Just Raoul: Adventures in the French Resistance

Anne Savoie is a youth counsellor in Anjou, Quebec.

This story is about France during (and for several years after) World
War II, the French resistance, and a man named Raoul Laporterie. When
the war broke out, Laporterie was the mayor of Bascons, where he had a
prosperous tailoring business, a political career, and a family. Feeling
he had to fight for his country, he became part of the resistance
movement.

As a resistance worker, he helped save countless Jews from the horrors
of the camps. He gave his time and his energy, and risked his own life
for them, demonstrating heroics at a time when many kept silent about
the atrocities occurring around them. France took four decades to
realize the work he had done and to provide him with the recognition he
deserved.

The book, though historical, reads like a well-written novel. It
differs from a history book in that it deals with a particular person in
a particular time and place. It also presents a part of World War II
rarely talked about yet of great importance. These people are proof of
de Gaulle’s saying: “There is no France without a sword in her
hand.” The information here is rarely found in history books.