Familles à l'épreuve de la guerre

French families were deeply affected by the ordeal of the Great War. In August 1914, they first faced the shock of mobilizations, which brutally separated couples and families. After the absence set in, new family dynamics were established, punctuated and supported by the epistolary link created by soldiers investing, from a distance, in their role of husband, son and/or father. The catastrophe of the war destroyed, shattered, and dispersed men, women and children, but it also brought together, and sometimes created new families. Above all, the family formed the reservoir of resistance from which the French soldiers drew for four years to find the courage to continue fighting. This catalog which accompanies the exhibition "Families to the test of war "reveals some of the family destinies irrevocably changed by the imprint of the war. It takes the reader deep into the heart of stories and family histories through correspondence, graphic works, and collectibles from the Great War Museum.