Villefranche-de-Rouergue

Villefranche-de-Rouergue is a commune in the Aveyron department in southwestern France.

Population (1999): 11,919.

History

At the end of the Albigensian Crusade from the northern "barons" against the southern Occitania on a religious pretext (fighting the Cathar heresy), the Count of Toulouse was defeated and concluded the treaty of Paris in 1229. By this treaty he gave the Rouergue county to his daughter who became the wife of Alphonse de Poitiers, brother of Saint Louis, king of France. Alphonse founded Villefranche on the place of an old village called La Peyrade in 1252.

During World War II, while occupied by Nazi Germany, Villefranche received a large 13th Waffen SS Handschar (1st Croatian) division, consisting mainly of Bosnian muslims and Croats. Led by Ferid Džanić, Božo Jeleneko and Nikola Vukelić, one battalion staged a rebellion against the Nazis on September 17, 1943, (Villefranche-de-Rouergue uprising) but were soon suppressed and mostly executed on site. The few that escaped inspired the French resistance in Aveyron that had not been formed until then. After the war, an avenue in Villefranche was named "Avenue des Croates" (Avenue of the Croats) in honor of the uprising.

ee also

* Villefranche XIII Aveyron
* Emilie de Rodat
*Communes of the Aveyron department

References

"Based on the article in the French Wikipedia."

External links

* [http://www.villefranche.com Tourist office website] (in French)
* [http://turbolyne01.free.fr/ Pictures of Villefranche-de-Rouergue in "Paysages d'Aveyron"]