At the end of April 1945, he was a prisoner in the Buchenwald camp but faced with the advance of the Allies, the Germans decided to move their prisoners towards the north of the country on foot. This “death march” over more than 300 kilometers will be that of liberation for Jean Maurice.
Jean Maurice spent one and a half years in German concentration camps forced to work, he was engaged in “passive” resistance: “We did everything we could sabotage, but quietly, without doing it on purpose, let’s say”, tells with mischief the man who joined the resistance at the age of 16. Faced with the advance of the Allies, the Germans moved their prisoners: “We were evacuated from the camp on foot, along the roads. Anyone who could not follow was executed on the spot.”
After several days of walking, Jean Maurice managed to escape: “At the bend of a road, there was a deep ditch. There, I threw myself into the bottom of the ditch. But what can you do when you find yourself all alone, isolated for thousands of kilometers? It’s impressive.” He ends up finding a camp with French prisoners with whom he exchanges food. On May 5, 1945, he was released by the Russians, but did not trust them: “There, I fled from the Russians, once again. I crossed a bridge, I reached the English zone. On May 21, I arrived at home, at Luché-Pringé in Sarthe.”
And here is what the return of war to Europe evokes in this former resistance fighter: “It’s worrying. For me, it’s very worrying. I’m afraid this will set the world on fire, again.”
#French
