Inside the secret archives of the Second World War

The special services archives kept by the Service Historique de la Défense (SHD) form a documentary ensemble of nearly 500 linear metres. The collection, long unknown but which has largely been opened up since 2014, has a turbulent history, taking it from London to Algiers, then Paris, from the cell...

The archives kept by the Service Historique de la Défense shed light on the structure and activities of the French and German special services during the Second World War. As well as core documents (official texts, organisational charts), activity reports and mission reports, the archives contain th...

In September 1944, the Directorate-General for Special Services (DGSS) was installed in Paris. The archives, which up until then had been kept largely in London and Algiers, were returned to France. Part of the documentation, no longer of operational or administrative interest, was deposited in the ...

Germans, auxiliaries, collaborators: there is no shortage of terms to describe the enemy and those who worked for them. All are omnipresent in the special services archives: every piece of information about dangerous and harmful individuals, whether of French, German or other nationality, was record...

French Resistance fighters executed by a German firing squad (undated) The repression of the Resistance was particularly effective. Its results can be measured through the number of arrests, deportations and executions. The Service Historique de la Défense archives help us to understand the process...

Avec la Libération vient le temps des enquêtes et de la Justice. La Direction générale des études et recherches (DGER), en lien avec la Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) créée en septembre 1944, est chargée d’identifier et de pourchasser les collaborateurs et les criminels de guerre q...

Du BCRA à la DGSE, d’hier à aujourd’hui… Les services de renseignement français ont su évoluer pour s’adapter à de nouvelles missions. Si les structures ont été amenées à se réformer pour rester efficaces, les principes qui les animent sont cependant restés intacts. Soumis au pouvoir politique, les ...