What does the "Résistance Foundation" have to offer online?
For the benefit of English-speaking net-surfers, here is a summary of the website of the "Résistance Foundation".
Any mail can be sent to the following address : fondresistance@sfr.fr
1. The Foundation
Created in 1993, it fulfils three fundamental missions:
- safeguard the memory of all individual or collective actions of the interior or exterior Résistance against the nazi occupation between 1940 and 1945, and this, in particular, through encouraging historical research in that field; and also fight against any form of revisionism
- transmit to the younger generations and to all citizens the values underlying the actions, whatever their form, of the Résistance fighters.
- keep alive the memory of associations –– now extinct –– of former Résistance fighters.
The Foundation supports the activities of two "affiliated" associations : "Mémoire et Espoirs de la Résistance" (Memory and Hopes of the Résistance) and "Association pour des Etudes sur la Résistance intérieure" (Association for studies on the interior Résistance);
Some associations of former Résistance fighters, when confronted with the decreasing numbers of their members – and consequently of their possibilities of action – decide to put an end to their existence.
Faced with this situation, the Foundation has felt it its duty to maintain the memory of those associations that, contrary to the Foundation itself, would not otherwise live on.
Those associations, linked to the Foundation by a covenant, though they are neither fully integrated in the Foundation nor "members" of it, are reunited in the animation and follow-up committee, and thus are able to take part in the life of the Foundation through the proposals they make about its lines of action for the future.
The Résistance Foundation has an historical and educational committee, a financial committee, an animation committee, a committee for the following up of the associations of former Résistance fighters that are linked to it by covenant.
This section of the site offers a presentation of:
- the aims of the Résistance Foundation
- the organization-chart of the Foundation
- the means of access to the Foundation and to its useful contacts
- the way to help the Foundation through a donation or a legacy
- the current activity-reports of the Foundation and of its affiliated associations.
- the associations of former Résistance fighters linked to the Foundation by covenant
- the partners and benefactors of the Foundation.
2. Research and Documents.
Every year the Foundation grants research scholarships to students whose thesis subjects bear on the Résistance in France. It organizes or supports, in Paris or in the provinces, scientific conferences with Résistance specialists. Moreover, thanks to the support of the Foundation, a 1200 pages-long work of reference, The Historical Dictionary of the Résistance , is now available to the general public. Published by Robert Laffont, the book contains more than 1000 entries written by 114 historians and research students.
In this section of the site, you can have access to :
- the presentation of the dictionary
- how research scholarships are granted by the Résistance Foundation
- a bibliography of the studies on the French Résistance that have been completed in French or foreign universities
- a section entitled "Around a photography", which provides a story of pictures taken by Résistance fighters or the occupying forces.
- programmes and abstracts of university conferences.
3. Educational activities.
The Foundation supports the national competition for work relating to the Résistance or Deportation, organized every year in secondary schools and lycées.
- The Foundation pilots the preparation of the brochure about the national competition when the annual theme is the Résistance. Four copies of the document are sent free and in close collaboration with the national jury and the associations deriving from the Résistance and Deportation to 2000 secondary schools in France and the former French territories overseas, as well as to the French lycées abroad.
- The website of the Foundation offers to the pupils and their teachers, documentary material on the annual theme of the national competition, and generally speaking on the Résistance.
The Foundation offers numerous prizes to the winners, both at regional and national levels.
In this section of the site you will find :
-The presentation of the national competition (the rules, the list of the themes of previous years, the winners of past years) but also and mainly documents for educational purposes (bibliographies, methodological cards, chronologies, documentary files) on the past and current themes of the competition organized for the pupils of secondary schools and lycées.
- the presentation and the rules of the competition for the best photography of a "lieu de mémoire"(a site connected with a significant Résistance episode). The competition, open to all the applicants for the annual national competition of work relating to the Résistance, offers them the opportunity to give expression to their sensitivity to the artistic and architectural aspects of the "lieu de mémoire" through the use of the techniques of photography.
4. Museums and archive centres.
Every year the Foundation organizes round-table talks and training seminars in order to help the Résistance and Deportation museums to protect, promote and perpetuate their collections.
Moreover, the Foundation takes part in a comprehensive national campaign of preservation of the private Résistance and Deportation archives. Several means are used to increase the Résistance fighters' awareness of this issue : the distribution of a "Guide-book of the owner of Résistance and Deportation archives", the organization of meetings in the provinces and of travelling exhibitions.
In this section of the site are presented :
-the actions of the Foundation for the benefit of the Résistance and Deportation museums, and in the field of the preservation of Résistance and Deportation archives.
- a directory of the museums and archives centres
- the Guide-book of the owner of Résistance and Deportation archives (downloadable in PDF format)
- a document to help family research
5. Exhibitions
The Foundation makes available to cities, museums and schools the following exhibitions :"The railway workers in the "Résistance", "Berty Albrecht, a lady Résistance fighter"
6. The Foundation Library
The Foundation offers to the general public, by appointment, a specialized library of over 3500 volumes, and a documentary service.7. Publications and editions.
The Résistance Foundation publishes a quarterly review : "The Letter of the Résistance". In addition to feature-articles on the history of the Résistance and its bibliographic section presenting the latest published works on that period, it mentions the initiatives taken by the various organizations working for the preservation of the memory of the Résistance, and in particular those of its two affiliated associations : "Memory and Hopes of the Résistance" and "Association for studies on the interior Résistance".
Moreover, the Foundation offers electronic editions online.
Thanks to this section of the site, you will be able to read and print :
- the various issues of the “Letter of the Résistance” (PDF format)
- the various works and the symposium-proceedings of university conferences published as electronic editions
The Foundation supports the activities of two associations working in similar fields : "Memory and Hopes of the Résistance" and "Association for studies on the interior Résistance".
Memory and Hopes of the Résistance.
Every year, in Paris or the provinces, the association organizes events for the general public : symposiums on the Résistance heritage, poetry and song recitals, a festival of Résistance films, a Résistance book-fair. The association publishes a DVD collection : “Résistance itineraries” as part of a recording programme of accounts by Résistance fighters or Deportation victims, for educational purposes.
Association for studies on the interior Résistance
The association runs a national campaign for the publication of CD-Roms on the Résistance at local and regional levels. The CD-Roms are made by teams of local historians working with former Résistance fighters. With dozens of secondary schools the association runs a campaign which enables young people first to debate on the “values of the Résistance” and the “values of the present day”, and then to embark on precise collective projects in which those values can find expression.
A detailed description of their respective activities can be found in their own internet sites :
www.memoresist.org and www.aeri-resistance.com
