The lost generation of Oradour-sur-Glane
Originally published on French History Network Blog When a single singed page landed at his feet, having drifted down from the...
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Robert Pike
- May 16, 2021
The Girl in the School Photograph
There are far more personal stories attached to Oradour-sur-Glane than I was able to fit into a single volume. Now that the book, Silent...
Robert Pike
- May 9, 2021
Silent Village launch
I first visited Oradour-sur-Glane in 1993. My mother was an A level History teacher and my parents were Francophiles. It followed that I...
Robert Pike
- Mar 19, 2021
The teacher, the mother and Oradour
Louise Bardet never got to eat lunch with the elder of her two children on 10 June 1944. That morning the sky had been grey and the air...
Robert Pike
- Jun 29, 2020
The Welsh Silent Village
Two years to the day before Oradour-sur-Glane was destroyed by the SS Das Reich (the subject of my own upcoming book, Silent Village)...
Robert Pike
- Jun 10, 2020
The Road to the Silent Village
On June 10 1944 The French village of Oradour-sur-Glane was destroyed by the SS. Here Robert Pike previews his next book 'Silent Village
Robert Pike
- May 24, 2019
The Resistance: Maryse and Monette – agents and life-savers
In April 1943 two young French men, both of Eastern European-Jewish heritage, struck up a friendship with Maryse Nicolas and Monette...
Robert Pike
- Feb 12, 2019
The footballer and his band of killers
Alexandre Villaplane and the 'Phalange nord-africaine' in the Dordogne. Alexandre Villaplane described the day he led the French national...
Robert Pike
- Oct 4, 2018
The changing face of Vichy
In 1971 Marcel Ophuls released a film that sparked a change in how France viewed the occupation. Four hours long, it upset the...
Robert Pike
- Aug 30, 2018
Vichy and the occupation in film
Cinema is important to the French. As the birthplace of the motion picture, the country shares a special relationship with the medium....
Robert Pike
- Aug 21, 2018
Archive interview with SOE agent Jacques Poirier
Jacques Poirier was a Frenchman who joined Maurice Buckmaster's F section of the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E) in London. He was...
Robert Pike
- Sep 1, 2017
Lucie Aubrac's views on the beginnings of the Resistance
The development of the Resistance accelerated greatly due to military developments well outside the sphere of influence of the...
Robert Pike
- Aug 26, 2017
Prof. Rod Kedward and Patrice Rolli
I recently spent an extremely profitable not to mention enjoyable day at the Brighton home of Rod Kedward, Emeritus Professor of History...
Robert Pike
- Aug 24, 2017
Where it all began...?
I was lucky enough to meet Jacques de la Bardonnie at his Château Laroque, overlooking the picturesque village of...
Robert Pike
- Aug 22, 2017
Resistance of the 'first hour'
I first met Ralph Finkler in 1996 and was delighted to catch up with him again on two occasions recently. His story led to my deep...