Читать книгу The GR10 Trail. Through the French Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees онлайн

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Chemin de la Liberté

Le Chemin de la Liberté plaque

As you walk the GR10 you will see frequent references to Le Chemin de la Liberté. After the fall of France in 1940 there was a steady stream of military personnel, including escaped prisoners of war and Frenchmen wanting to join the allied armies, as well as persecuted civilians, including many Jews, trying to escape across the border from France into Spain. From November 1942 the security of the border was taken over by the Germans with frontier guards posted along the whole length of the Pyrenees, and a forbidden zone 20km deep was set up into which access was only allowed with a special pass.

It then became vital to develop more efficient and certainly more secret ways of reaching safety in Spain. The result was the founding of many well-organised escape lines whose aim was to pass not only men but also important military information and documents. This was very dangerous work and more than half of the 2000 known guides were caught and either executed immediately or imprisoned to die later in concentration camps. It is estimated that 33,000 men, women and children escaped successfully to freedom.