Captain Guillon – The Cruel Price of Resistance in South West France

This is the story of an ordinary human being who showed remarkable moral and physical courage in demonstrating solidarity and support for Jewish refugees who, mistakenly, thought they would be safe from Nazi persecution by fleeing to the “Free Zone” in Southern France. As Captain of the Gendarmerie in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Lucien Guillon risked his personal safety and that of his family by issuing visas, fabricating identity papers and warning Jews of pending roundups. He paid the price of dismissal, arrest and deportation to Neuenbürg and Ravensbrook concentration camps for his resistance activities.  It was not until 1995 that France formally recognized its role in the roundup and deportation of Jews to Nazi concentration camps. In 2012 President Hollande opened to the public the National Archives of WW2. This study has also benefited from testimonies from family, survivors, and archivists at the Neuenbürg Memorial Museum.

Hamish Macdonald taught History in Secondary Schools in and around Bristol and worked as an Education Adviser for Bristol Children and Young People’s Service. He also published several history books written for school students. Since 2010 he has lived near Villefranche-de-Rouergue in South West France where he continues to work as an historian and writer. Following his investigation of local and national archives, and other resources, he has just completed a biography of a Gendarme who was in the French Resistance during the Second World war.