Discover the new temporary exhibition “The Gergoviotes, when archaeological students became Resistance fighters (1940-1951)”
In people’s minds, the word “Gergovia” is associated with Antiquity and with an ancient battle. Yet, Gergovia also has a rich – though little known – contemporary history. During World War II, the Gergovia plateau served as a meeting place for a group of Alsatian students from the University of Strasbourg, which had been relocated in Clermont-Ferrand since the declaration of war. Many of these students, who participated in archaeological digs, became Resistance fighters. They called themselves “the Gergoviotes”. Our new temporary exhibition deals with their history. Come and discover their unique experience…
Designed jointly with the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Clermont-Ferrand (Clermont Auvergne University/CNRS), the exhibition The Gergoviotes presents the experience of these young students, between stories of friendship, exile, archeology and Resistance during the Second World War.
Archives, original illustrations and video testimonies make up this exhibition to be discovered in the Museum but also on the Gergovie plateau, notably near the ruins of the “student house” which housed the Gergoviotes from 1940 to 1943, as well as on the site of their archaeological excavations (areas of the “craftsmen’s quarter” and the southern Gallic rampart).
This exhibition takes place in a series of events (symposium, screenings-debates, conferences, ceremonies, etc.) commemorating the actors of the university resistance of Strasbourg and Clermont-Ferrand, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the German roundup of November 25, 1943.
This exhibition has been co-funded by the European Union under the EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development).