Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes

Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes
Name	Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes
Native name	Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes
Founded	1945
Headquarters	Paris
Region served	France
Key people	Marcel Paul; Henri Manhès; Georges Séguy

Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes is a French association founded after World War II to represent survivors of deportation and internment arising from participation in the French Resistance and persecution under the Nazi occupation of France. The federation became a leading voice in postwar debates about memory, restitution, and veterans' rights, interacting with institutions such as the Ministry of Veterans Affairs (France), the Conseil national de la Résistance, and international bodies like the United Nations and Council of Europe. It has shaped commemorative practices at sites including Auschwitz concentration camp, Buchenwald, and Ravensbrück and engaged with cultural actors such as the Shoah Memorial and the Mémorial de la Shoah.

History

From its 1945 origins this federation drew former members of groups linked to the French Forces of the Interior, the Maquis, and networks such as Combat (resistance movement), Francs-Tireurs et Partisans, and Libération-Nord. Early leadership included figures associated with the Provisional Government of the French Republic and the postwar labor movement, interacting with personalities like Charles de Gaulle, Marcel Paul, and Georges Bidault. The federation organized legal claims referencing instruments such as the Nuremberg Trials decisions and engaged with reparations discussions involving the Allied occupation of Germany, the International Red Cross, and the International Refugee Organization. During the Cold War its positions intersected with debates around Gaullism, French Communist Party, and trade union confederations like the CGT. In the late 20th century it took part in national commemorations linked to anniversaries of the Liberation of Paris and legislative initiatives such as laws recognizing crimes of the Vichy regime.

Mission and Activities

The federation's mission covers veterans' welfare, legal advocacy, historical memory, and public education concerning deportation histories including Nazi concentration camps, Nazi extermination camps, and internment camps in Vichy France and colonial settings. It has campaigned for recognition in institutions like the Conseil Constitutionnel (France) and collaborated with museums such as the Musée de l'Armée, the Musée de l'Holocauste (Paris), and the Memorial de Caen. The federation organizes pilgrimages to sites including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, and Dachau, supports genealogy projects tied to Shoah victims lists, and advises judicial inquiries related to prosecutions under statutes inspired by the Charter of the International Military Tribunal. It also engages with cultural producers such as Claude Lanzmann, Jean-Luc Godard, and institutions like the Institut national de l'audiovisuel.

Organization and Membership

Structured with local unions and departmental sections, the federation connects former deportees, internees, résistants, and their descendants with networks including the Comité d'histoire de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, the Office national des anciens combattants et victimes de guerre, and regional councils. Governance includes elected presidents and administrative councils with links to personalities from labor and political spheres such as Georges Séguy and Henri Frenay. Membership criteria reference documentation from archives like the Service historique de la Défense and the Archives nationales (France), and cooperation agreements exist with organizations such as Amicale de Mauthausen and Association of Jewish Refugees counterparts in the United Kingdom and International Auschwitz Committee.

Commemoration and Education

The federation has been central to erecting memorials, organizing national days of remembrance, and promoting curricula in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education (France), École normale supérieure, and university departments such as Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. It has contributed to monuments at Pointe du Hoc-style sites, school programs referencing testimonies like those of Jean Moulin and Pierre Brossolette, and audiovisual archives including interviews with survivors preserved by the Institut pour la mémoire contemporaine and the Fondation pour la mémoire de la déportation. The federation has also provided expertise for films such as Night and Fog (film) and Shoah (film), and collaborated with international pedagogy initiatives from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Publications and Communications

The federation issues bulletins, memoir compilations, and historical studies produced with presses and institutions including Gallimard, Éditions du Seuil, and the CNRS Éditions. It has published witness collections alongside historians affiliated with the Institut d'histoire du temps présent and scholars such as Pierre Vidal-Naquet and Robert Paxton. Communications extend to conferences held with partners like the Collège de France, symposia at the Université de Strasbourg, and submissions to commissions such as the Commission d'enquête sur la déportation en France. The federation's materials have been cited in academic journals and used in exhibitions organized by the Musée d'Orsay and regional museums across Normandy and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Legal Status and Partnerships

Recognized under French associative law, the federation maintains consultative status with state organs such as the Conseil d'État advisory procedures and cooperation protocols with non-governmental institutions including the Red Cross and Amnesty International. It has participated in legal actions invoking principles from conventions like the Geneva Conventions and European instruments from the European Court of Human Rights, and liaises with international memorial networks such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the Yad Vashem research center. Partnerships extend to academic institutions including Sorbonne University and international foundations like the Open Society Foundations for educational programming.

Category:French veterans' organizations Category:Holocaust remembrance organizations