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Sanatorium
“If I had known at the time the proverb: “Once a Tubard, always a Tubard”, I might have chosen another disease. However… My stay in the sanatorium was to decide my fate. My father went to great lengths, and thanks to an uncle who was a doctor, he was able to contact Dr. Daniel Douady, head of the sanatorium in Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet. He accepted to take me in, even though I was not yet a student. It was very kind of him, but I still had to get there! Grenoble was not next door. To top it all off, it was in the “nono” zone as we used to say… Non-occupied. For a young girl who was ill, the trip was not an easy one. Especially since I had to travel alone: the academy had not authorized any exceptional leave for my parents.”
Madeleine Riffaud
“I am not a symbol. I am not an extraordinary woman. What I have done, hundreds of others, thousands around the world, have done” Madeleine Riffaud, Resistance fighter and heroine of the series Madeleine résistante , will be featured in Livre hebdo in September 2021.
Although she was 96 years old when she became a comic book writer for the first time, Madeleine had a real romantic life, traveling the world from Paris to Vietnam, from Algeria to the sanatorium of Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet.
Madeleine, an extraordinary destiny
It was while watching a documentary on television about great female figures of the Resistance that Jean-David Morvan decided to contact Madeleine Riffaud.
At first, he is rejected with force. She says she doesn’t know anything about comics. Then convinced by a friend, the woman with a thousand lives accepted the project to tell her life story in an album.
The writer spends many days at his side, listening to him talk about his life. She will be co-writer as decided by the author of Sillage. To accompany the duo, Jean-David Morvan calls on the cartoonist Dominique Bertail. Thus begins the series Madeleine resistante.
A sanatorium in Isère
Madeleine was born in Arvillers in the Somme on August 23, 1924. His destiny changed when a German officer gave him “a tremendous kick in the ass”. She now knows that she will not be able to stand idly by and watch the occupier.
But before joining the active resistance, she spent time in a sanatorium for students. It was in the heart of Isère that Madeleine was treated when she was eighteen years old in Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet. On the way, she is raped four times by the same man. The rage is then anchored in her. In the establishment, she reads a lot and discovers the surrealist authors. In the basement of the establishment created by the UNEF, a clandestine printing house is hidden, organized by the director Daniel Douady. Today, this health complex no longer exists. It was destroyed in 2019.
Back to Paris
The first opus of Madeleine résistante relates the stay of the young girl and her first steps in the Resistance. Readers also discover his return to Paris.
She chose the name Rainer as a pseudonym for the resistance fighter, in homage to Rainer Maria Rilke, a German author who fought against the occupiers. Not so surprising as she points out: “I never hated the Germans. Only the Nazis”.
She then joined the FTP (Francs-tireurs et partisans) and became part of the management triangle of the National Front of medical students in the Latin Quarter.
A life of struggle
The following volumes are already on the way. Indeed, we must hurry to note the memoirs of Madeleine Riffaud, soon to be a hundred years old and one of the last French Resistance fighters still alive.
In the continuation of the series, the authors will stage his capture. She was then tortured on rue des Saussaies in Paris and deported in 1944. But she escaped and resumed her clandestine activities against the German occupation.
After the Second World War, she published collections of poetry but also novels and essays, including the most famous Les linges de la nuit in 1974. She was one of the first French war correspondents, notably for the newspaper L’humanité. It then follows the conflicts of countries wanting to obtain their independence. It relates the wars in Algeria and Vietnam. She was also one of the first anti-colonial activists.
The first volume of the series Madeleine résistante received the René Goscinny prize for the best comic book scenario in 2022.
Saint-Hilaire
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ROME map of 100 cult places (French Edition)
The Rome Fantrippers map, an original way to discover the Eternal City! Through 100 pop culture places, walk through its streets from another angle. Movies, TV shows, music, comics and novels, will allow you to spend a pleasant moment in this fascinating city. With a folded format of 10 x 18 cm and 60 x 54 cm unfolded, it slips easily into your pocket or your bag to be consulted easily.
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Discover all the places Madeleine résistante tome 1 on our map
By Damien Canteau
Passionné par l'Histoire, les animés, les Arts et la bande dessinée en particulier, Damien est le rédacteur en chef du site spécialisé dans le 9e art, Comixtrip.