We are thrilled to announce the expansion of the LRE Foundation’s network: Var, the French Department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, has joined us and our national branch, LRE France. Rémi Praud, Managing Director of the LRE Foundation, and Isabelle Lebreton, Director of the LRE France, attended the official launch of the “Var 1994 – the Var’s Freedom Routes” on June 9 in Toulon, France, as a first step in this collaboration.
On August 15, 1944, 70 days after the Normandy landings, the Allied forces, supported by the Var resistance fighters, carried out the Operation Dragoon, a naval and air operation involving American, British, Canadian, and French troops in Provence. This operation liberated the Provence region in less than two weeks, yet it spanned over three months and involved more than 900 000 soldiers.
Nearly 80 years later, the Var’s Freedom Routes aim to commemorate the soldiers, both men and women, who participated in the operation by highlighting significant sites in the Var department. The official launch of the project served as a forum for informing and bringing together all stakeholders involved in this significant project.
One of the first stages of the new partnership between the Var Department and the LRE France and LRE Foundation is to include “Var 1994 – the Var’s Freedom Routes” in the Liberation Route Europe project. The two organizations will work together to promote the route, its sites and stories related to the history of the Second World War to an international audience.
“The project, which was launched on Friday in anticipation of the 80th anniversary of Europe’s liberation, is completely consistent with all of the causes we support.”, says Isabelle Lebreton, LRE France Director. “We are pleased to see the development of an itinerary on the Var’s Freedom Routes, which has earned its legitimate place within the Liberation Route Europe. We are thrilled to be working with the Var Department and to welcome it to our network.”
