Dr Robert Pike gained a PhD at Cardiff University in 2026. His thesis is on the social history of the rural French Resistance in central and southern France. He graduated from the University of Exeter in 1998 with a BA Hons. in History and French. He also holds an MSc in Social Science Research Methods, and a PGCE in modern languages at secondary level.
He wrote his first book, Defying Vichy, after interviewing former members of the French Resistance in Dordogne, a French département very close to his heart. His second book, Silent Village, tells the story of the tragedy at Oradour-sur-Glane, France's biggest wartime massacre. 643 men, women, and children were killed on a single day on 10 June 1944 by the SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" and the book recounts the history of the village during the occupation period. It reconstructs the events of that fateful day, and the unreported events of the days that followed. First published in April 2021 a third edition was published in May 2024 in time for the 80th anniversary of the massacre, alongside a French edition titled Oradour s'est'tu (Flammarion, 2024).
Robert lives in Worcestershire with his wife and two children.
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