French History Brought to Life for Charters Students | On Monday 6th November, year 13 students who study A-level French enjoyed an extremely interesting and poignant account of how life was in France, under German occupation, during the Second World War.
They were visited by Mrs Adrienne Sheldon, who spoke to them about her experience of leaving Alsace with her family, in order to seek safety in “free France”. Students heard about the panic of receiving a knock on the door from a German soldier late one evening, only to find that he was politely informing them that their blackout curtains were not totally covering the light from their flat that evening.
Having studied this period of history as part of their A-level French studies, Mrs Sheldon’s visit really brought home the effect of German occupation on the day-to-day life of French people. It was also a stark reminder of how recently these shocking events took place.
Year 13 student Anna Wiles said, “Mrs Sheldon's talk was extremely interesting, and it gave us a very powerful and moving insight into what life was like for her, growing up as a French person of Jewish origin, under German occupation. She was very engaging, and answered all of our questions in a lot of detail."