Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Breton Resistance Museum in Saint-Marcel was designed in the late 1970s to preserve the memory of the fighting in the area during World War II. Initiated by the then mayor, the project started with a call for donations from the inhabitants, allowing to gather a first core of 1,000 objects. In 1979, the acquisition of the Roupin collection, made up of nearly 2,000 militaries, enriched this initial fund. The museum officially opened its doors in 1984 on the very site of the clashes of June 1944, managed by an inter-municipal union between Saint-Marcel and Malestroit.

On 18 June 1944, four years after the call of General de Gaulle, the battle of Saint-Marcel opposed 2,000 Breton fighters and 200 SAS paratroopers from Free France to German troops. This battle, marked by a major allied parachute, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and symbolized a turning point in the Liberation. The museum, located on this historic site, now exhibits 12,000 objects, including archives, weapons and testimonies, illustrating life under the occupation and commitment of the Bretons.

In 1994, two rooms dedicated to SAS paratroopers were inaugurated, supplemented by donations from veterans or their families. The same decade saw the acquisition of the Jolly collection (3,000 objects, including leaflets and clandestine posters), consolidating the museum as the largest national fund on this unknown unit. The place, with a pedagogical vocation, also invites a reflection on the values of the Resistance, still present.

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