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 French Resistance Fighters Plaque, Brandenburg (Havel), Germany
N 52° 24.058 E 012° 33.967
33U E 334422 N 5808423
A plaque commemorating French Resistance fighters in WW II that lead to an unusual city partnership.
Waymark Code: WMPX02
Location: Brandenburg, Germany
Date Posted: 11/01/2015
Views: 4
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During World War II, twelve million people from countries occupied by Germany were deported to Germany as forced labourers. Among them were eleven young French railroad workers from the Paris suburb Ivry-sur-Seine. While being held in Brandenburg (Havel), a major center of the German war industry, the young Frenchmen formed an illegal chapter of the French Resistance Movement, reporting Nazi train movements to allied forces. When the operation was uncovered, all eleven men were executed.
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Location of the plaque at the railroad depot (left)
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In September 1962, the Railroad workers union in Brandenburg placed a plaque at the railway station, honoring the sacrifice of the young French patriots.
A a small delegation from Ivry-sur-Seine took part in the unveiling ceremony and that visit let to the official formation of a city partnership between Brandenburg in communist East Germany and Ivry-sur-Seine in France, officially signed in May, 1963 For a long time it was one of only a very small number of city partnerships across the Iron Curtain.
In 2013, the two cities celebrated 50 years of a partnership that started with German workers honoring the memory of their former war enemies.
A newspaper article (unfortunately only in German) tells the story of the partnership and the story of the plaque, that started it.
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Twin Cities / Sister Cities:
Brandenburg (Havel), Germany
Ivry-sur-Seine, France
Address:
Bandenburg Hauptbahnhof,
Brandenburg, Germany
Text:
To honor the memory of French railroad workers
(names and dates of birth)
Killed by Fascists on September 13, 1944, because they fought for peace and a better future.
To honor the dead!
As a reminder to the living!
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