Memory of the world register the Appeal of 18 June 1940 Ref. No. 2004-24

4. 
JUSTIFICATION FOR INCLUSION/ASSESSMENT AGAINST CRITERIA 
4.1 Authenticity 
Radio recording: the authenticity of the original recording is proven by the wording on the 
record label, its appearance in the BBC sound archives catalogue, the text, which is identical to that 
quoted by General de Gaulle in his speeches and messages, and the easily recognizable tone of the 
voice. To our knowledge, two “original copies” of the recording remain. One is at the INA, while 
the other is kept in the BBC archives. 
Manuscript of the Appeal of 18 June: authenticity is proven by the note added by General de 
Gaulle “Authentic manuscript of my Appeal of 18 June 1940”, the testimony of his wife, to whom 
the manuscript was given in London on 19 June, and that of Admiral Philippe de Gaulle, who 
currently holds the manuscript, in his work De Gaulle, mon père. 

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Manuscript of the poster: authenticity is proven by its inclusion in the Catalogue du Musée de 
l’Ordre de la Libération. Cinquantenaire de l’Ordre, 1990 (p. 593). 
4.2 World significance, uniqueness and irreplaceability 
The event to which these three items refer had a major impact on the direction taken by events 
in the Second World War, not only for France but for all the countries involved. 
The Appeal of 18 June is one of the most remarkable pieces in the history of radio 
broadcasting. Radio was no longer just a means of entertainment or propaganda available to the 
powers that be: it also now provided the technical means to enable an isolated individual to launch a 
huge resistance movement from outside his own country. The power and universality of this 
medium are clear to see. Radio enabled a man in exile to rise up against the Nazis and to urge his 
fellow citizens to oppose foreign rule and subservience and to fight for the restoration of freedoms. 
The Appeal of 18 June helped to lend credibility to radio. Less than 20 years after it had been 
invented, radio not only became the launching pad for the fight against oppression, but also 
provided a new form of historical archive. From a historical point of view, this particular 
soundtrack is just as important as more traditional means of disseminating and expressing human 
thought, such as books or newspapers. 
4.3 Criteria of (a) time, (b) place, (c) people, (d) subject and theme, (e) form and style 
(a) Time 
These documents are doubly symbolic of their era: they were at the heart of the evolving 
conflict and helped to influence the course of the war; meanwhile, the use of radio to broadcast the 
appeal illustrates how far this medium had developed by 1940. 
(c) People 
General de Gaulle is one of the most important figures of this era. The appeal of 18 June 
marks his arrival in political life and the history books. He was also one of the first politicians to 
take advantage of the new methods of mass communication. 
(d) Subject 
The spirit of resistance is a universal theme which transcends the frontiers of time. 
(e) 
Form and style 
Radio broadcasts were a new form of political rhetoric, although the wording of the Appeal of 
22 June was very similar to that of a written document. 
4.4 Issues of rarity, integrity, threat and management 
In addition to the reasons given above, the inclusion of a radio recording on the Memory of 
the World Register is justified because the radio heritage is particularly fragile. This vast heritage, 
which is thought to amount to several tens of millions of hours and which represents an essential 
part of the human memory of the past 60 years, is in danger of disappearing altogether. It can 
survive only if it is preserved in special climatic conditions, catalogued and transferred onto durable 
modern media. 

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The recording of the Appeal of 22 June is well preserved and not under threat. 
However, the inclusion of one of the most important items of radio heritage on the Memory of 
the World Register would symbolize the recognition by the international community of the value of 
radio archives and the importance of allocating the resources necessary for their preservation. 
General de Gaulle’s two manuscripts are unique items whose preservation is not under threat.