Les cerfs-volants

Naurois was an early member of the Resistance, notably within the "Vérités" movement (later "Combat"), led by its founder Henri Frenay. He formed in 1941 a resistance cell bringing together students and workers and came to the aid of victims of the Vichy government's anti-Jewish legislation. Uncle Ambroise's kites [cerfs-volants] take on a very particular significance for De Naurois: in the course of 1942, he organised the rescue of Jews by smuggling them across the Swiss border at Argentières in the Haute-Savoie region, much as Gary's own character had joined such a network before his deportation. For his actions, the priest was named "Righteous Among the Nations" in 1989.

Naurois escaped the Gestapo and reached England on 15 March 1943; Gary's squadron had been transferred there in January 1943. Gary and Naurois were simultaneously present on British soil within the Forces françaises libres between 1943 and 1944. The writer flew bombing missions before being wounded and posted to the FAFL general staff in London from May 1944, while the abbott was appointed to the Direction of the General Chaplaincy in Great Britain. After his enlistment in the Forces françaises libres, De Naurois obtained a posting to the Kieffer Commando and landed in Normandy.

"Naurois belongs to the fifteen priests among the 1 038 compagnons de la Libération: a minority which demonstrates the compagnon's diveristy of origins - he also exemplifies the "Padre" as a link between the members of the Free French forces, whatever their religious beliefs. Aragon's poem recalls the same sentiment within the Resistance: "The one who believed in heaven, the one who didn't "

(Marie-Thérèse Duffau, "René de Naurois, et les religieux dans la France Libre", Françaises et Français libres, 2024)