the essential
Today will be the 80th anniversary of the commemorations of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. The opportunity to look at this troubled period in the history of the department which experienced the torments of the Occupation.
On May 8, 1945, Aveyron and Rodez in particular experienced, in a way, “two liberations”. Jean-Michel Cosson, who chronicled this troubled period in Aveyron history, recalls that “the day before the Sainte-Radegonde massacre, August 17, 1944, the German troops had already left the town”. “To the great astonishment of residents elsewhere who saw the soldiers leave their barracks, documents had been burnedhe continues. But the joy of seeing the Germans leave quickly gave way to panic, that of seeing them return. Above all, the news of the Sainte-Radegonde massacre quickly reached Rodez.”
And then there was May 8, 1945. The date of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. Obviously, jubilation took hold of Rodez and the entire department. These scenes of joy were marred, as everywhere, by the purification which followed the liberation. “Rodez obviously was not sparedslips Jean-Michel Cosson. The period was very unstable. Some feared resistance groups, particularly communists.” Above all, families anxiously awaited the return of the prisoners of war.
Opinion is evolving
Republican Rouergue also published for several days the list of soldiers returning from prison camps. “Some of the 183 prisoners returned, others did not. It is difficult to assess the number of victims because there was a lot of population movement in Aveyron. 412 Aveyron soldiers lost their lives during this war. The resistance also paid a high price. 120 FFI were killed and 66 of them were shot.” Among the victims, 391 Jews who had lived in Aveyron were deported.
The meticulous work of Simon Massbaum, president of the Association for the memory of Jewish deportees from Aveyron (AMDJA), allows us to better understand the extent of the drama that took place in the department. “If we could consider that the department was rather favorable to the Vichy regime, the roundup of Jews will change opinion, while German troops will occupy Rodez from November 13, 1942says Jean-Michel Cosson. There is also the establishment of the STO (Compulsory Labor Service) which will increase the numbers of the maquis, and change the feelings of the Aveyron residents towards the occupier.”
June 21: distribution of leaflets by plane over the town of Rodez.
July 14: flowering of the Bozouls war memorial.
August 14 to 16: cutting of the national road 120 (currently D920) by maquis; German reprisals.
August 17: massacre of Sainte-Radegonde. Thirty prisoners, resistance fighters and hostages imprisoned at the Burloup barracks in Rodez were executed.
August 20: liberation of Villefranche-de-Rouergue and Saint-Affrique.
August 22: combat between the Paul-Clés maquis and the German column of Rodez. Twenty-three members of the maquis are killed.
August 23: the entire department is liberated.
