In June 1940, the German breakthrough sends millions of French civilians onto the roads. In Paris, the great lycées put into effect a civil-defense plan drawn up before the war: each is assigned to a provincial town. Lakanal is to make for Bayonne, Louis-le-Grand for Carcassonne, Henri-IV for Albi, Buffon for Niort, Condorcet for Montpellier.
The headmaster of one of these lycées must organize the move to his designated host town, even as the transport network is overwhelmed and many families are already fleeing on their own.
He has to make a decision: try to bring together and lead the entire school community to the assigned town, let everyone fend for themselves amid the rout, or save only the school's archives and equipment.
During the exodus of June 1940, how should the headmaster manage the evacuation of his lycée?
In line with the prewar civil-defense plan, the great Paris lycées were indeed relocated to assigned towns in the south and west (Lakanal to Bayonne, Louis-le-Grand to Carcassonne, Henri-IV to Albi, and so on). On the ground, the exodus of June 1940 made these transfers chaotic: overwhelmed transport, partial regroupings, scattered families. After the armistice of 22 June and the occupation of Paris, most of the schools gradually returned to the capital for the start of the new school year. These host schools also became places of mingling and, at times, of solidarity during the war.
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