If the extent of French collaboration during World War II has been obscured, so too has the nature of resistance. Although the communist Left represented the core of the resistance movement, resistors came from any different backgrounds, including in their ranks Catholics, Protestants, Jews and socialists. Unlike the relationship between de-Christianization and right-wing politics, in the case of the resistance there is no clear correlation between regional locations and cells of resistors. It has been argued that the definition of resistance itself should be broadened to include the many acts of passive resistance carried out by French civilians during the occupation.

Reading assignment:

Farmer, Sarah. Martyred Village.