Roger François papers
Extent and Medium
oversize boxes
2
Creator(s)
- Roger L. François
Biographical History
Roger Leon Francois was born on July 23, 1914, in Ledeberg, Belgium. He served in the Belgian Army throughout the 1930s. He was given leave from the Congo to marry Johanna F. on March 12, 1936. In May 1940, Germany invaded and occupied Belgium. Roger became a member of OMBR [Organisation Militaire Belge de Résistance], the Belgian Military Resistance Organization. He participated in sabotage actions and actively assisted Jews to go into hiding to avoid deportation by the German authorities. He was arrested in Brussels by the Germans in 1942, and deported to Flossenbürg, than Buchenwald concentration camp. His prisoner number was 60481. He may have been released on June 17, 1944, due to ill health pursuant to a prisoner release agreement negotiated by the Dutch. Buchenwald was liberated by American troops in April 1945, not long before the war ended in May. Roger was honored with multiple awards and medals for his wartime service by the Belgian government. Roger resumed his service in the Belgian Army. He worked as a photographer for the Belgian embassy, as a cryptographer for NATO, and was stationed in the Belgian Embassy in Washington DC for three years. In 1960, he retired from the military after twenty years. He, his wife, and their four children, two boys and two girls, remained in the US. Roger was a dedicated employee of the Piedmont School of the Wilson Boulevard Christian Church. Roger, age 79, died in 1993.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Guy Francois
Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.
Guy Francois donated the Roger François papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005.
Scope and Content
The Roger François papers consist of a scrapbook and diary documenting the life and experiences of Roger François, an active member of the Belgian Resistance during World War II who was captured and imprisoned at the Buchenwald and Flossenbürg concentration camps. The diary was written in Dutch by Roger from 1944-1945 and documents his life and experiences during the war, including recounting his experiences imprisoned in Buchenwald and Flossenbürg. The scrapbook contains original and copies of wartime and post-war documents including a birth verification, identification and membership cards, a letter granting a leave of absence to get married, personal and professional correspondence, work documents, and documents and certificates relating to his various medals awarded to Roger as well as wartime and post-war photographs.
System of Arrangement
The Roger François papers are arranged as a single series.
People
- Roger L. François
- François, Roger, 1914-1993.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Concentration camp inmates' writings.
- Belgium.
- World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Belgium.
Genre
- Diaries.
- Correspondence.
- Document
- Photographs.