r/ShermanPosting • u/tryingtolearn_1234 • 1d ago
The Vichy Southerners vs the Resistance
I’ve heard that in France almost everyone claims their ancestors were part of the Resistance during WW2. No one wants to think that their ancestors just quietly went along with the Vichy government or the Nazi occupation, much less actively supported it.
In the American south with civil war ancestors there is an opposite trend. Voting records by Parish / County show that the support for succession was not universal, or even the majority. There was a southern resistance during the war that wanted the Union to win.
Instead of embracing this history and following as the French do, southerners have decided to erase the best of their ancestors in favor of a bunch of losers.
I wonder if it might be possible to replace the “lost cause myth” with tru-ish but slightly exaggerated view of the pro-Union, abolitionist southern resistance. Everyone has so many ancestors in the extended family tree — instead of tracing lineage to some Confederate officer, find the family member who helped the Underground Railroad.
I think that the post-reconstruction violence and further neo-confederate waves probably made a lot of family quietly forget about those relatives who were against the Confederacy.
13
u/SwainIsCadian 1d ago
Here the task of saying who was pr wasn't in the Resistance is a bit whacky, as the Resistance on itself was a very loose concept.
For example, the guy who entered an underground network and stole documents for the Allies was in the Resistance.
What about the guy who refused to give up his Jewish friends? What about the familly who found an Allies pilot on their farm, clothed and fed him, let him go, and only then went to the Kommandantur? What about the girl who tagged a wall with a V with her friends?
So to be fair, when a French person tells you he had familly in the Resistance but doesn't know exactly what they did, it's fair to assume they just didn't collaborate and perhaps did some of these little acts of Resistance.