Academic Review 2024

74 ST EDWARD’S, OXFORD

When analysing the impact of radio on the resistance, it is also essential to mention de Gaulle’s Appeal of 18 June in 1940. From the BBC in London, de Gaulle called upon all French to resist: ‘France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war’ (Gouvernement Fr. Archives Gouv) adding that ‘the flame of the resistance must not and will not be extinguished’ (Gouvernement Fr. Archives Gouv). Through such language de Gaulle became the first major figure to pronounce resistance ideals. However, it can also be argued that passive resistance’s ideological role in instigating defiance and disseminating resistance ideals is overstated. Firstly, not all French people in the early occupation were unhappy with the status quo. Pétain enjoyed ‘exceptional popularity and legitimacy’ (Albertelli, Blanc, & Douzou, 2019), while Albertelli explains that the Resistance was an ‘affair of a minority’ (Albertelli, Blanc, & Douzou, 2019). Furthermore, Pétain was widely viewed as a “saviour” to the nation, and the armistice was seen by many as a “deliverance” (Blumenson, 1977). In the Occupied Zone, many, often fascists or anti communists, collaborated in an ‘openly desired cooperation with an imitation of the German regime’ (Hoffmann, 1968). Others, however, wished simply to ‘accommodate the new German order’ (Blumenson, 1977). Such evidence of support or tolerance of Vichy and the Nazi occupiers would undermine the influence of the passive resistance. In contrast, de Gaulle contradicted these claims by declaring on 14th October 1944, that aside from a ‘handful of wretches’ (Gidea, 2015) who had collaborated with the enemy, the rest of France were indeed patriots. While this has been adopted as the reality in French history, a ground-breaking documentary, The Sorrow and the Pity (1969), argued that de Gaulle’s statement represented a myth, as the director, Marcel Ophüls controversially exposed widespread collaboration across France. Therefore, the ideological impact of the passive resistance is overestimated as the majority of the French population accepted the occupation and the creation of a new French State. Further, the passive resistance was also arguably not decisive ideologically as the attitudes of those who opposed the occupation had already hardened for other reasons. The brutality of the German and Vichy regimes, for example, were sufficient to persuade the French to resist while

the French were being deprived of the truth and blinded from the horrors of occupation. Such “truths” countered German propaganda’s claims of control and dominance designed to crush the French population into submission. By challenging Nazi propaganda, the clandestine press successfully influenced the French to question their views and was therefore ideologically significant in providing them with a new sense of hope. The passive resistance was also significant ideologically as it became the dominant platform for disseminating resistance ideals during the early occupation. Early resisters wanted simply to ‘ faire quelque chose ’ (Kedward, 2022), and as their actions became coordinated, basic clandestine structures emerged. Musée de l’Homme published its first edition of Resistance in December 1940, in which it called for readers to ‘Resist!’, and ‘to take up the fight’ (Blumenson, 1977). This call for popular action demonstrates that, from the early stages of the occupation, the passive resistance intended to influence and inspire defiance (Albertelli, Blanc, & Douzou, 2019). Additionally, Ousby characterises the role of the clandestine press as having created, ‘the rhetoric of resistance to counter the rhetoric of the Reich and Vichy’ (Ousby, 2000). Evidence of the ideological success in diffusing resistance ideals can also be observed through the strong demand for the underground press. By 1942, it is estimated that 300,000 copies of underground publications had been printed, reaching approximately two million readers, thereby demonstrating the importance of the clandestine press (Kochanski, 2022). Radio was also popular and gathered an increasing number of listeners around the same period. While there is little quantifiable evidence to support listenership in France, Kochanski justifies the popularity of radio by using the city of Rennes as an example. She states that, by the summer of 1942, radio listenership had reached ‘75% of the population’ (Mangold, 2011), and that ‘the streets would be empty (...) as everyone rushed home to listen to the BBC’ (Kochanski, 2022). In light of the strict bans imposed under the Propaganda-Abteilung , this figure is significant, as it underlines both the popularity of resistance media and the extent to which people risked their lives to partake in this act of resistance. Due to this widespread popularity, it can be stated that the clandestine press and radio successfully spread resistance ideas by attracting large audiences, despite the inherent risks in reading or listening to clandestine material.