The German occupation in Midi Toulousain ended in 1944. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of this great date, let's retrace some significant events that took place in Lauragais during these tormented years.
In the South of Toulouse, the Second World War was experienced strangely. Of course, it has an impact: men are mobilized and the population suffers a lot of deprivation. But between 1939 and 1942, the So-called “Free” France under the Vichy government does not know about the German occupation.
It was during the year 1942 that Lauragais saw the occupier's troops surge to control the whole of France. This era initiated a period of struggle and terror in the region. THE roundups of Jews including 3523 victims, including 168 children. From then on, Resistance and mutual aid developed, and several networks were organized in Lauragais.
Coming from here or elsewhere, several characters have forever marked the collective memory of Lauragais.
- From Vendine to Calmont
- 1h
- 70 km
The House of Vendine
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Under the Vichy regime, the network Saliege, name of the Archbishop of Toulouse, developed to save Jewish children from deportation in the Toulouse region.
La House of Vendine, Also called Saliège Farm, sheltered around a hundred children during the war. This house first sheltered Spanish children in June 1942, then from August 1942 Jewish children destined to join the Rivesaltes camp in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
The Saliège network
Founded in Toulouse in 1941 by Cardinal Saliège, this clandestine Catholic network played a crucial role for the Resistance in the region. Driven by values of mutual aid and compassion, he worked tirelessly to save Jews and resistance fighters from Nazi barbarism.
The history of the Carrance family
10 min ride. by car
Auriac-sur-vendinelle
In 1943, the Carrance family, originally from Bordeaux, sought refuge in the village ofAuriac-sur-vendinelle, hoping to find security there in the face of Nazi anti-Semitism. Ernest and Stéphanie Carrance, accompanied by their daughter Jacqueline, aged 15, and grandmother Lucie Lob, moved into a house in the village. Their two sons, for their part, continue their studies at the high school of Revel.
Unfortunately, their respite only lasts a few months. The family was arrested at their home on May 20, 1944 and Ernest, Stéphanie, Jacqueline and Lucie were deported by convoy 74 to Auschwitz. Alerted in time, the two sons managed to escape.
The heroic journey of René Crozes
7 min ride. by car
Caraman
Caraman was a small, peaceful village when the STO was established in 1942, Compulsory Labor Service.
At the moment, Rene Crozes, like many others, refuses to do so and becomes a wanted man. He then recovered weapons but was arrested and interned at the Noé camp, south of Muret, which brought together communists, gypsies and those resisting the STO. He escaped and joined the forces of the maquis in central France. In these maquis, resistance actions are multiple: sabotage, assassinations and exfiltration of prisoners for example.
The maquis will be repressed by the Division Das Reich (Waffen SS), which will pass through Caraman on August 22. It is this division which will commit the Oradour-Sur-Glane massacre.
The tragedy of the Zlotogorsky family
15 min ride. by car
Trebons-sur-la-Grasse
En 1940, the Zlotogorsky family, Polish Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Belgium, settled in the village of Trebons-sur-la-Grasse.
In 1942, as part of the roundups ordered by Pétain, six women from the Zlotogorsky family and two children, Sarah and Jacob, were arrested and died at Auschwitz.
The three men of the family, David, Isaac and Paul, escape the roundup by hiding in the woods. When they return, they discover that their homes have been looted and that their loved ones have disappeared. They then joined the British army for the liberation of France.
Villefranche-de-Lauragais, landmark of resistance fighters
9 min ride. by car
Villefranche-de-Lauragais
Villefranche de Lauragais was, from the first hours of the occupation, an important resistance marker !
Numerous mentions in Vichy police files echo acts of Resistance in the city: thefts, shootings against trains or discreetly posted posters. Resistance is strong to Villefranche-de-Lauragais.
Irénée Bonhoure, resistant to the end
8 min ride. by car
Avignonet Lauragais
From the Armistice of 1940, the first embryos of Resistance were quickly formed aroundAvignonet Lauragais, then transform into real organized maquis.
Irénée Bonhoure, a well-known figure to local residents, was in the Avignonet maquis, where he was one of the most active elements. He was responsible for intelligence on enemy troops. He was even one of the resistance fighters who welcomed the General de Gaulle in Toulouse September 16, 1944!
At this time, the Lauragais had already regained his freedom. The last Germans who occupied the territory surrendered to the Avignonet gendarmes on the day of August 21, 1944.
80 Jewish children hidden in Seyre
12 min ride. by car
navigating
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Children's drawings are still visible inside the barn
During the Second World War, the Seyre castle was the scene of a story well known to the inhabitants of Lauragais today.
Fleeing Nazi persecution, 80 orphaned Jewish children from Germany and Austria found refuge there between 1940 and 1941.
Despite the welcome of the owner, a resistance fighter himself, these children have not experienced castle life. Daily life there was extremely hard. Housed in a barn converted into dormitories, they lacked water, heating and food. The harsh winter of 1940 worsened their already precarious living conditions. From this period in Seyre, there are still children's drawings on the walls of the barn (closed to the public).
In Toulouse, the Red Cross played a crucial role in the protection of Jewish refugees in the unoccupied zone. Its manager, Maurice Dubois, personally watched over the well-being of Seyre's children. Clothes, shoes and boxes of powdered milk were sent to them regularly from Switzerland.
In the spring of 1941, after a year at the Château de Seyre, the children were transferred to Hille Castle in Ariège, thinking of getting a little further away from the danger.
However, several children were overtaken by their tragic fate. Ten of them died in Nazi concentration camps, and another was killed in Roquefixade maquis, in Ariège.
Testimony from a survivor
Refugee in Seyre in 1940, Edith Goldapper recounted his journey in an autobiographical account recorded in two notebooks dating from 1943 and 1944.
His story, entitled “ The exiles of a Jewish teenager in Europe at war, 1938-1944 » was published in 2023 by theassociation of Friends of the Archives of Haute-Garonne
Manuel Palos and the Maquis Naillousain
6 min ride. by car
Nailloux
Like many villages in Lauragais, Nailloux quickly became an area of Resistance. His maquis was formed around Manuel Palos, also known under the pseudonyms “Mazda, Marcel or Portes”.
This professional electrician was at the initiative of several major actions in Lauragais, including the sabotage of railway lines the day after the Normandy landings (1944) in order to slow down the rise of the Germans towards the north.
Radio during the war
At the time, radio was the preferred mode of information for the French. Not every household had one, but it was customary to gather together to listen to frequency information.
In Lauragais as elsewhere, radio naturally became an important means of communication for the Resistance!
It was imperative to use codes! They made it possible to cover a potential leak of information, particularly in the event of torture by the Germans.
Aimé Ramond, Resistance police officer
3 min ride. by car
Montgeard
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Engraving by Aimé Ramond in Carcassonne prison
Born in Montgeard in 1918, Aimé Ramond was destined for a career as a teacher. Unfortunately, his life took a very different turn as World War II approached. After completing his training in 1937 and 1938, he was mobilized in 1939 to the 502nd combat tank regiment in Angoulême.
Demobilized in 1941, he then headed towards a career in the police, to be assigned to Carcassonne as a Peace Officer in January 1943. It was under this official cover that Aimé Ramond joined the Resistance in July 1943. He then allowed several resistance fighters to narrowly escape the militia and the Germans.
On July 30, 1944, he was denounced and arrested with other comrades by the Gestapo. Taken to Carcassonne prison, he suffered the worst torture but always remained silent. On August 19, 1944, Aimé Ramond was transferred to the Baudrigues estate, in the commune of Roullens (south of Carcassonne). Torpedoes and aerial bombs are stored there. In the middle of the day, the Germans blew up the place. Everything is demolished: the castle, the park and all its vegetation. The body of Aimé Ramond, who died at the age of 25, will never be found intact.
He will be made a Knight of the Legion of Honor and cited in the order of the nation:
A street bears his name in Carcassonne, as well as a square in Montgeard.
Maurice and Yvette Roulleau, Righteous Among the Nations
10 min ride. by car
Calmont
Maurice and Yvette Roulleau were teachers at the school of Calmont, where they spent happy days. In the dark hours of the war, their destiny was linked to that of the Weinribs, a Jewish family from Belgium.
The Weinribs settled in Toulouse in 1940 and lived there until 1942, when the father, Joseph, was arrested and deported. His wife Sara is hiding in a convent and the eldest, Paula, is hosted by a Toulouse family. The youngest daughter of the family, Fanny, was then entrusted to Maurice and Yvette, who welcomed her and raised her in Calmont.
The couple is recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, honorary title for people who saved Jews at the risk of their lives.
July 16, 1944, a bloody day in Calmont
Calmont
While Calmont had only known the war through the surrounding maquis, deprivations and the radio, the July 16, 1944 is a shock for the village.
In the early morning, a column of German SS, the The Empire, enters the town. They take around fifty men hostage and search them for hours on the Place des Canelles. They find in the affairs of Jeannot Ruiz a submachine gun. The young resistance fighter will be tortured and executed in the afternoon. Two other resistance fighters, Henri Lanfant et Louis Calvet, were also found dead on the first floor of the butcher's shop.
Finally, a fourth man is hanged from a street lamp. It is Rene Vidal, Policeman. The German commander ordered that the body remain there for three days before being placed in coffin.
The soldiers leave in the evening leaving the small village in a state of shock.