Plouvien Memorial

On Monday August 7 at 10:45 am, the Americans pass through Plouvien to the great joy of the population. (..) The jubilation was short-lived. The following day, Tuesday August 8, is a black day with the arrival of the 266th and 343rd German divisions, which join Brest and enter Plouvien. Following acts perpetrated against the German army, many hostages are shot. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 33 civilians perished in horrific circumstances (believing their retreat was assured, the Germans took 33 hostages) (...) along the road from Boteden to Narret: (...) 25 in Plouvien. (...) All along these 7 kilometers, 128 civilians were shot (...). A little beyond Narret, in the same days, 57 other hostages were shot in Plabennec, Gouesnou, Guipavas, bringing the total to 185. (...).) On the American side, General Grow (...) would write: "the fighting on August 9 was a massacre".

On the afternoon ofAugust 9, 1944, during the fierce fighting between Americans and Germans, the steeple of Plouvien church was blown down.

On May 9, 2010, Plouvien inaugurated a "Chemin de mémoire", known in Breton as Hent ar Peoc'h, in memory of the massacre of 33 civilians on August 8 and 9, 1944. The path is made up of 8 stations. Each panel features photos taken in 1944 and testimonials from survivors. Spread around the town, these panels are placed in the exact spot where the photographers took their photographs on August 8 and 9, 1944

Plouvien: one of the panels of the "Chemin de mémoire".

Tuesday August 8, 19.44, at around 1:30 pm, a group of Germans, one of them very threatening, entered our house. My husband was told to come out and was immediately shot in the garden in front of the house.

They immediately spot inside the house and find Joseph Lucas upstairs, whom they also bring out and who suffers the same fate, with the same accusation of being a "terrorist".

My children were screaming and crying, not understanding, they asked me to bring in their father who was lying there in the garden. At one point, pointing to the Bihan house which was already burning, a German said to me, "this house too will burn, here the whole street is condemned".

Jeanne-Yvonne Marec

"On Tuesday August 8, I was doing my usual job at the Feunteun butcher shop (now the Styvell). In the very early afternoon, I left with the Feunteun children in the direction of Kerglien and later joined the Forestic.

On Wednesday, I returned to the village at around 9 a.m., when I learned that my husband had been shot the day before. The first people I met didn't have the strength to tell me, and it was my sister Marie and Marie-Anne Abalain who told me what the day of the 8th had in store for our young home."

Source Wikipedia

On Monday August 7 at 10:45 am, the Americans pass through Plouvien to the great joy of the population. (..) The jubilation was short-lived. The following day, Tuesday August 8, is a black day with the arrival of the 266th and 343rd German divisions, which join Brest and enter Plouvien. Following acts perpetrated against the German army, many hostages are shot. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 33 civilians perished in horrific circumstances (believing their retreat was assured, the Germans took 33 hostages) (...) along the road from Boteden to Narret: (...) 25 in Plouvien. (...) All along these 7 kilometers, 128 civilians were shot (...). A little beyond Narret, in the same days, 57 other hostages were shot in Plabennec, Gouesnou, Guipavas, bringing the total to 185. (...).) On the American side, General Grow (...) would write: the fighting on August 9 was a massacre.On the afternoon ofAugust 9, 1944, during the fierce fighting between Americans and Germans, the steeple of Plouvien church was blown down.On May 9, 2010, Plouvien inaugurated a Chemin de mémoire, known in Breton as Hent ar Peoc'h, in memory of the massacre of 33 civilians on August 8 and 9, 1944. The path is made up of 8 stations. Each panel features photos taken in 1944 and testimonials from survivors. Spread around the town, these panels are placed in the exact spot where the photographers took their photographs on August 8 and 9, 1944Plouvien: one of the panels of the Chemin de mémoire.Tuesday August 8, 19.44, at around 1:30 pm, a group of Germans, one of them very threatening, entered our house. My husband was told to come out and was immediately shot in the garden in front of the house. They immediately spot inside the house and find Joseph Lucas upstairs, whom they also bring out and who suffers the same fate, with the same accusation of being a terrorist. My children were screaming and crying, not understanding, they asked me to bring in their father who was lying there in the garden. At one point, pointing to the Bihan house which was already burning, a German said to me, this house too will burn, here the whole street is condemned. Jeanne-Yvonne Marec On Tuesday August 8, I was doing my usual job at the Feunteun butcher shop (now the Styvell). In the very early afternoon, I left with the Feunteun children in the direction of Kerglien and later joined the Forestic. On Wednesday, I returned to the village at around 9 a.m., when I learned that my husband had been shot the day before. The first people I met didn't have the strength to tell me, and it was my sister Marie and Marie-Anne Abalain who told me what the day of the 8th had in store for our young home.Source Wikipedia