he is celebrated for his bravery and his exceptionally accurate shooting. On June 17, he is captured by the enemy, but he manages to escape a week later. After three days on foot, he makes it back to his parents’ home in Paris, utterly exhausted.
Robert Boulloche was the oldest son in the family, and shared some of his parents’ caution. He declined André Postel-Vinay’s invitation to join the Resistance at the end of 1940 — but he predicted that his younger brother would be eager to join the fight against the Germans.( photo credit 1.10 )
The apartment is empty, because his parents are in Brittany. The next morning, he is awakened by a German military ceremony taking place in the street below. When he goes to the window, he has the same reaction as Christiane and thousands of others. He is appalled by the savage sight of German soldiers holding gilded crosses in the air as they parade down the street.
LIKE JACQUES BOULLOCHE , Postel-Vinay had seen the war coming many years earlier. After the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, when Hitler ordered the execution of Ernst Röhm, the gay commander of the Nazi SA, two army generals, and at least a hundred others, Postel-Vinay decided that “war is the only wayto communicate with the Nazis — because even among themselves, they behave like butchers.”
(In a speech to the Reichstag after the bloody massacre, Hitler freely admitted that what he had done was completely illegal. The legislature quickly passed a law that retroactively legalized his butchery.)
After France’s collapse in 1940, Postel-Vinay thinks that any victory over the Nazis will take a very long time, if it ever comes at all. But he is propelled by the conviction he shares with the small number of very early
Résistants
: He believes that his life will have no meaning until he finds a way to fight for the Germans’ defeat.
By October 1940, he has linked up with one of the earliest British Resistance groups in the Paris region, which is helping downed British airmen escape back to England through Spain. Then he connects with a group of French officers from the army’s intelligence service, the Deuxième Bureau, who are collecting information on German troop movements and relaying it to London.
Postel-Vinay also makes contact with a group of anti-Fascist intellectuals at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, who have begun to organize in the summer of 1940. Most of them are leftists, and some of them aren’t French, including the group’s most active member, Boris Vildé, a linguist with anarchist leanings and Estonian origins.
The group at the Musée de l’Homme is one of the very first Resistance groups. In December 1940 it starts to publish the newspaper called
Résistance.
During the next three years, dozens of other clandestine newspapers will appear all over France. Delivering some of these publications is one of Christiane Boulloche’s earliest acts of resistance.
When Postel-Vinay asks Robert, his former classmate, if he will join the Resistance to collect intelligence about the Germans for the British, Robert shows no interest. He doesn’t seem to think the work will be very useful, and as the oldest son in his family, he probably shares some of his parents’ caution.
André Postel-Vinay in his army uniform. He convinced André Boulloche to join the Resistance at the end of 1940.( photo credit 1.11 )
Robert tells Postel-Vinay he won’t become a clandestine enemy of the Germans. Then he makes a fateful prediction: “I know someone who will jump right in.”
“Who’s that?” asks his friend.
“My little brother, André,” Robert replies.
ANDRÉ BOULLOCHE has managed to return to France from Morocco at the beginning of September 1940. He is demobilized in Marseille, then quickly makes his way back to Paris, where a family reunion takes place, as joyful as it is unexpected.
He rejoins the Department of Bridges and Highways, where he worked as an engineer before he was
Robert Boulloche was the oldest son in the family, and shared some of his parents’ caution. He declined André Postel-Vinay’s invitation to join the Resistance at the end of 1940 — but he predicted that his younger brother would be eager to join the fight against the Germans.( photo credit 1.10 )
The apartment is empty, because his parents are in Brittany. The next morning, he is awakened by a German military ceremony taking place in the street below. When he goes to the window, he has the same reaction as Christiane and thousands of others. He is appalled by the savage sight of German soldiers holding gilded crosses in the air as they parade down the street.
LIKE JACQUES BOULLOCHE , Postel-Vinay had seen the war coming many years earlier. After the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, when Hitler ordered the execution of Ernst Röhm, the gay commander of the Nazi SA, two army generals, and at least a hundred others, Postel-Vinay decided that “war is the only wayto communicate with the Nazis — because even among themselves, they behave like butchers.”
(In a speech to the Reichstag after the bloody massacre, Hitler freely admitted that what he had done was completely illegal. The legislature quickly passed a law that retroactively legalized his butchery.)
After France’s collapse in 1940, Postel-Vinay thinks that any victory over the Nazis will take a very long time, if it ever comes at all. But he is propelled by the conviction he shares with the small number of very early
Résistants
: He believes that his life will have no meaning until he finds a way to fight for the Germans’ defeat.
By October 1940, he has linked up with one of the earliest British Resistance groups in the Paris region, which is helping downed British airmen escape back to England through Spain. Then he connects with a group of French officers from the army’s intelligence service, the Deuxième Bureau, who are collecting information on German troop movements and relaying it to London.
Postel-Vinay also makes contact with a group of anti-Fascist intellectuals at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, who have begun to organize in the summer of 1940. Most of them are leftists, and some of them aren’t French, including the group’s most active member, Boris Vildé, a linguist with anarchist leanings and Estonian origins.
The group at the Musée de l’Homme is one of the very first Resistance groups. In December 1940 it starts to publish the newspaper called
Résistance.
During the next three years, dozens of other clandestine newspapers will appear all over France. Delivering some of these publications is one of Christiane Boulloche’s earliest acts of resistance.
When Postel-Vinay asks Robert, his former classmate, if he will join the Resistance to collect intelligence about the Germans for the British, Robert shows no interest. He doesn’t seem to think the work will be very useful, and as the oldest son in his family, he probably shares some of his parents’ caution.
André Postel-Vinay in his army uniform. He convinced André Boulloche to join the Resistance at the end of 1940.( photo credit 1.11 )
Robert tells Postel-Vinay he won’t become a clandestine enemy of the Germans. Then he makes a fateful prediction: “I know someone who will jump right in.”
“Who’s that?” asks his friend.
“My little brother, André,” Robert replies.
ANDRÉ BOULLOCHE has managed to return to France from Morocco at the beginning of September 1940. He is demobilized in Marseille, then quickly makes his way back to Paris, where a family reunion takes place, as joyful as it is unexpected.
He rejoins the Department of Bridges and Highways, where he worked as an engineer before he was
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