On the occasion of the ceremony of May 8, 1945, the mayor of Carhaix, Christian Troadec announced that on August 6, the city would return to a significant episode in its history by celebrating the 80th anniversary of the exodus of the Carhaix population. towards the town of Plévin. This commemorative day, organized at the initiative of the town halls of Plévin and Carhaix, could take, for example, the form of a memorial hike, in order to retrace the route between the Place du Champ-de-Bataille, where nearly 3,000 inhabitants of Carhaix, as far as the town of Plévin.
“It was in a pram that I traveled! »
Although he was only one year old at the time of the events, Pierrot Le Guen, 81, well known locally since he has accompanied each of the patriotic ceremonies with his trumpet since the 1960s, is inexhaustible on the subject. “My father often told me how everything happened,” he says. On August 6, 1944, Carhaix was under siege. While the Allies were at the city gates, the Germans gave the order to evacuate the entire civilian population. “I was only one year old and it was in a pram that I traveled to Plévin. From what I was told, it was forbidden to take anything, but my parents had managed to hide some clothes in the bottom of my pram. One of the wheels broke on the way, so I got there on three wheels,” he smiles. Pierrot Le Guen, who collected numerous testimonies on this episode, adds that “the Carhaisiens had received a wonderful welcome from the Plévinois”.
A tragedy avoided
This exodus of 3,000 Carhaisians towards Plévin was short-lived, since the town was liberated the next day. “That day, a large-scale tragedy was avoided,” recognized Christian Troadec, calling on those who have written or photographic documents on the exodus, or who retain memories, to contact the town hall in advance. of the memorial day of August 6.
“A lesson for tomorrow”
This ceremony celebrating the 79th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, was also to be an opportunity, for the mayor, “to remember the sacrifice of our elders who fell for freedom and for peace”. The city councilor added that this ceremony should serve as a warning of the persistence of an ideology which has generated monstrous crimes and led the world to war. “This ceremony not only pays homage to those who died, it above all symbolizes the safeguarding of collective memory; Together we want everyone to know where indifference can lead, faced with the danger of a rebirth of an evil that cost humanity so dearly. We must be extremely vigilant. Resistance is not an outdated teaching but a lesson for tomorrow! “, he said.
