French refugees on the exodus route, June 19, 1940 • WIKEMEDIA COMMONS “There was no more school, it was good, but mum and my big brother looked scared. […] On June 5, mom put us all in the car when she didn't even have her driver's license. […] Me, I wanted to take my dolls, but we didn’t have time. We found ourselves on the road with a huge crowd. » Marceline Martin, a 7-year-old Parisian, describes her first steps on the roads of exodus, during the immense wave of June 1940. Marceline experienced a very dangerous journey, pressed by a compact crowd trying to win a few hundred meters in several hours. Then her mother pushes her into the ditch as planes approach that machine-gun those whom the press and political leaders call "refugees". Luftwaffe stukas wail their siren as they dive at them. Getting up from the ditch, dead and debris everywhere because of a bomb that fell near the little girl and her mother. Marceline emerges alive from the exodus. A few weeks later, when the Franco-German armistice came into effect, thousands of wanted notices were posted in many public places. French and Belgians are looking for their children lost on the roads, but also wives and husbands. “Madame X… is looking for children. The press also publishes hundreds of notices that all begin with these same words. Sometimes announcements are more cheerful and claim to have found the child lost on the roads. The monstrous journey of the May-June 1940 exodus is partly summed up by these cries for help and this childish testimony. The International Red Cross even mentions 90,000 children lost in the exodus. Lists are available to the prefects. Between 8 and 10 million refugees crossed France in May-June 1940, in two distinct waves. France then had nearly 40 million inhabitants. The exodus is not only an immense human drama, but it also dismembers a well-established democratic state. Thousands of lives are turned upside down in a migration of fear, a headlong rush. The Great June Panic Since the fall of 1939, in peace, thousands of civilians have been evacuated to several French departments far from the borders. And then suddenly, the German offensive began, on May 10, 1940. In Belgium, 2 million women, children and old people left everything, instantly. The men went to war. The Germans are soon in the village or neighborhood. No one could have imagined such a debacle. Belgium is in exile. The French of the East and North see these millions of frightened foreigners pass. The French authorities seem to be ready to organize the Belgian exodus. It's a shock though. Civilians remember the stories of veterans, but also the pictures published in the press, showing the damage caused to civilians in Guernica during the Spanish Civil War and the cities bombed by the Nazis (Rotterdam and Warsaw). In May, however, France “absorbed” this first wave of the exodus as well as possible. Public assistance in Paris takes care of the wounded and sick Belgians and French as best they can; it also sees to the good sanitary condition of the refugees. And then comes the great panic of June, a consequence of the military debacle and the abandonment of the populations by the authorities; the second wave of the exodus, that of an irrational "great fear", was triggered by rumours, lack of information - censored - and above all because of military operations very favorable to the German enemy, who broke the French front line on the Somme. Refugees cross paths with routed French soldiers. Worrying. This ends up convincing some reluctant to leave hastily. And the stukas to swoop down on the refugees… An element of modern warfare, also waged against civilian targets. The Germans also know that by going after civilians, politicians can give in more easily and victory can be quicker. And the stukas to dive into refugees, an element of modern warfare also waged against civilian targets. Some also advance the threat of the “fifth column”; some see German spies everywhere. However, this is a minority phenomenon. In June, the tragedies multiply (rapes, murders, fights), but also looting (theft of luggage from thousands of refugees by train, houses emptied of their precious objects) and cowardice. Social and human norms are breaking down. It's a rush everywhere. The German offensive of June 5 and 6 brutally pushed hundreds of thousands of Parisians onto the roads and also sent Belgians who had taken refuge in the capital since May. Panic is contagious. The rush to the docks From June 8 to 13, the SNCF organizes transport to the south of the country as well as possible by dozens of special trains, totally improvised, in addition to the 200 usual trains. The effort is unprecedented, dantesque even. Travelers sleep on the street, behind the closed gates of the station, to be sure of having a place on a train. When morning comes, there is a rush to the quays, even if it means coming to blows. Other refugees from eastern Paris say that the Germans are getting closer and closer to Paris. The authorities say nothing, but pack their bags. On the morning of June 13, a convoy of trucks set off towards the Porte d'Orléans. These are ministries and government staff who are continuing to move on the sly to Touraine. The news spreads, and hundreds of thousands of Parisians leave as they can, most often on foot, because the Gare d'Austerlitz closed its doors on June 13, due to lack of personnel and equipment. Mad people are abandoned in asylums or on the roads. Sick old people are left alone in hospitals or on the roads. The saver wins. The Parisian prisons are also on the roads; the prison exodus is terrifying, with inmates shot on the spot when, exhausted, they can no longer advance. Prison guards are also considering abandoning prisoners to return to Paris and bring their families to safety. North of the Loire, the authorities, faced with the advance of the German armies, largely fled. Cities are without police officers, without mayors, without prefects, without firefighters, without even a grocery store or a bakery to eat. The last inhabitants have no choice but to leave. Insane people are abandoned in asylums or on the roads. Sick old people are left alone in hospitals or on the roads by those responsible for caring for them. The rescuer who can often wins. Caps and D system On the other hand, in Chartres, the prefect Jean Moulin dissuades civil servants from leaving their post, often in vain. He then organized the reception of the refugees himself and gave functions to the inhabitants to feed the last Chartrains and the refugees passing through. The range of behaviors of administrative, political and military leaders is very disparate from one region to another. The Louvre Museum continues to evacuate paintings by masters and statues in a hurry:some agents find themselves in Chambord, hampered by the refugees, but determined to protect the works of art of the great Parisian museums. Between Paris and the Loire, millions of inhabitants rush on the roads and paths, some having for only road map the cartographic page inserted in the middle of the PTT calendar. Soon, the refugees cross paths with French soldiers fleeing to the south of the country. The anxiety grows. Morale is at rock bottom. Between June 14 and 24, a smaller exodus began from Lyon and its region. On June 10, Italy entered the war against France. Refugees then throw themselves on the roads of the Rhone Valley, while others choose to deviate from the north-south axis to reach the Massif Central. Except that in the meantime, the refugees who have crossed the Loire are also heading for Auvergne. Huge traffic jams then block all the Auvergne roads. Thousands of refugees try to cross the Loire on the last bridges still in working order. The possibility of a return System D wins. Refugees are not always well received in some municipalities; it is that the inhabitants are afraid of running out of food. However, examples of solidarity are not lacking. A question arises with insistence:will we be able to return home? This question is answered in the request for a cessation of hostilities made by Marshal Pétain on June 17, 1940. It is a huge relief for the refugees to know that the war will end. Return is possible. Eventually, the Germans who had to be fled at all costs caught up with most of the refugees in their offensive. Finally, the Germans who had to be fled at all costs caught up with most of the refugees in their offensive. After agreements with the occupiers, millions of refugees returned to the occupied zone between July and the end of September 1940. However, thousands of people could not, such as the Jews, who were forbidden to cross the demarcation line to go from unoccupied zone to the occupied zone. The Germans created a forbidden zone in which the refugees could only enter in dribs and drabs until 1941. The "great fear" of May-June 1940 was still a trauma for many survivors. Find out more The Exodus. A forgotten drama , by Éric Alary, Perrin (Tempus), 2013.The Year 40. The Battle of France , by Éric Teyssier, Michalon, 2020. Children's exodus In Forbidden Games by René Clément (1952), little Paulette (Brigitte Fossey), aged 5, is taken in by a family of peasants, after losing her parents on an exodus route, killed during a strafing by planes Germans. The little girl does not want to bury her dead dog, but Michel, the peasants' son, convinces her to bury him in a cemetery designed for animals. Moving. The story only briefly shows the exodus, but pretty much sums up the drama of thousands of children in the exodus. Some 90,000 children were lost according to the Red Cross. The bombardments, the mad dashes towards the ditches and in the fields, the jostling in the stations or on the roads leave little chance for the little ones. Mothers are on the alert. Children must be prevented from looking at dead bodies and kept away from fights. After the exodus, search notices make it possible to find relatives. Children wear tags around their necks with information given to first aiders. But very young children know nothing of their identity and may take a year or more to return home. Others will be supported by the state. Wandering children on the roads have even been arrested by the gendarmes or the police, in possession of stolen food. Some reports speak of gangs of child thieves during the exodus. Everywhere, other lost children are placed in hospitals or in foster families, the time to find a solution of refuge. Finally, children also remember a sometimes happy exodus, like a long, improvised vacation, far from home.
