Resistance fighter honoured as part of 80-year Paris Liberation events

The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Paris is being celebrated this week, with a series of events in the capital, including the renaming of an avenue to honour a member of the French Resistance.

Resistance renaming

The Avenue Bugeaud (in the 16th arrondissement) will be renamed Avenue Hubert Germain on August 24, in honour of the French Resistance member, Croix de Guerre and Légion d’Honneur recipient, and last living member of the Companion of the Order of Liberation at his death on October 12, 2021 at the age of 101.

Read more: Last surviving French liberation fighter dies aged 101 

Mr Germain was part of the Free French Forces, and saw action at the Battle of Bir Hakeim and the Battle of El Alamein. He was wounded in Italy in early 1944, but would later take part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied landing in Provence.

Read more: Provence: The other 'D-Day' commemorated 80 years on despite storms 
Read also: The story of De Gaulle's 18 June appeal 80 years on

Later, he would go on to become a French mayor, minister, and MP. After his death, his funeral took place on November 11, 2021 (Remembrance Day), and the ceremony began at the Arc de Triomphe.

He was buried in Vault 9 of the crypt of the Mémorial de la France combattante, which had been reserved for the last surviving member of the Companion of the Order of Liberation since the war.

Anniversary events

The renaming is just one of many events taking place over this week to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris, in which Allied forces won the city back from Nazi occupation in 1944.

It comes after a ceremony took place on August 12, in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, to commemorate 80 years since the liberation of the Paris Police Prefecture.

Homage to RATP workers, August 20

• 16.30: Memorial ceremony at the Porte de Vincennes metro station to pay tribute to public transport company RATP employees who fell victim to Nazism, and to railway worker Louis Bouchet, who was shot on August 22, 1944. 

• 18:30: Relighting of the flame of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe will take place in memory of the RATP staff.

Homages to public workers, August 21

• Wreath-laying ceremony in memory of Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) staff who died during the war, at the AP-HP headquarters, 34 rue Crozatier 

• 18:30: The flame at the Arc du Triomphe will be rekindled, this time in memory of the staff of the Interior Ministry.

Opening of an exhibition at the Musée de la Libération de Paris, August 22

• 11:00: A ceremony will be held in the Paris Hôtel de Ville, in tribute to the municipal councillors shot by the occupying forces. 

• 15:00: Opening of an exhibition about the column commanded by Captain Dronne - most of whom were Spanish Republicans from the ‘Nueve’ unit (the nickname given to their company) at the Musée de la Libération de Paris. 

The “Nueve”, which formed part of General Leclerc's 2nd armoured division, was the first military unit to enter Paris on August 24, 1944.

Homages and music evening, August 23

• 12:00: A wreath-laying ceremony in tribute to the civil servants and elected representatives of the City of Paris, at the Hôtel de Ville

• 15:00: A wreath-laying ceremony at the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, in tribute to Resistance fighter Madeleine Riffaud. 

• 19:00: Start of a free musical evening at the Halle des Blancs Manteaux, by the 24 août 1944 association, in tribute to “the Spanish anti-fascists of the Nueve”.

Homages and evening ball, August 24

• 11:00: A plaque in memory of the Dronne column will be unveiled at the corner of rue des Peupliers and rue Brillat-Savarin 

• Avenue Hubert Germain will then be inaugurated (see above)

• 18:00, a commemoration ceremony in memory of the soldiers of the ‘Nueve’ will also be held on the esplanade des Villes Compagnon, in the presence of the Spanish authorities, and a period military vehicle, the Teruel. 

• 19:00: Opening of a Liberation Ball on the square in front of the Hôtel de Ville. 

The ball will include concerts and an introduction to swing dancing, before the church bells of Paris ring in unison at 21:00.

Masses and military parade, August 25

• 10:00, there will be a mass held at the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, as well as a commemorative ceremony at the Arbre de la libération, Place de la bataille de Stalingrad.

• 10:30 there will be a commemorative ceremony in front of the plaque at Gare de l'Est, honouring the departure of those deported from the Gare de l'Est. 

• 12:00, the French flag will be raised on the Eiffel Tower by the Paris fire brigade, and a wreath will be laid in tribute to José Baron Carreño, Spanish Republican and resistance fighter, at the Paris cemetery in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis).

• 14.30, a commemorative ceremony will be held to mark the German surrender in front of the former Montparnasse station, Place du 18 Juin 1940.

• 15:45, another ceremony in tribute to the 2nd Armoured Division will take place in front of the monument to General Leclerc, in the 14th arrondissement.

• 16.15, a military parade will begin from Porte d'Orléans to Place Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement. 

France 2, France 3 Paris Île-de-France and FranceInfo channel 27 will broadcast the afternoon and evening ceremonies.

Official ceremony, August 25

• 17:15: The official commemoration ceremony will begin, in the presence of numerous officials including President Macron and Ms Hidalgo.

The official ceremony will also coincide with and include the arrival of the Paralympic Flame to Paris, as it comes three days before the Paralympics start on August 28.

The flame is set to be carried by a relay made up of representatives from each of the five communes honoured by General de Gaulle as Companions of the Liberation (Paris, Nantes, Grenoble, Ile-de-Sein, and Vassieux-en-Vercors), states the Paralympics website.

At 19.30, the bells of all nearby Parisian churches will ring to mark the end of the commemorations.