FELIPE, LA TETE HAUTE

Overview

The coalmine…. it literally swallowed generations of workers, among whom were many migrants. Felipe's parents left Spain in 1914 and settled in Raismes-Sabatier. Felipe was born in 1916. In 1936, hearing the Passionaria's call : "Spaniards from all countries, come and defend your homeland!", he joined the republican army. In 1941, he took part to the miners' strike against the occupation forces - he was then arrested on September 13 (after being denounced) for his activities in the Resistance and was imprisoned in Valenciennnes to be later sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. Through this portrait, we are given the opportunity to give back to history its human dimension ; it shows that such notions as resistance or solidarity are not merely words but that they are truly incarnated in men or women who could be our neighbours or our parents.