The Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) has an archive of short videos, "Regard sur la Vendée", which includes a collection on historical themes, introduced by Jean-Clément Martin. The clips on the Wars in the Vendée, some of which date from the 1970s, cast an illuminating light on the development of historiography and commemoration in the region over the last decades.
Olonne-sur-mer : regard sur la Vendée - Histoire de la Vendée (ina.fr)
ASPECTS OF LOCAL MEMORY
The Vendée militaire
Video of 6th November 1974
The local historian, Valentin Roussière, outlines the contours of the Vendée militaire on a map and movingly evokes the landscape of his native region.
Regard sur la Vendée (INA video collection): Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne
https://fresques.ina.fr/olonne/fiche-media/Olonne00123/les-lucs-sur-boulogne.html
Introduction by Jean-Clément Martin: In 1974 French television broadcast a series on "The Great Battles of the Past", produced by Daniel Costelle and Henri de Turenne... One of the episodes featured the Battle of Cholet, which took place on 16th December 1793....The film included both reconstructions of the conflict and interviews with historians. Valentin Roussière (1910-1983), who features in this clip, was a native of Les Herbiers. He was a photographer and journalist with the newspaper Le Phare de la Loire. Between 1935 and 1939 he took thousands of photographs of the Vendée, which constitute an important documentary record. He was a friend of the Martel brothers [well-known sculptors from the Vendée] and published several books on the contemporary evolution of the region, notably Haut-Pays: les logis de la Vendée and Dieu meurt-il en Vendée?
Translation: Valentine Roussière: This landscape has long been a place of mysteries, as you appreciate when you enter the bocage, with its hedges everywhere. They give the impression of palisades, as though you are in a Roman camp. The countryside itself seems rebellious; it seems to watch you, almost to absorbs the people within. There are oak trees with strange shapes, like gnomes it is said. The story is told of a bishop who was almost blind. and came across them at nightfall. He mistook them for his parishioners and, from the door of his carriage, blessed them with grand gestures. Until a few years ago, if they cut back these trees, which are often hollow, they would find skeletons; skeletons with weapons, and sometimes even with the trace of a sacré-coeur on their coats. It was clearly here that the great national drama of our province had occurred, of the Vendée, what they call the Vendée militaire. What was the Vendée Militaire? The historical province covered four areas south of the Loire and stretching west to the ocean. It included the southern part of the departments of Loire-Atlantique and Maine-et-Loire, the northern part of Deux-Sèvres and the department of the Vendée. That represents a frontier of 100 kilometres; and a population as large as 600,000 inhabitants.
The whole of the documentary on the Battle of Cholet is available on the internet:
An exhibition of stained glass depicting the War in the Vendée
Video of 25th January 1994.
This video gives a short preview of an exhibition on memorial stained glass windows, Mémoire de lumière: Vitrail et Guerre de Vendée, which took place at the Logis de la Chabotterie in 1994.
Introduction by Jean-Clément Martin
From the 1870s onwards, the war in the Vendée was commemorated by stained glass windows in churches throughout the region, not just in the Vendée but also in neighbouring departments, above all in Maine-et-Loire. In the Vendée itself, the windows were generally late in date, from 1914 up to the 1950s; the most important examples, like those in the church of Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne, date from the Second World War. However, it was as early as 1874 that the chapel at La Tullévrière was decorated with windows illustrating the life of the abbé Ténèbre, who lived through those terrible years.
With the exception of Joan of Arc, warriors are not sanctified. However, the windows made it possible to present as edifying examples those who fought and suffered for their faith during the Revolution; this has created a form of commemoration which is quite unique in France....The message was both spiritual and political, but it also had a considerable commemorative dimension. depicted Local episodes were often depicted in order to allow the collective memory to take root. In terms of aesthetics, the style of the windows evolved considerably: as the exhibition shows, figurative representation gave way to a form of expression influenced by modern art.
Summary: Thierry Heckman, later director of archives for the Vendée, explains how the themes depicted differed over time. The earlier windows, in Maine-et-Loire, celebrated the Christian virtues of the Vendean chieftains; history was the history of leaders. In the 20th century, when the war came to be seen as an affair of entire communities, highly localised events were preferred, often difficult to interpret for those from outside the immediate area.
The exhibition featured six authentic windows which were dismantled and temporarily reinstalled at La Chabotterie:
Thierry Heckmann presents examples:
Main illustration: The parishioners of Saint-Mars-la-Réorthe are taken to Noirmoutier to be shot. Their expressions are serene; they have hope despite the approaching execution.
Window from the chapelle du Boistissandeau at Ardelay near Les Herbiers: In 1794 the the Hillerin family, who owned the local château, was massacred in its entirety. In this window, the death of Madame de Hillerin, an old lady of eighty, is depicted.
For the windows at La Tullévrière mentioned by J.-C.M, see
Chemins secrets [blog], post of 21.08.2013. In February 1794 Alexandre Ténèbre, curé at Croix-de-Vie, took refuge from Republican soldiers at La Tullévrière, not far from Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne. Twenty-two villagers who had hidden in the nearby woods were massacred, but those who stayed with the abbé Ténèbre were miraculously spared.
Remembering Charette
Video of 27th June 1989
A character sketch of Charette broadcast in 1989 for the bicentenary of the Revolution. Presented by Jean-Joël Brégeon.
Regard sur la Vendée (INA video collection): Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne
Introduction by Jean-Clement Martin: François Athanase Charette de la Contrie (1763-1796) was one of the most famous leaders of the war in the Vendée. After some years of service in the French Royal navy, this petty nobleman had retired to his manor in the north of the Vendée when he was called upon, against his will, to take up a command in the insurrection. He was a bold and independent general who did not integrate well into the group of leaders. After the great defeats of Autumn 1793, he showed his worth, by brilliantly defying the Republican armies in the south of the Loire-Atlantique and in the department of the Vendée. His resistance was so effective that at first he defied all repression: in February 1795 the Republic was obliged to sign a peace treaty with him at the château de La Jaunaie, not far from Nantes. However, when war recommenced six months later rapidly, the situation began to work against Charette, who was isolated from his troops, captured, and shot on 29th March 1796. This history is retraced through emblematic locations, which are still honoured and recognised in both Vendean and national history. The portrait presented here emphasises the character trait most commonly identified with Charette: refusal of authority and independence, whether with regard to the Revolutionary state or the other Vendéan leaders. This characteristic also identifies the region of the Vendée itself.
Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne
Video of 6th November 1974
This video is a second clip from the 1974 documentary on the Battle of Cholet. The late Father Marie-Auguste Huchet, former Capuchin monk and historian of the Vendée, sings a locally composed lament for the dead of Les Lucs. In the introduction, J.-C. M. admires Father Huchet's careful scholarship.
Regard sur la Vendée (INA video collection): Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne
https://fresques.ina.fr/olonne/fiche-media/Olonne00123/les-lucs-sur-boulogne.html
"La complainte des Lucs" was composed by Brother Gabriel-Marie Gauvrit in 1944.
Introduction by Jean-Clement Martin: Father Marie-Auguste Huchet exemplifies the type of local scholarship which is renewing the history of the Vendée. He is a native of Les Lucs-de-Boulogne, custodian of its collective memory and one of its historians. As a Capuchin he was a missionary in Africa for many years before joining the Cisterians at the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Sept Fons in the department of Allier. As a child he performed in the commemorative plays put on in his local parish. He would even take the part of the curé Voyneau, who had been killed by the Infernal Columns in February 1794.The events at Les Lucs have been been known since the end of the 19th century, but were given new prominence after the Second World War by the publication of Gaëtan Bernoville's book Un Oradour révolutionnaire. This work has since given rise to bitter debate. In a more classic spirit of scholarship, Father Huchet has devoted himself to establishing precise facts and transmitting their memory. After several articles, in 1983 he published a work which listed all those killed in Les Lucs and presented the archival sources in their full complexity. But as the video shows, he was could also be moved to sing the lament which is still transmitted in the parish.
Transcript: The narrator tells us that Turreau gave the Infernal Columns the mission of searching out and burning forests, villages, towns and farms. All the inhabitants were considered to be rebels; orders were carried out to the letter. On 26th February 1794, the column of General Cordelier was attacked by Charette's men, near the little town of Les Lucs. Two days later, in reprisals, a quarter of the population was massacred.Father Huchet remarks that the massacre at Les Lucs was only one among 100 or more actions carried out by the Infernal Columns. There were many victims in all the neighbouring parishes - Legé, Saint-Sulpice, Mormaison, Saint-Colomban, La Limouziniere. Touvois, to say nothing of parishes further afield.
HISTORY REMADE - GENOCIDE IN THE VENDÉE
Several videos concern aspects the commemorations in the Vendée which took place during the bicentenary of the Revolution. Jean-Clément Martin's careful introductions criticise the Right-wing view of events in the Vendée and appeal for a more nuanced interpretation.
A proposal for the legal recognition of the "genocide" in the Vendée
Video of 14th January 2008In 2008 nine French deputies, among them Hervé de Charette, asked the National Assembly to acknowledge formally the genocide in the Vendée. The clip shows an interview with Reynald Sécher, the chief proponent of the genocide thesis.
Regard sur la Vendée (INA video collection): Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne
https://fresques.ina.fr/olonne/fiche-media/Olonne00123/les-lucs-sur-boulogne.html
Introduction by Jean-Clement Martin: In 1985 Reynald Secher, in his thèse d’Etat, maintained that the Vendée was the victim of a genocide ordered by the Revolutionary state. At the time of the bicentenary this idea struck a chord, and provoked a controversy that, thirty years down the line, had lost little of its immediacy - as this televised debate from 2008 shows. At this time a group of deputies proposed a law which would oblige France to recognise the genocide.
Reynald Secher's opponent in the debate is Alain Gérard, then director of the Centre vendéen de Recherches historiques. Supported by archival sources, Gérard argues that there may have been war crimes, even crimes against humanity, committed in 1794, but the term "genocide", coined after the Second World War, was not appropriate.
The issue at stake since the 1980s is whether the Revolutionary government ordered the extermination of the "Vendeans" or whether the massacres were committed by the armies on the ground, with the collusion of generals like Turreau, and of certain Representatives on Mission, such as Carrier. The complexity of the situation is compounded by the fact that the law of 1st August 1793 expressly demanded that women, children, and old men should be protected, and that refugees from the Vendée were given support for a number of years. Other "brigands" were also threatened with destruction, throughout the west, but also in Lyon, Toulon, Marseilles, to say nothing of the Basques, several thousand of whom were deported as suspects in 1793-1794.
A Polish Cardinal visits the Vendée (1989)
Video of 10th July 1789
In 1789 a party from Poland visited Les Espesses in the Vendée and attended a commemoration at the Puy-du-Fou amusement park.
Introduction by Jean-Clement Martin: In 1989 Cardinal Glemp, the primate of Poland, was invited by the General Council of the Vendée to an imposing ceremony at the Puy-du-Fou. As France celebrated the bicentenary of the Revolution, this venue consecrated the Vendée as the seat of Christian resistance.
The event assimilated the Vendée's opposition to the Revolution of 1789 to Polish resistance to the Revolution of 1917 - both were in defence of the people and religion. This vision was expressed by Monseigneur Glemp against the background of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the legalisation of Solidarity. In 1984 Jean-Paul II, himself a Pole, had beatified 100 martyrs from the Vendée and in 1996 had paid a brief visit to the Vendée at the invitation of the religious authorities.
History and memory in the Vendee thus chimed with wider national and international politics. The signature at this time of cultural conventions between urban and regional communities in France and Poland reinforced the image of the Vendée as a symbol of resistance to the Revolutionary state.
Le Mémorial des Lucs-sur-Boulogne.
Video of 22nd September 1993.The video shows the final preparations for the inauguration of the Mémorial by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, which took place before 40,000 invited guests in September 1993.
Regard sur la Vendée (INA video collection): Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne
https://fresques.ina.fr/olonne/fiche-media/Olonne00123/les-lucs-sur-boulogne.html
Introduction by Jean-Clément Martin: If the commune of La Gaubretière was the "Pantheon of the Vendée" in the 19th century, it is the commune of Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne which became the Vendée's symbolic town of martyrdom a century later. The massacre of February 1794 committed by the infernal columns, was rediscovered during the Second Empire and commemorated by a chapel built on the banks of the Boulogne. The names of the victims, as listed by the curé Barbedette, were recorded in the chapel, whilst stain glass windows in the town church evoked the slaughter. In 1993 the memory was reinforced by a walkway with commemorative steles at the entrance to the town, and above all by the Mémorial built at the foot of the chapel, on the opposite side of the river. The Mémorial recalls the aesthetic of the monumental memorials of Berlin. The conceptual aim is to take the visitor on a journey which underlines the universal and spiritual dimensions of the war in the Vendée. It makes sober use of regional elements, such as the archives of the time, to offer a stylised evocation of the massacres. At the same time the specificity and complexity of the war are recalled by the scythes and felt hats of the Vendean peasantry; also by the Declaration of 1st October 1793 which called for the destruction of the "rebels of the Vendée". The lesson, of universal relevance, presented by the memorial is amplified by the rooms devoted to the events of 1793 to 1796 in the neighbouring Historial.
The video features some clear footage of the interior of the memorial, plus comments by Dominique Souchet, from the department of the Vendée, and by the designer of the monument, Philippe Noir. They explain that the Mémorial is a place of commemoration rather than a museum. Contemporary works of art and original music express a historical and a spiritual reality. Philippe Noir in particular emphasises the religious aspects of the wars, which addressed the problem of faith and the right to practice religion. The architecture is intended to reflect this spirituality.
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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in the Vendée (1993)
Video of 26th September 1993
A clip from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's inauguration speech at Les Lucs in September 1993.
Regard sur la Vendée (INA video collection): Alexandre Soljenitsyne en Vendée
Introduction by Jean-Clément Martin: The presence of Solzhenitsyn enlarged the idea of resistance to the French Revolution into a principled refusal of the idea of Revolution as a whole.The Russian writer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, was the author of an important body of work in which he denounced the Soviet system. In his speech at Les Lucs he reaffirmed his anti-Revolutionary convictions. The French Revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were impossible to attain and represented a contradiction in terms.
Here is a copy of Solzhenitsyn's speech in English
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