This 20-minute documentary film retraces the story of Sumner Waldron Jackson (1884-1945), an American doctor settled in France and a practitioner at the American Hospital of Paris. During the Occupation, he joined the French Resistance alongside his wife, Toquette, and their son Philip, within the Goélette network.
A doctor active in the life of the American community in France, Sumner Jackson put his skills and connections at the service of the Resistance. With his family, he took part in the network’s clandestine activities until their arrest in 1944. All three were then deported. Sumner Jackson was interned in several camps and died at Lübeck, on 3 May 1945, only a few days before the end of the war in Europe.
Built around the testimony of his son Philip Jackson, as well as insights from historians and specialists, the film retraces the journey of this family caught up in the turmoil of the Occupation. Through their story, it evokes commitment to the Resistance, repression and deportation, while bringing back to life a little-known figure of the Resistance in France.
By giving a central place to the words of Philip Jackson and to historical sources, this documentary helps to raise awareness of an individual and family story woven into the history of the French Resistance.
