The young elected members of the Varennes-Vauzelles Youth and Junior Municipal Councils recently presented their work on the educational booklet *The Diary of Lucienne and Henri – Two Children in the War 1939-1945 in Varennes-lès-Nevers*, published by the City. This project aims to introduce children to local World War II history in a fun and accessible way.
Inspired by *Léon’s Notebook*, produced by the city of Dunkirk, this booklet recounts the daily lives of two children during World War II, drawing on real historical events, testimonies, and period documents. Since September, the seven members of the Junior Municipal Council (ages 12-15) have been researching to create this story: visiting the Varennes-Vauzelles Resistance Museum, working at the Departmental Archives, and meeting with several local associations. The young elected officials imagined the story of Lucienne and Henri, incorporating events and figures linked to the town’s history, such as resistance fighters Louis Fouchère, Henri Angelard, and Lucienne Michaud.
The children of the youth council (ages 8-12) also participated in the project through joint workshops, creating the illustrations, scenery, and games that accompany the story, with the support of the Varennes-Vauzelles town communications department.
A delegation visited Oradour-sur-Glane, and a trip to Dunkirk is being planned!
Through this project, the children discovered the daily hardships of wartime life. “They didn’t have much to eat; it must have been very difficult,” explained one of them. “We don’t realize today what it was like to live during the war,” added another.
The young children also had the opportunity to present their project to other elected members of youth councils across France, including in Oradour-sur-Glane, which experienced a major massacre of civilians on June 10, 1944. A delegation of young people from Vauzelles traveled to Oradour-sur-Glane on February 17, 2026, to visit the martyred village and discuss their projects with the young elected officials. The educational booklet “Lucienne and Henri’s Diary” will be sold to the inhabitants of Varennes-Vauzelles, in order to finance a memorial trip to Dunkirk in the spring of 2027.
