Oral History & Photographic Preservation: Rebuilding Chauny Post-1918
A collaborative civic campaign to rescue vanishing memories, family photograph albums, and personal correspondence chronicling the traumatic destruction and heroic interwar rebirth of our city.
Conducted by the Oral History Working Group of Mémoire et Patrimoine Chaunois (Association Loi 1901, RNA W022006151) between January 2025 and August 2026.
1. Project Scope: The Crucible of March 1917 & The Long Return
In March 1917, during the strategic German army withdrawal to the Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line), Chauny was subjected to planned, systematic destruction under the military code name Operation Alberich. In less than three weeks, more than four thousand homes, civic monuments, industrial plants, bridges, and the ancient church of Saint-Martin were dynamited and burned to the ground.
When displaced citizens returned following the Armistice of November 1918, they encountered an apocalyptic landscape devoid of potable water, roofs, or recognizable streets. Yet, within a single decade, these citizens, municipal leaders, and allied relief organizations rebuilt an entirely new city characterized by forward-looking Art Deco architecture, hygienic urban boulevards, and modern schools.
While official municipal archives preserve blueprints and administrative correspondence, the intimate human stories of those who survived the ruins—the women who operated communal soup kitchens, the children who attended class in wooden barracks, the stonemasons who carved decorative friezes—remained largely unrecorded in family memories.
Our association launched this oral history and photographic recovery campaign to ensure these personal perspectives were preserved before the last generational connections to the interwar period disappeared.
2. Volunteer Mobilization & Interview Protocol
The project mobilized twelve volunteer researchers who completed training in oral history interviewing techniques, non-directive questioning, and ethical consent protocols aligned with French privacy regulations and GDPR standards.
Over eighteen months of intensive fieldwork, the working group achieved the following milestones:
- 26 In-Depth Oral History Interviews: Over 48 hours of high-fidelity digital audio recordings conducted with individuals aged 78 to 96, capturing firsthand memories and family accounts of the interwar rebuilding effort.
- Digitization of 740 Private Family Photographs: Mobile scanning equipment transported directly to elderly residents' homes, enabling fragile photographic prints and glass stereoviews to be digitized safely without leaving family custody.
- Verbatim Transcription & Linguistic Annotation: Transcribing every recorded interview into searchable text, preserving regional Picard dialect terms and specialized building trade vocabularies.
- Archival Preservation: Deposit of master audio files and transcripts with the Chauny Municipal Archives and the Departmental Archives of the Aisne for permanent scholarly access.
3. Public Exhibitions & Free Civic Resources
Consistent with our 100% non-commercial mission, every asset created through this project was converted into free educational resources for the general public:
Traveling Public Exhibition
A twelve-panel freestanding exhibition titled "Rising From The Dust: The Rebirth of Chauny" was displayed in the municipal hall of Chauny, the Tergnier railway museum, and local schools, visited by over 3,200 citizens free of charge.
Free Downloadable Educational Dossier
A 64-page educational booklet featuring complete interview excerpts, historical timelines, and before-and-after photographic comparisons was made available for free download on our website.
Contribute Your Family Memories
Do you have ancestors who participated in the reconstruction of Chauny or the surrounding villages? Would you like to share letters, photos, or oral testimonies? Our volunteer interviewers are available to assist.