Les Mées - Les groupes de travailleurs étrangers lors de la 2ème Guerre mondiale - Henri Joannet

Les Mées - Les groupes de travailleurs étrangers lors de la 2ème Guerre mondiale - Henri Joannet

(The groups of foreign workers during the 2nd World War) A little known page of our history.

During the Second World War, the village of Les Mées welcomed the foreign workers groups (GTE) 213 and 702. Their members, Germans, Sarrois and Austrians hostile to Hitler, Spaniards who were refugees from the civil war, Poles, Luxembourgers, etc., constituted a workforce for the Saint-Auban factory, the lignite mines of the department, the forestry operators, and local businesses. In addition to the story of the deportation of forty-eight men of the Jewish faith and the living conditions of these workers, we will follow the destiny of Pierre Zyngerman, René Char's lieutenant, Jan Meyerowitz, who was taken out of the camp by Jean Giono, Johnny Friendlaender, a painter and engraver, Sam Levin, the photographer from the world of cinema, Albert Simon, a Flemish caricaturist, and André Horeau, the commander of the GTE.

Preface by Jean-Marie Guillon, Afterword by Robert Mencherini.

Collection Un territoire et des hommes, C'est-à-dire editions.

This book was published thanks to the support of the associations "Les Amis des Mées" and "1851, pour la mémoire des Résistances républicaine".

The author:
Although he spent his entire career in the Bouches-du-Rhône as an inspector, head of a tax center, Henri Joannet has always been fascinated by the history of his region which saw him born in Les Mées. His father-in-law was a member of the GTE of Aspres.