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Key figures

Origin and history

The memorial of the Resistance of Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure was erected after the Second World War to pay tribute to the 1,465 martyrs of the Resistance and combatants of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Initiated by the survivors of the Maquis de Bir Hacheim, including Colonel André Chabanne and Guy Pascaud, he symbolizes their struggle for freedom. The hill and surrounding woods, offered by Édouard and Guy Pascaud, housed the beginnings of the maquis, and the monument in the form of "V" (Victoire) and the cross of Lorraine was conceived as a "book of stone".

The architect François Poncelet, a former resistant, supervised its construction with the help of 60 German prisoners. Three sculptors – Georges Guiraud, Raoul Lamourdedieu and Émile Peyronnet – realized bas-reliefs illustrating the civil, military resistance and sacrifice of the shootings. Funded by private donations, postal card sales and grants (including 5 million francs voted by the National Assembly in 1950), it incorporates a crypt housing 30 fighters, including Claude Bonnier and André Chabanne.

The site, surrounded by a two-hectare necropolis with 2,255 burials, also commemorates the resistances fallen during the battles for La Rochelle, Rochefort-sur-Mer and Royan. Ranked a historical monument in 2025, it perpetuates the memory of the 170 members of the Maquis de Bir Hacheim, shot, deported or killed in combat, with the inscription: "French, don't forget them".

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