94-year-old Northerner experienced exodus in 1940 - 20 Minutes

  • In May and June 1940, millions of French women were pushed onto the roads to flee the advance of German soldiers during the Second World War.
  • At 94, Gérard Ridelaire remembers this period when he had to leave Maubeuge for the Dordogne with his family.
  • Eighty years later, he recounts this special experience.

"You know, for me, it was a great adventure. I was 14 and for a year I did not go to school. At 94, Gérard Ridelaire paradoxically only has good memories of his exodus. In May and June 1940, like him, millions of people were pushed on the roads to flee the advance of the German soldiers during the Second world war.

On the occasion of the 80 years of this however dark period in the History of France, 20 Minutes collected the testimony of Gérard, one of the last survivors who still remembers this time.

“We saw everyone leave. It scared the hell out »

It is May 1940. Maubeuge is in flames when the Ridelaire family, settled in the suburbs, in Douzies, decides to go into exile. “We saw everyone leave. It was scary. In my family, there were eleven of us leaving on the last freight train from Hautmont. Direction Paris, then Orleans, because my grandfather by marriage had a house there. This is where I spent my vacation. I learned to swim there in the Loire, ”recalls Gérard.

But in Orleans, the house turns out to be too small to accommodate everyone. Luckily, the Ridelaires find themselves in a castle requisitioned to house the exiles. " It was great. There were bathrooms everywhere. My parents were simple workers and we used to wash in basins. "

Machine-gunned by enemy aircraft

The respite lasts only one week. The castle was evacuated before the arrival of the Germans. We must flee on foot. On the road, the refugee convoy is machine-gunned by enemy planes. "It was a mess. I have never seen my grandmother run so fast. We hid under a hollow tree trunk thinking that it would protect us. Fortunately, the family did well. "

Having abandoned the wheelbarrow that contained all the luggage, the Ridelaires arrived at Vierzon station to take another train there. “We didn't know where we were going. After a long journey, we heard: "Everyone is coming down!". We were in Mussidan, in the Dordogne. "

The municipality will find itself in an unoccupied zone. For several days, an uninterrupted mass of refugees has been surging. “We were greeted by a couple of farmers who housed us in a barn. There were big rats. I was very scared. It kept me from sleeping. "

The ritual of wine in soup

This is where Gérard begins to discover a new life. “For one or two months, we helped with the work in the fields. I discovered how we harvested tobacco and corn. But it is a daily ritual that forges the deepest memory. “After eating the soup, we put wine to clean the plate and presto, we swallowed. It was called "doing chabrol" ", laughs Gérard.

His family will end up being accommodated more comfortably in the working class city of a neighboring commune, Sourzac, at a place called Gabillou. “You realize the solidarity of all these people who organized themselves to welcome us, every time. "

Gérard will stay almost a year in Dordogne. He will spend his time having fun in the woods with a friend from Lorraine his age, also a refugee. “We have been friends all our lives with Amédée. We were having fun together in the woods, we were going to collect mushrooms, we were diving in the river. It was the good life. And I also learned a lot during this period. "

Back to the occupied North

Until the day his mother announced his intention to return to the North, in August 1941. “He missed the house. So one night, someone helped us cross the line. You had to camouflage yourself and cross a torrent. Then we took a train which brought us home. For the first time, I felt watched. "

Back in Douzies, Gérard finds the looted house first, then the way to school. He will become an engineer. The Dordogne is just a memory. It is only in 2019 that he will come back thanks to the initiative of his granddaughter, Lucie.

Poignant reunion

"With the help of a local historian, Patrice Rolli, we organized a trip in the footsteps of my grandfather," says Lucie Ridelaire. We had to reconstruct the course, find the exact places. The only survivor of the time, a 5-year-old girl, Pierrette, grand niece of the farmers.

“Their reunion, 79 years later, was poignant. Pierrette vaguely remembered my grandfather, ”says Lucie. "I don't know why I didn't go back there earlier," says Gérard. It was somewhere in my memory. It was a pleasure to see it all again. "

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  • Second World War
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