The French Resistance is a generic term for many units that existed in France during the Second World War. Various groups include the Communists, factory workers, telephone employees, and many more. They were organized to directly confront the German occupation in the North, while in the South focused on the Vichy regime. Our goal is to present the freedom fighters in the North of France in the city of Lille.
Lille was chosen to be our region of interest for several reasons. It is the fourth largest city in the nation. In WWII the Lille was captured very early in the war and again was very quickly liberated after D-Day. This allows our group to focus on the daily life of citizen soldiers from 1940 to 1944.
Membership in the resistance meant that most people would live their day to day lives, they wanted to keep their lives under control, while still battling the Germans. The goal of our group is going to focus mostly on the middle class workers. It was due to the forced-deportations of young men to German labor camps that caused many to start directly resisting the occupying soldiers. This means with our impression, we are more interested in portraying people involved with the Resistance press, sabotage, and intelligence. Other possible scenarios include smuggling shot-down Allied pilots to neutral nations, counterfeiting papers, and gathering information.
We are portraying a small band of the Resistance, which means we are often forced to do things solely by ourselves and with only limited help from the Allies!
Finally, the French resistance involved men and women of all ages, social classes, occupations, religions and political movements. This means that our group will allow for almost everyone to join!    Disclaimer: Les Civils de Lille is an organization made up of Second World War Reenactors who voluntarily participate for the purpose of educating themselves and the public about the history, culture, and the people who lived during the period of the Second World War. Les Civils de Lille is not affiliated with any modern or historical political party or organization; we also do not endorse, tolerate, nor condone the politics, views, beliefs, and/or activities of any political party in existence during the period of the Second World War or in the modern era.
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