

After the island of Sein and Vassieux-en-Vercors, historian and screenwriter Jean-Yves Le Naour devotes this new volume to Grenoble and the heroism of some of its inhabitants involved in the Resistance.

As Grenoble prepares to celebrate the 80th anniversary of its liberation next August, the city is in the spotlight in the latest album of the comic strip series dedicated to the companions of the Liberation. It reveals the bravery of thousands of Grenoble residents who joined the resistance against the Vichy government and the Italian and German occupying troops.

Women and men who refused defeat, occupation and collaboration, and who would never stop harassing the enemy, even if it meant paying a high price, says historian and screenwriter Jean-Yves Le Naour: “It was exploding everywhere, they blew up the PPF headquarters (the French Popular Party of the collaborationist Jacques Doriot)the Bonne barracks, the Champollion high school where the Germans lived, they blew up the polygon district where the German arsenal was, they machine-gunned the militia headquarters, they had tremendous courage“.

By decree of May 4, 1944 of the government of Free France, Grenoble was awarded the title of Companion of the Liberation. It is one of the five municipalities to have received this distinction, with Paris, Nantes, the island of Sein and Vassieux-en-Vercors. Jean-Yves Le Naour told the story of the latter two in volumes 8 and 9 of the series that began in 2019 with General Leclerc. For Grenoble, he reunited with the cartoonist Philippe Tarral with whom he had worked on volume 2 devoted to Pierre Messmer.

The municipality of Grenoble has purchased 3,000 copies of the book.We will offer some to the youngest, to CM2 in particular, so that they can take ownership of this memory, and so that they too, by sharing this comic strip, can spread this memory.“, explains Emmanuel Carroz, deputy mayor of Grenoble in charge of memory, migration and international cooperation.

Finally, as part of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the city on August 22, 1944, a major exhibition of 60 large-format photos can be discovered on the gates of the Jardin de Ville until next September. Unpublished photos whose negatives were discovered in a flea market by a collector passionate about the Second World War.

“The Companions of the Liberation – 10. Grenoble” published by Bamboo Edition (Grand Angle collection, 56 pages, €14.90)
Screenplay: Jean-Yves Le Naour
Drawing: Philippe Tarral