Book contents
- When Men Fell from the Sky
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- When Men Fell from the Sky
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Charts
- Numerical Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Blitz-Invasion in France, or Resistance Crushed
- Part II “Imminent Invasion!”
- Part III The Origins of the Resistance
- 5 The Resistance as Mass Local Dynamic
- 6 The Sequences of Aid
- 7 A Civil Society against Two States
- Part IV Lynching in Germany, 1943–1945
- Appendix Bombardments and On-the-Ground Responses: Maps and Numerical Comparisons
- Archival Sources
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - A Civil Society against Two States
from Part III - The Origins of the Resistance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2023
- When Men Fell from the Sky
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- When Men Fell from the Sky
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Charts
- Numerical Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Blitz-Invasion in France, or Resistance Crushed
- Part II “Imminent Invasion!”
- Part III The Origins of the Resistance
- 5 The Resistance as Mass Local Dynamic
- 6 The Sequences of Aid
- 7 A Civil Society against Two States
- Part IV Lynching in Germany, 1943–1945
- Appendix Bombardments and On-the-Ground Responses: Maps and Numerical Comparisons
- Archival Sources
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Drawing upon a field analysis – that of the concrete spatial framework in which evasion-assistance actions arose – we have seen how, despite many setbacks, a collective local dynamic rapidly expanded, gradually giving rise to a national-level resistance network. The study of the repression has shed light on the warlike and thus political dimension of these actions of inter-Allied clandestine solidarity. Another way to bring out the political commitment underlying these apparently humanitarian acts is to change scale and take into account the moral, material and national context that accompanied these collective behaviors and that on the face of it should have hampered their development. Evasion assistance did not develop in a peaceful and neutral universe but rather against a backdrop of destruction and mourning caused by Allied bombings and in opposition to a media sphere fully committed to the anti-Allied cause. A paradoxical situation, in short, one that reveals the helpers’ social autonomy vis-à-vis the French and German authorities.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- When Men Fell from the SkyCivilians and Downed Airmen in Second World War Europe, pp. 162 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023