“Dilexit veritatem” (“I cherished the truth”), are the two words engraved as an epitaph at the Bourg-d’Hem cemetery, in Creuse, where Marc Bloch has been buried since 1977. The resistance fighter and historian had purchased a family home in this town of less than 250 inhabitants, in the hamlet of Fougères. It is in this house that Marc Bloch wrote The strange defeat in 1940and “major book” explains Marie-Françoise Gréminger, historian and writer from Creuse: “It is a pride for Creuse to know that he wrote it in Fougères where he had his house“It is also a”good news for Creuse” Emmanuel Macron's announcementthis Saturday, November 23.
“He really liked contact with the countryside”
He was coming back”every summer in Creuse for stays of several weeks” explains the Creuse historian Guy Avizou: “He really liked contact with the countryside. Let us not forget that he was a great historian of the rural world. And so, when he came to Creuse, he often took long walks on foot in the countryside. He did not hesitate to talk with simple peasants to see their way of living, to discuss the landscape with them, etc..” Marc Bloch was also member of the society of natural, archaeological and historical sciences of Creuse for many years, which is now chaired by Guy Avizou.
It is in Creuse, with his family, that Marc Bloch took refuge in the family home in 1942 when the Germans invade the free zone. He joined the Resistance, plunged into clandestine life in Lyon, and joined the Franc-Tireur movement. He was arrested on March 8, 1944, interned in Montluc prison and tortured for days. He was finally shot by the Gestapo on the evening of June 16, 1944.
