Put on the path to the great history of the Resistance in the Basque Country by the journey and stories of his father, who returned from the Buchenwald and Dora camps, the subject of his first work, Yves Castaingts continues his “memorial journey” by signing with the editions Arteaz, “The Basque Coast under the Occupation” (1).
This fourth opus dedicated to the great local figures of the Coastal Resistance devotes several chapters to the personalities of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure.
Testimonies, historical documents and photos notably highlight the journeys and feats of arms of five Resistance fighters arrested by the Gestapo during the great roundup of June 8, 1944, deported to Dachau and died in Germany (Jean-Paul Gelos, Jean -Baptiste and Léon Laffargue, Philippe Blazy and Jean Poletti) and two deportees returned from the death camps (Jean-Louis Dupruilh and Henri Mintegui).
Honors are also paid to the “volunteer fighters” Joseph and Yvonne Capdeville and to the former FFI fighter, Jean-Martin Passicot. More extensive developments are given to the brothers Claude and Jacques Meyer and to Felix Löffler. Concerning the Meyers, Yves Castaingts shares in particular a booklet given by his friend Michel Mottay, entitled “Being Jewish in Saint-Jean-de-Luz during the dark years, 1939-1945; Claude Meyer remembers.
« Jewish business »
This flashback, from Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Béhasque, at the time in the free zone, brings back to life the sordid poster “Judiche Geschaeft, Jewish enterprise” stuck in 1942 on the window of the ready-to-wear store. carried from his parents. “Then it was the Aryanization of the business and its sale at a ridiculous price,” he wrote.
The testimonies of Cibourians Michel Hiriart, now deceased, and Jean-Michel Sallaberry allow us to go into even more precise details about Félix Löffler. Austrian from Vienna, this hero of the Resistance, honored in 2012 by the Jakintza association, played a capital role since he worked for the German gendarmerie.
His information on the planned arrests of Resistance fighters or Spanish Basque refugees helped save a considerable number of lives. Michel Hiriart’s father cites a few names in a sworn statement to be found in the book.
(1) On sale in bookstores for 22 euros, here at 5th Art.
