The Experience of Occupation in the Nord, 1914-1918
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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Encountering Germans: the Experience of Occupation in the Nord, 1914-1918 Connolly, James Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 07. Oct. 2021 This electronic theses or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Encountering Germans: the Experience of Occupation in the Nord, 1914-1918 Title: Author: James Connolly The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ You are free to: Share: to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Encountering Germans: the Experience of Occupation in the Nord, 1914-1918 by James E. Connolly Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Research School of Arts & Humanities King’s College London Originally submitted in May 2012. Revised version dated December 2012. Supervised by Professor Richard Vinen 1 Copyright Notice The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. 2 Abstract This thesis examines the occupation of the French department of the Nord in the First World War. The focus is on the French responses to occupation, especially the way in which certain actions were understood as patriotic or non-patriotic – acceptable or unacceptable. These behaviours are categorised and studied via three main themes, what might be termed collaboration, criminality, and resistance, although I argue for a reformulation of some of these Second-World-War conceptual categories, taking into consideration the specificities of this occupation. It is demonstrated that the occupied French created their own war culture, a culture de l’occupé , based around notions of respectability, acceptability, and social-patriotic mores. Those breaching the limits of these norms faced opprobrium and punishment, both during and after the war, although this was never as violent or extensive as elsewhere (such as occupied Belgium from 1918, or occupied Europe in 1944-5 and beyond). For some, the moral economy was redefined, creating a situation in which criminality or misconduct became effective modes of survival. This, combined with economic difficulties, led to a belief among chroniclers of occupied life that crime was increasing, and that young people were particularly involved in this. Fears of moral corruption abounded. The occupation culture demanded opposition to the Germans and expressions of patriotism, often containing a performative element. This could be achieved through the protests of French notables, symbolic gestures carried out by the wider population, and active resistance involving a minority of occupés . Whatever the success of resistance, some forms were praised after the occupation, with the French and British governments expressing their gratitude through compensation and medals. The official occupation narrative in the post-war period became one of suffering and resistance, and suffering as resistance; but the occupation memory remained local, eventually overshadowed by that of the Second World War. 3 In loving memory of Edward Connolly, 22nd July 1933-7th December 2012. You will be missed, Grandad. 4 Contents List of Illustrations 6 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 11 - Aims 11 - Methodology 13 - Oubliés de la Grande Guerre ? 16 - The Specificity of the Nord 20 - The Occupation in Context 28 Part I: Une Sacrée désunion? Mauvaise conduite 43 - I – Collaboration horizontale? Sexual mauvaise conduite 47 - II – General mauvaise conduite 64 - III – Post-war Denunciations and the Male Specificity 78 - IV – Retribution and Revenge: Popular Reprisals 98 - V – Moral Borderlands: Criminality during the Occupation 109 Part II: Popular Patriotism and Resistance avant la majuscule 159 - VI – Notable Protests: Respectable Resistance ( Coups de gueule polis ) 167 - VII – Symbolic Resistance ( Coups de cœur) 207 - VIII – Active Resistance ( Coups de poker, coups d’éclat ) 232 Part III: Beyond the Occupation 268 - IX – Epilogue: Remembering and Forgetting 268 - X – Conclusions 294 Appendix 306 Bibliography 319 5 List of Illustrations Table showing the statistical breakdown of suspect individuals in January- 49 April 1917 interviews with rapatriés . Table showing the statistical breakdown of suspects compiled by the British I(b) 49 Intelligence Service, July-October 1918. Table showing police numbers for the arrondissement of Lille, 1916. 120 Figure 1: Electoral map of 1914 for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. 306 Figure 2: Map of occupied France in 1917. 307 Figure 3.1: ADN 9R1193, postcard (face). 308 Figure 3.2: Postcard (reverse). 308 Figure 3.3: Postcard (face). 309 Figure 3.4: Postcard (reverse). 309 Figure 4: ADN 9R1229, photograph of son of the mayor of 310 Marcq-en-Barœul with a German soldier. Figure 5: ADN 9R580, report by Commissaire de Police Boinet, 7 th April 1916. 311 Figure 6: ADN 9R254, photo of Jules Claeys. 312 6 Figure 7: ADN 9R693, extract of the transcript of the conversation between 313 the mayor of Lille and Captain Himmel, 24 th June 1915. Figure 8: Liller Kriegszeitung , nº24, 25 th February 1915. 314 Figure 9: NA WO 106/45, extract from a questionnaire dropped by Allied 315 planes into occupied France and Belgium Figure 10: AN F23/373: Médaille des Victimes de l’Invasion, 316 1914-1918, bronze, awarded to M. Huet, from Laon (Aisne), 28 th February 1922. Figure 11: Monument des Fusillés in Lille. 317 Figure 12: Monument on the tomb of Maertens 318 (AML 4 H 76, booklet in commemoration of Georges Maertens). 7 Acknowledgements I wish to express my gratitude to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, whose financial assistance allowed me to pursue both my MA and this doctoral project. Without this, I would have had to abandon my passion for history after my BA. Further financial aid came from King’s College London, the Institute of Historical Research’s Scouloudi Fellowship, and the Historial de la Grande Guerre’s bourse de recherche (provided by the Fondation Gerda Henkel). This allowed me to engage in deeper research in France and to polish my thesis during a fourth year of study. I am thankful for this. Academics I would like to thank are numerous: my primary supervisor, Richard Vinen, for his encouragement and support throughout the years, especially his honest and insightful comments, probing questions, and sense of humour; Pamela Pilbeam, whose classes and supervision at undergraduate and Masters level reinforced my passion for French history; Daniel Beer, whose reference was vital to securing my initial funding, and whose teaching honed my historical analysis; Helen Graham, who helped me word my title many years ago, taught me during my MA, and later provided an opportunity to teach at my alma mater; Sophie de Schaepdrijver, for her many thought-provoking discussions, constructively critical comments, general encouragement, and considerable time spent reading through various sections of the thesis; Rod Kedward, whose input regarding and appreciation of my resistance chapters proved invaluable; Jim Bjork, for withstanding the many questions I posed when first teaching, which was a very useful experience; Tammy Proctor and Deborah Buffton, both of whom kindly posted me documents vital to my work; Emmanuel Debruyne, for fruitful intellectual exchanges regarding