Roland Gonieau’s personal and family history are intertwined with the tragic events in Tulle and the actions of the SS on June 9th 1944. Roland, as an 18-month-old child, was being fed by his mother when he was only witnessed by her husband, her brother, who was hanged from a balcony by the Das Reich SS opposite their family home. It took 50 years and the death of his mother for his father to finally share the secret that had daunted him for over 50 years.

As President of the Committee of Martyrs, Roland shares his family's experiences, the silence, the grief and the blanket of melancholy that hung over the town and their family. Roland discusses the gradual shift from silence to remembrance, marked by annual commemorations and the committee's efforts to educate through conferences and the building of the Martyr Committee’s website. He emphasises the importance of Franco-German friendship and the committee's work in honouring the martyrs, including identifying additional deportees, bringing the total to 108 who did not return, alongside the 99 who were hanged.

Roland believes the dominance of grief over the past few decades has been replaced by the need to speak out and share the treasured memories of those who were martyred on that fateful day. Tulle is now establishing itself as an important centre for local education on the horrors of war and on the vulnerability of democracy.