On August 28, 1944, at 6 a.m., the insurrection of Nice against the German occupying forces erupted. During the day, Nice liberated itself at the cost of street fighting with the participation of the people.
But who decided it? A handful of men, the leaders of the various anti-occupation factions, gathered in an apartment on the sixth floor of the building located at number 20, boulevard de Cessole*.
It is in this place, now anonymous but so filled with history, that a ceremony is held every year in the presence of authorities and ordinary citizens.
A duty of remembrance to not forget those to whom we owe our freedom today.
The historical aspect of these events was magnificently recalled by Jean-Louis Panicacci, president of the Association of the Museum of the Resistance, during a very interesting and detailed commemorative reconstruction of these facts and events.
Christian Estrosi found the right and touching words in his speech to recall this “patriotic uprising” that allowed Nice to be liberated: “She can be forever proud to have owed her freedom to her own children, to her own forces.”
32 among them remained on the field of honor and will be commemorated in today’s memory itinerary before the official ceremony at the War Memorial.
Their sacrifice was addressed by the words pronounced by General de Gaulle a few months later, on April 9, 1945, at Place Masséna: “Nice, through the heroic sacrifice of its children, has liberated itself from the occupier, Nice liberated, Nice proud, Nice glorious.”
That of Nice was one of the last battles fought on French soil.
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