Wars and Resistance

Two world wars brought different challenges to Chamonix. During World War I, the valley's men departed for distant battlefields while women, children, and elderly maintained both farms and nascent tourist infrastructure. The guides' association lost a quarter of its members to the war.

World War II saw Chamonix occupied by Italian, then German forces. The mountains that had brought tourists now sheltered resistance fighters and refugees. Local knowledge of hidden valleys and high passes—the same expertise that created mountain guiding—enabled clandestine crossings to Switzerland.

"The occupation revealed character," states Dr. Patricia Mwangi, whose research examines resistance networks in the Alps. "Some collaborated, seeking advantage. Others risked everything to help refugees. Most simply tried to survive. The mountains didn't judge—they sheltered all equally."

Stories from this period remain sensitive. Families divided by different choices. Fortunes made through black market trading. Acts of quiet heroism—guides who led Jewish refugees to safety, hotel owners who hid resistance fighters, farmers who shared scarce food with strangers.