On October 26, around thirty “Copain du Monde” children met in Nantua at the Ain Resistance and Deportation Museum. At the initiative of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Secours populaire, this day intended to bring to life the duty of memory was also to raise children's awareness of the notion of resistance.
Through this exceptional day, Secours populaire has set itself the objective of fulfilling its mission of popular education by offering an educational, civic and memorial day to children and young people “Copain du Monde”. They cultivated the ideal of“learn to understand instead of trying to hate” so that tomorrow is more human, to fight against forgetting, to talk about the hatred and madness of men. Thus, upon their arrival, an educational activity was offered to them by the museum's team of mediators, accompanied by volunteer facilitators from Secours populaire. It all started with a treasure hunt in the town of Nantua. Invited to discover the emblematic places of this period, the different groups were able to wander the streets while soaking up the historic achievements carried out by the Nantuatians during the war. In front of the town hall of Nantua, the enigma allows us to understand that, for the action of its inhabitants during the war, the town of Nantua was decorated with the French Resistance medal by General de Gaulle in 1947. Nantua is one of the 18 municipalities and communities awarded Resistance medals. Continuing their walk Sarah, Youssef, Marion and Anastasia then stop in front of the city monument. Imposing and facing the lake, it allows us to understand the importance of the duty to remember. For Sarah, who lives in Aix-les-Bains, “It is a monument on which the names of all those who fought against Nazism are engraved. This is so that they are not forgotten. In my town too, there is a war memorial.” Rachel, a volunteer from Puy-de-Dôme, wants to remind people that all these men and women who resisted must be honored.
On the way back, the small group stops in front of a street sign. This is the street of Doctor Émile Mercier. On the plaque is written: “ Shot by the Germans on December 14, 1943 “. Bernard, a volunteer in Lyon, takes the time to read the information available to him using the tablet provided by the museum. “On December 14, 1943, he was rounded up among 150 people in Nantua; denounced, he was not deported but taken by the Gestapo to Lyon. His destiny ends at Maillat where he is shot. » For children and young people “Copain du Monde”, this information is also an awareness of the dangers faced by those who resisted the occupier. On their return to the museum, everyone is invited to participate in a role-playing game entitled “In the footsteps of the maquis”. Based on a game booklet in which they are the heroes, children and young people follow a young resistance fighter. In twos or threes maximum, they must put themselves in the shoes of a young person from Nantua who refuses to go to Germany to do his STO*. While several possibilities are available to him (maquis, departure for London, etc.), everything must be done so that he does not die. From step to step, the choices follow one another until the liberation of France.
Krisilda, Sawa and Rama come together to follow in the young man's footsteps. They have already approached this period of history in college but in a more academic way. Very quickly, they take part in the game: hiding in the maquis, learning to use weapons, helping with English airdrops, learning sabotage to push back the German troops… Sawa admits to discovering lots of things. “We learned that the color of the parachutes indicated the contents of the parachuted boxes, red for weapons, blue for communications devices or white for medical equipment. » And even if some had some knowledge about this period, everyone appreciates this way of enriching their knowledge. For Youssef, it's more pleasant than classes. And above all, as Léna expresses it, “we see real objects, weapons, uniforms, models… This makes the events more real. We understand better how things happened and above all that resisting required a lot of courage. We could die at any moment.” Historical notions which are sometimes difficult to grasp but which, through all these testimonies – posters, objects, etc. –, have taken a completely different place in the minds of the “Copain du Monde” children. Once the museum visit was over, all the young people were invited to get together to discuss and share certain concepts.
Because the objective of this day was to make people think about the notion of resistance and solidarity. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of Secours populaire, Claude Esclaine, head of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Secours populaire, highlighted the history of the association. An introduction to the debate which then allowed everyone to express themselves on the notion of resistance. While some associated it with the notion of combat, others emphasized the difficulty of resisting and that deciding to resist implied courage. For Fati, resistance runs through history “Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Simone Veil and Rosa Parks resisted, but each in their own way. There is no one way to resist. It's up to everyone to find their own way of doing things. For Rosa Parks, it was by refusing to give up her seat on a bus that Gandhi chose to go on hunger strike. » As for Lena, “to show solidarity is to resist and fight poverty. » Whatever the words used and the definitions that everyone has given, what is obvious to everyone is that resistance is necessary. “With its children's movement “Copain du Monde”, Secours populaire raises awareness among young volunteers of a painful and dramatic chapter in our history and of the urgent need to globalize solidarity in these present times, where our humanity faces very major turbulences on a planetary scale”, wanted to remind Claude Esclaine.
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