• This Friday, Nantes commemorates the 80th anniversary of the execution of the 50 hostages.

  • The people of Nantes are far from all knowing this story.

    The Remembrance Committee explains the work to be carried out with the population.

On October 22, 1941, Lieutenant-Colonel Karl Hotz, in charge of the occupation troops in Loire-Inférieure, was shot dead in Nantes by resistance fighters. In retaliation, 48 hostages were shot two days later by the Nazis in Nantes, Châteaubriant and Mont-Valérien, in Paris. Among these 48 victims, many French resistance fighters, including Guy Môquet, a young French resistance fighter shot at the dawn of his 17 years.

Following this disastrous event, General de Gaulle made Nantes the first city "Companion of the Liberation", in November 1941. This tragic episode of the Second World War is still closely linked to Nantes, 80 years later.

Today, the monument of the 50 hostages, on the course of the same name, occupies a central place in Nantes.

Opposite the prefecture, a tram station is so named, in tribute to these prisoners killed by the Nazis.

“This is a very important historical fact.

It is the first mass massacre in western France.

At that time, the Nazi repression is in progress.

Hitler is unmasked, ”says Christian Retailleau, president of the Committee for the Remembrance of those shot in Châteaubriant, Nantes and Loire-Inférieure.

A work of memory to be carried out

But what do the people of Nantes really know about this tragic event? “I know these are people who were shot. But at what time? No idea, ”explains Abi, 26, who nevertheless lives right next to the Monument to the 50 Hostages. Virginie, who has been living in Nantes for a year, has "absolutely no idea". Unlike Guy, a young Nantes native “interested in the history of the city” and who knows the context of this performance very well. But most of the New Nantes people or young people are not fully aware of this part of the city's history.

"We are entering a period where we will have to transmit this long memory, because there are hardly any direct witnesses," indicates Christian Retailleau, whose committee has set up numerous events with the city for the 80th anniversary of the event.

Memory work is all the more important as the department attracts more and more inhabitants every year.

“Communities are aware that new populations must be reached.

We must provide new tools for these inhabitants ”.

Among these tools, the performance of a play about the 50 hostages, which will tour throughout Loire-Atlantique.

"It is essential to know your past"

Described as an important moment in the history of the Resistance, the execution of the 50 hostages will be commemorated this Friday in Nantes, through ceremonies open to the general public.

In Indre, a town in the metropolis, the local remembrance committee will pay tribute to the resistance members of the town, this Sunday, with the participation of children.

“By working with the school community, we also reach parents.

Because the children talk to them about it ”, indicates Jean-Luc Le Drenn, president of this committee.

"It is essential to know your past if you do not want to live the same situations", concludes Christian Retailleau, who hopes that the memory work carried out by associations and communities will touch the people of Nantes, on the occasion of this sad anniversary.

A difficult mission, but a necessary one.

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  • Second World War

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