''Libération-sud'' ( French for "Liberation-South") was a resistance group active between 1940-1944 and created in the Free Zone of France during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in order to fight against the Nazi occupation through coordinated sabotage and propaganda operations.

Origins

Libération-Sud was established in a brothel of

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

by an assortment of French intellectuals and activists including Emmanuel d'Astier, Pierre Kaan, Jean Cavaillès,

Lucie Aubrac Lucie Samuel (29 June 1912 – 14 March 2007), born Bernard and known as Lucie Aubrac (), was a member of the French Resistance in World War II. A history teacher by occupation, she earned a history ''agrégation'' in 1938, a highly uncommon achi ...

and

Raymond Aubrac Raymond Aubrac (born Samuel, 31 July 1914 – 10 April 2012) was a member of the French Resistance in World War II. A civil engineer by trade, he assisted General Charles Delestraint within the ''Armée secrète''. Aubrac and his wife Lucie Aubr ...

. The first important Resistant group to emerge after the German occupation, it began publishing ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

'' in July 1941. With the support of Daniel Mayer and the clandestine

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...

(SFIO, socialist party), the Libération-sud group grew rapidly.

Relationship with other Resistance Movements

In 1942 Emmanuel d'Astier entered talks with Jean Moulin about the possibility of uniting all the resistance groups working in France. After much discussion Moulin persuaded the eight major resistance groups to form the '' Conseil National de la Résistance'' (CNR, National Council of Resistance). This included D'Astier's ''Libération-Sud'' as well as ''

Combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

'' ( Henri Frenay), ''

Franc-Tireur (; ) were irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). The term was revived and used by partisans to name two major French Resistance movements set up to fight against Nazi G ...

'' ( Jean-Pierre Lévy), National Front ( Pierre Villon), '' Comité d'Action Socialiste'' (

Pierre Brossolette Pierre Brossolette (; 25 June 1903 – 22 March 1944) was a French journalist, politician and major hero of the French Resistance in World War II. Brossolette ran a Resistance intelligence hub from a Parisian bookshop on the Rue de la Pompe, be ...

) and the '' Armée secrète'' ( Charles Delestraint).

Positioning

Libération-Sud attempted to oversee and coordinate all resistance activities in the southern zones of France that were unoccupied by Nazi troops. The group positioned itself as a movement "of the left, with a strong worker presence, socialist, masonic and Christian''

''Libération'' Newspaper

The first published edition of , dated July 1941, resulted in the distribution of over 10,000 copies. In autumn 1942, Jules Meurillon was named in charge of the propaganda and distribution service of the organization and successfully increased the annual circulation of ''Libération'' to over 200,000 copies by August 1944. The paper published by Libération-Sud is the same paper that

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

and Serge July re-founded in 1973.
expatica.com 'Sartre's Partner to be Forced From ''Liberation''

Members

References