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Quiz about Heroes of the French Resistance
Quiz about Heroes of the French Resistance

Heroes of the French Resistance Quiz


The more I learn about their exploits, the more impressed I am by the French Resistance fighters and their courage. This quiz is meant to pass along the stories of the heroic men and women of the French Resistance.

A multiple-choice quiz by robbieh. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
robbieh
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
262,519
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1289
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 162 (5/10), Guest 82 (5/10), hellobion (10/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. On June 18, 1940, a French general gave a speech over BBC Radio from London, appealing to his people to continue the fight against Nazi Germany. His words, "Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished" inspired an underground movement that was instrumental in defeating the Nazis. Who was the French military officer? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. This African-American dancer left her native country to live and work in France, and became a participant in the Resistance. Her duties included smuggling coded messages out of the country. She was so popular with the French people that the Germans hesitated to bother her. Who was this remarkable American? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. This young woman was born in France of French-English parents. She became an SOE (Special Operations Executive) agent for England after her husband was killed at El Alamein. Her contributions to the French Resistance were so great that a book was written about her called "Carve Her Name with Pride", which was later made into a film. Her name was Violette Szabo. What was her fate? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. This Irish writer and dramatist was a resident of Paris at the onset of the Occupation. He was an active member of the French Resistance, placing himself in danger many times. He would go on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. One of his great works is "Waiting for Godot". Who was he? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. This man is still remembered as a symbol of the Resistance. As a high-ranking Resistance member he was ordered to consolidate the many underground groups operating in France during the Occupation. He was made head of the Conseil National de la Résistance, which coordinated all underground activities. He died after being arrested and tortured by the Gestapo. Who was this French national hero? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. He was an author, a politician, and a Resistance fighter. Captured twice by the Gestapo during the Occupation, he escaped or was rescued both times. He was a hero, highly decorated after the war. Who was this man, author of "Man's Hope" and "Man's Fate"? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. This French writer and poet was born in Paris in 1895. A member of the Communist Party, he took part in the Resistance as a courier and writer of Underground publications. His poetry, written during the war, was widely read and admired by the French during the Occupation. His Russian-born wife, named Gala, would leave him for the artist Salvador Dali. Who was he? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. This man was another Nobel Prize-winning author. One of his most famous works, called "The Plague", is an allegory about the spread of Nazism. He was editor of the Underground newspaper "Combat", and worked for the Resistance during the war. Name this Algerian-born French author. Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Among the most heroic Resistance members were the "ordinary people" who stepped up to fight for France's freedom. One such woman was Berthe Fraser. She saved the lives of dozens of British pilots stranded behind enemy lines, organizing an "underground railroad" to smuggle them to safety. This was just one of her many contributions. Yet Berthe Fraser was betrayed twice, and was arrested and tortured by the Nazis twice. Did she survive the war?


Question 10 of 10
10. Who were the Maquis? Hint



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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. On June 18, 1940, a French general gave a speech over BBC Radio from London, appealing to his people to continue the fight against Nazi Germany. His words, "Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished" inspired an underground movement that was instrumental in defeating the Nazis. Who was the French military officer?

Answer: Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) was a colonel at the time World War II began, but was later promoted to Brigadier General. He fought the Germans until Marshal Philippe Pétain agreed to an armistice with Germany. De Gaulle left France for London, to rally support for the continuation of the struggle against the Nazis.
Soon after arriving in London de Gaulle gave the speech quoted above. Although many French people weren't able to hear it live, it was published in newspapers in the unoccupied zone, and was passed by word-of-mouth. People soon became aware of the general who would not concede defeat. Many people took heart, and joined the Resistance.
In London, de Gaulle formed the Free French movement, with himself at the helm. Although the U.S. would recognise the Pétain regime as the legitimate government of France, Winston Churchill and the British in time came to support General de Gaulle.
In 1940, de Gaulle was twice convicted in absentia of treason by the Vichy government; the second time he was condemned to death.
After the Liberation by the Allied Forces, de Gaulle immediately established the Free French Forces as France's true government. He returned to France a short while before the liberation of Paris, and rode into the city with Allied officials.
Marshal Pétain was sentenced to death for collaboration and treason after the war was over; his sentence was commuted by Charles de Gaulle.
2. This African-American dancer left her native country to live and work in France, and became a participant in the Resistance. Her duties included smuggling coded messages out of the country. She was so popular with the French people that the Germans hesitated to bother her. Who was this remarkable American?

Answer: Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker was born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, of mixed Native American and African American background. She began her career as an entertainer in New York, working as a chorus girl. She left the U.S. to work in France, where she was very popular, and she became a citizen of France in 1937. Baker was famous for dancing wearing nothing but a banana skirt. After the war, she adopted twelve children of different races, whom she called her "Rainbow Tribe." Baker also worked with the civil rights movement in the U.S. during the 1960s. She died in Paris in 1975.

She was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Rosette de la Résistance and was made a member of the Legion of Honour for her work for the Resistance.
3. This young woman was born in France of French-English parents. She became an SOE (Special Operations Executive) agent for England after her husband was killed at El Alamein. Her contributions to the French Resistance were so great that a book was written about her called "Carve Her Name with Pride", which was later made into a film. Her name was Violette Szabo. What was her fate?

Answer: She was captured by the Germans and executed

Violette Bushell Szabo (1921-1945) was born in Paris, France. Her exploits were dramatized in the 1958 film "Carve Her Name with Pride", which was based upon a book written by R. J. Minney. A photograph on a website dedicated to her shows a beautiful young woman. She was married to French officer Etienne Szabo, and gave birth to a daughter. Etienne Szabo died shortly after their child was born, and Violette then decided to join the SOE.
On her first mission she was sent to reconnoiter an area near Paris, with the goal of forming Resistance groups there. She was arrested by French police, but they let her go. After returning to London, she again parachuted into an area near Limoges, just after the Allies arrived on the beaches in Normandy. Soon after she arrived, she was arrested again, although Violette and her comrades put up a fierce fight, killing several Germans. This time she was sent to the women's concentration camp at Ravensbrück. She was brutally mistreated and was finally executed in 1945. Witnesses described her as being particularly courageous.
She left behind her young daughter, Tania. Violette was posthumously awarded the George Cross by King George VI: he pinned the Cross on Tania's dress.
Violette Szabo is one of several heroic women who worked for the SOE during the war, and paid the ultimate price.
4. This Irish writer and dramatist was a resident of Paris at the onset of the Occupation. He was an active member of the French Resistance, placing himself in danger many times. He would go on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. One of his great works is "Waiting for Godot". Who was he?

Answer: Samuel Beckett

Samuel Barclay Beckett (1906 - 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet.
After the Nazis occupied France, Beckett began working for the Resistance, and was nearly caught by the Gestapo several times. Once Beckett and his wife were forced to flee their home on foot. He served as a courier and even used his back yard to store military equipment.
The French awarded Beckett the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Résistance after the war.
The other three men named were Irish authors as well.
5. This man is still remembered as a symbol of the Resistance. As a high-ranking Resistance member he was ordered to consolidate the many underground groups operating in France during the Occupation. He was made head of the Conseil National de la Résistance, which coordinated all underground activities. He died after being arrested and tortured by the Gestapo. Who was this French national hero?

Answer: Jean Moulin

Jean Moulin was born in Béziers, France in 1899. He is remembered in France as a courageous fighter and martyr. After studying law, he became France's youngest prefect in the Aveyron department during the late 1930s.
In 1940, the Vichy government removed Moulin from office, and he joined the Resistance. Moulin escaped to London in September 1941, and met General de Gaulle, who gave him the difficult assignment of unifying the numerous Resistance groups. In January 1942, he returned to France, parachuting into the Alpilles. He was eventually given orders to form the CNR, and was attending a meeting of that group when he was arrested by the Nazis on June 21, 1943.
He was interrogated by the notorious Klaus Barbie, aka the "Butcher of Lyon". He gave no information to the Nazis, and on July 8, 1943 he died after brutal torture while being transported to a concentration camp.
Many years after the war, Klaus Barbie was finally brought to justice. Upon his arrest in Bolivia in 1983, he was deported to France. After a lengthy and controversial trial he was sentenced to life in prison and died there four years later at the age of 77.
6. He was an author, a politician, and a Resistance fighter. Captured twice by the Gestapo during the Occupation, he escaped or was rescued both times. He was a hero, highly decorated after the war. Who was this man, author of "Man's Hope" and "Man's Fate"?

Answer: Andre Malraux

Andre Malraux (1901-1976) was born in Paris. He was a always interested in politics. He served as a pilot on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, and wrote of his experiences in his novel, "Man's Hope", published in 1938.
He joined the French Army at the beginning of World War II. After being captured by the Germans in 1940, he managed to escape, and joined the Resistance. He continued his writing throughout the War. Malraux was captured again by the Gestapo in 1944, and this time was rescued by fellow Resistance fighters. He was awarded the the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille de la Résistance, and the British Distinguished Service Order at the war's end.
When the war ended, Malraux would serve as Minister of Information for a short time in 1945, and later as Minister of Culture from 1960 to 1969. (I made up the other names.)
7. This French writer and poet was born in Paris in 1895. A member of the Communist Party, he took part in the Resistance as a courier and writer of Underground publications. His poetry, written during the war, was widely read and admired by the French during the Occupation. His Russian-born wife, named Gala, would leave him for the artist Salvador Dali. Who was he?

Answer: Paul Eluard

Paul Eluard was born near Paris in 1895. He was active in politics as well as writing poetry, and would become a member of the French Communist Party.

In addition to writing Resistance poetry, he served in the French Army, and served as a courier and publisher of Resistance publications. After being denounced to the Germans, he was forced to go on the run, moving from house to house frequently. At one point he spent time in a mental hospital to hide from the Gestapo. His work was an inspiration to the French people, and he is considered one of the important surrealist poetry writers of the last century. The other three named were important writers as well.
8. This man was another Nobel Prize-winning author. One of his most famous works, called "The Plague", is an allegory about the spread of Nazism. He was editor of the Underground newspaper "Combat", and worked for the Resistance during the war. Name this Algerian-born French author.

Answer: Albert Camus

Albert Camus was born in Algeria to French parents. He lived in near poverty throughout his childhood, but was able to attend the University of Algiers. At this time he contracted tuberculosis.
He joined the French Communist Party in 1935, apparently due to his concern for the conditions in Spain that led to the Spanish Civil War. He began to write, working for different newspapers. He was unable to join the French army due to his tuberculosis. Camus went to work for "Paris-Soir" magazine, and he was in Paris when the Germans took over. During the war he finished his first books, "The Stranger" and "The Myth of Sisyphus". He was a member of the French Resistance cell Combat, and was editor of their underground newspaper. When Paris was liberated, he was there to report on the end of the Occupation.
He published his great novel "The Plague" in 1947, which is usually seen as a metaphor for the spread of Nazism in Europe. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, for his writings against capital punishment. Camus died in a car crash on January 4, 1960.
The three others named are authors as well.
9. Among the most heroic Resistance members were the "ordinary people" who stepped up to fight for France's freedom. One such woman was Berthe Fraser. She saved the lives of dozens of British pilots stranded behind enemy lines, organizing an "underground railroad" to smuggle them to safety. This was just one of her many contributions. Yet Berthe Fraser was betrayed twice, and was arrested and tortured by the Nazis twice. Did she survive the war?

Answer: Yes

Hers is an amazing story, an everyday housewife who became a true heroine of the Resistance. After serving fifteen months in prison after her first arrest for Resistance activities, she immediately resumed working for the Resistance. She helped save the lives of many English agents, she was a courier, she transported documents and even guns and dynamite for use in sabotage missions. The story of what she accomplished is amazing.
In 1944 she was betrayed by an English agent whose life she had saved, and was taken prisoner by the Gestapo. Even after incredibly brutal torture, she refused to cooperate with the Nazis and was sentenced to be executed. Just before she was to be executed in a concentration camp, the camp was liberated by Allied soldiers and her life was saved.
After the war she was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Legion of Honour and the American Freedom Medal.
10. Who were the Maquis?

Answer: Guerrilla groups working for the Resistance

The Maquis were guerrilla bands that usually operated in rural areas of France. (Their name was derived from hardy shrubs that grow in the countryside.) They generally ran their operations in the mountains surrounding the southern area of France, and rescued many people in danger from the Gestapo.

Their groups ranged in size from just a few people to large numbers of people. They took part in many kinds of sabotage actions, blowing up railroad tracks and ambushing garrison trains, harassing the Germans any way they could. They were alerted by coded messages broadcast over the BBC when D-Day was imminent.

As Allied forces moved into France, the French Resistance was there for the fight. It is said that some groups did not take prisoners, and many Germans surrendered to Allied soldiers rather than face the Resistance fighters.
Source: Author robbieh

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