The return of professional training 1938-1945

I n 1938, the school was managed by Brother BLIN Dominique. As soon as he arrived, the new director took a broader interest into workshops. In 1939, once more, the war broke the pace.

C losed on May 11th 1940, the School, evacuated on May 16th, remained abandoned until August 1940. August 12th 1940, the Brothers returned Rue de Contrai and the School reopened. It remained open up to the end of the war.

A serious incident, due to the war, increased the feeling of insecurity. A German plane touched the roof of the class-rooms building while it performed aerobatics too near to the ground.

G uy Yong, pupil of the school at the time of the incident, told: « D uring the Second World War, the ‘’ Lycée ‘’, nowadays the University ‘’College’’ was the office of a Radio-Londres jamming service. A bunker was located at the corner of Rue de Contrai and Rue de l’ Université. A smaller one in front of the entrance of our school took the Rue de Contrai in a row. Others were put around the’’Lycée’’. An important feminine staff, "Les souris grises ", worked inside. O n Sunday April 11th 1943, at 12:30 am, the pilot of a plane of the Luftwaffe, wanting to amaze these young ladies, touched the main building of our school, at the level of the assembly room. The hole in the roof is due to the fall of a chimney. The plane went on, making a one meter wide breach on the top of the wall separating the school from of the ‘’Grand Séminaire’’, which flew tiles. It ended its flight in the wall of the chapel of the Seminar, drilling it with its propeller shaft. The pilot was killed.

F ather Roger BOIZET, former pupil, in formation for priesthood in the Seminar, completed the narrative: « I t is the mealtime. We are together in the dining hall when failures' noise of a plane engine made us raise our head so much it seemed to us quite close. At the same moment, two shocks occurred. That of the cabin of the plane which crashed on the terrace of the corridor and the other of an enormous spring of the landing gear which collided with a window of our dining hall and crossed it in diagonal. Its trajectory crossed over the table of the teachers, and the back of Father LOCHET chair, out that day, and got lost into the kitchen. T errified by the noise and the shock so close to us, we rushed to the stairs to see what happened. The engine and the cabin of the plane collided with the wall of the chapel as high as the tabernacle, in the part strengthened by the wall in a half-round arch at this place. Fire started , but without danger neither for the chapel, nor for the dining-room building. T he wings of the plane hung between on the dividing wall of the School and the Seminar. Powerless, we saw the combustion of the partially spread parachute and the pilot crushed with the engine against the wall of the chapel. W ithin a few minutes German soldiers invaded the Seminar, blocking all the exits and forbidding us to leave the dining hall. We went out only at 3:00 pm as the pilot body locked into a white wooden box, left on the platform of a truck. In a few hours, the remaining parts of the plane were removed. "

O n May 25th 1941, the Vichy regime fixed officially, as "Mothers’ Day" a national day of the mothers of large family established in 1926.
I t was a question of honoring the women, certainly, but only in their role of mother and wife subjected to the authority of the family head, the father.
I n 1942, the pupils of the school celebrated their mother.








I n national competition, “Rue de Contrai” won the football cup of the " Jeunes Cadets". It was a unique celebration when Georges Lamirand, Secretary of State for Youth, presented personally the splendidly conquered trophy.













T he National Teams, based on a purpose of mutual aid in case of war events, also used their staff for social tasks. They acted in association with the National Help.
T heir creation seemed to have found a favorable welcome among young people. Several pupils of the school worked in the teams of Reims.