LaSalle, Quebec
Mr. Vincent is a teacher, historian and freelance editor. In his work, he seeks to combine the necessary duty of memory with the demanding duty of history. His passion for the Second World War was born in 1990 following a decisive meeting in Paris with Odile Origny, a French resistance fighter arrested by the Gestapo in 1940 and then detained for four years in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. He became fascinated by those who experienced World War II, and he formed friendships with many Quebec veterans, notably while writing his first book entitled Laissés dans l’ombre. Les Québécois engagés volontaires de la guerre 39-45 [left in the shadows, Quebecers who volunteered for the 39-45 war], published in 2004. This essay, a collection of testimonies from those who took part in and witnessed the fighting, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Awards in 2005. Two years later, Mr. Vincent obtained a master’s degree in history, earning an honourable mention for his thesis La Campagne de libération de l’Europe de l’Ouest dans les écrits de combattants canadiens-français [the campaign to liberate Western Europe in the writings of French Canadian combatants]. Thanks to a Canadian Council grant, he published Ils ont écrit la guerre [They wrote the war] in 2010. This second work focuses on the memories, diaries, war letters and war novels written by French Canadian combatants from Quebec. That same year, he founded the website Le Québec et les guerres mondiales [Quebec and the world wars]. As an editor, in 2011, he published the Journal de guerre [war diary] of Lieutenant Benoit Cadieux, and in 2012 La France appelle votre secours. Québec et la France libre, 1940-1945 [France calls upon your help. Quebec and Free France] by historian Frédéric Smith.