Maquis
Maquis ( French : le maquis , Italian and Corsican : la macchia ) originally referred to the impenetrable bush forest ( macchie ) in the Mediterranean countries. Since bandits and outlaws have traditionally hidden in the Maquis, the term is often used as a synonym for underground movement .
France
The French partisans of the Resistance who hid in forests and mountains and other sparsely populated areas during the Second World War are referred to as maquis (or also as maquisards) . From there they were the first to fight the German occupation forces in France .
The Maquis was more popular when the French were supposed to be obliged to do labor in Germany as part of the Service du travail obligatoire (STO). Anyone who wanted to evade his duty "disappeared into nature". One problem that was exacerbated by this was the chronic shortage of weapons and equipment: It was very difficult for the Allies to supply the underground fighters, and in some cases the political will to do so was lacking. Many Maquisards joined one of the Resistance groups, some apparently simply stayed underground without joining the military resistance. Later the Maquis was one of several groups of the Resistance and played an important role in the liberation of France .
After the liberation of France, its role was ambiguous during the occupation by the government of Charles de Gaulle . On the one hand, the resistance activity within France was the reason why people now felt themselves to be a victorious power; on the other hand, de Gaulle wanted to neutralize the political claims of the mostly left-wing, and often communist, maquisards . The Maquis thus became a myth that had no political consequences.
Spain
The resistance groups who continued the fight against Franco's regime underground after the defeat of the republic in the Spanish Civil War are also referred to as “Maquis” .
literature
- Francois Marcot: La Résistance et les Français: Lutte armée et maquis. Colloque international de Besançon 15-17 juin: Université de Franche-Comté, Université de Bourgogne, Annales littéraires de l'Université de Franche-Comté, Paris 1996 & 2003 ISBN 2-251-60617-3
- François Marcot, Bruno Leroux, Christine Levisse-Touzé: Dictionnaire historique de la Résistance. Résistance intérieure et France libre (related articles). Robert Laffont, Paris 2006 ISBN 2-221-09997-4
- Harry R. Kedward: In Search of the Maquis: Rural Resistance in Southern France 1942-1944. (Clarendon Paperbacks) Oxford Univ. Press USA, New York 1994 ISBN 0-19-820578-3 , French: A la recherche du maquis. Le Cerf, Paris 1999 ISBN 2-204-06104-2
- Ian Wellsted: SAS with the Maquis. In Action with the French Resistance, June-September 1944. Greenhill, London 1994 ISBN 978-1-85367-186-9 and exp. and changed in the cards. TB edition: ibid. 1997 & Stackpole, Mechanicsburg (Pennsylvania) 1997 ISBN 1-85367-285-8
Individual evidence
- ^ Cf. Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac : La France Libre. De l'appel du 18 juin à la liberation , Vol. 2, Paris 2001, pp. 1138 ff.
