This moving original poster created in 1946 by French artist Guy Georget was produced for the "Journées Nationales du Souvenir" held in Compiègne from 15 to 18 August 1946, one of the first major national commemorations organized in France following the end of the Second World War.
Issued only a year after the Liberation, the poster reflects the collective desire to honour the victims of war and occupation while reaffirming national unity during the difficult years of reconstruction.
At the center of the composition, Georget depicts three symbolic figures standing together in solidarity: a deportee wearing the striped uniform of the concentration camps, a French soldier, and a civilian or resistance fighter. Their united gesture beneath the French tricolour ribbon transforms the image into a powerful allegory of remembrance, sacrifice and reconciliation.
The event was organized jointly by several major veterans' and deportees' organizations, including the Union Française des Associations d'Anciens Combattants, the Fédération Nationale des Prisonniers de Guerre, the Fédération Nationale des Déportés et Internés Résistants et Patriotes, and the Fédération Nationale des Déportés du Travail, highlighting the broad national effort to preserve the memory of wartime suffering.
The choice of Compiègne was highly significant. The city occupies a unique place in French memory, notably through the nearby Compiègne internment and transit camp, from which thousands of resistance members, political prisoners and civilians were deported to German concentration camps during the Occupation. Compiègne had also been associated with both the Armistice of 1918 and the Armistice of 1940, making it one of the most symbolically charged locations in modern French history.
Georget's restrained palette and monumental figures give the poster an almost sculptural quality. The dark silhouettes emerge against a soft blue background while the French flag dominates the upper section of the composition, symbolizing both mourning and renewal.
Posters produced for immediate post-war commemorative events were often printed in relatively modest quantities and intended for short-term public display, making surviving examples considerably rarer than commercial advertising posters of the same period.
Today, this poster stands as an important historical document of post-war France and a poignant testimony to the nation's efforts to honour former combatants, prisoners, deportees and resistance members in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Original Poster
War 39-45 - France
Compiègne
Printed by Schuster in Paris
Good condition, creases
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