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A Ballerina Who Stabbed an SS Guard With a Stiletto and Other Historic Rebels

Khalid Elhassan August 10, 2020 34 min

4. Caution Against Overselling the Actual Impact of the Resistance

French resistance fighters, including 18 year-old Simone Segouin, during the Liberation of Paris in 1944. Rare Historical Photos

The romance and memory of the resistance during WWII will probably last as long as humanity values the fight against oppression. Especially when done at harrowing risks, against forces of pure evil and in the face of daunting odds. However, from a historic perspective, we should be cautious of exaggerating the resistance movements’ actual impact on the course of the war. Particularly when it comes to the resistance movements in Western Europe.

The common perception is that the resistance was widespread in Western Europe, and that the efforts of those clandestine groups tipped the balance in the Allies’ favor, spelling the difference between victory and defeat. Unfortunately, when examining the cold hard facts, that perception turns out to be inaccurate. The moral and physical courage of the resistance is both inspirational and humbling. Those of who grew up in more peaceful times may well wonder whether we would have dared to do what they did, had we been in their shoes. However, the actual impact of the resistance in Western Europe on the course of the war was relatively minor.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.