was opened in 1871 instead of the penitentiary. On 9 August 1882, under Jules Grévy's mandature, at the request of the municipal councillors and following the church's requirements asking for the creation of Saint-Nicholas's parish, the municipality of Terre-de-Bas was created, separating from Terre-de-Haut which also became a municipality. This event marked the end of the municipality of les Saintes. The patron saint's day of Terre-de-Bas was then established on 6 December, St Nicholas'Day. In 1903, the military and disciplinary garrisons were definitively given up. It was the end of the "Gibraltar of the Antilles", but in honour of its military past, the ships of the navy made a traditional stopover. In 1906, the cruiser Duguay-Trouin stopped over at les Saintes. In September 1928, les Saintes, like its neighbouringislands of Guadeloupe, were violently struck by a strong cyclone which destroyed an important part of the municipal archives. From 1934 the first inns were built, which marked the beginning of visits to the island by the outside world. Dissidence and French overseas departmentalisation In June 1940, answering the appeal of General de Gaulle, the French Antilles entered into a Resistance movement against Vichy regime and Nazi collaboration. They called it Dissidence. The governor, appointed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, Constant Sorin, was in charge of administering Guadeloupe and its dependencies. Les Saintes became the Mecca of dissidence. The French Antilles were affected by the arbitrary power and the authoritarian ideology of Pétain and Pierre Laval. The ministry of the colonies of Vichy, by its colonial representatives Mr. Constant Sorin and Admiral Georges Robert, High Commissioner of France, applied its whole legislation including the anti-semitic laws. A strong police state was set up and any resistance was actively repressed. Seeing the rallying of the French Antilles to the regime of Vichy, the islands were embargoed by the British-American forces. Cut from any relationship (in particular the import of fuels and foodstuffs) with France, Constant Sorin set up a policy of rationing and self-sufficiency, by diversifying and increasing the local production. It was a period of resourcefulness. On 27 October 1940, the General council was dissolved and the Mayors of Guadeloupe and its dependencies were relieved of their duties and replaced by prominent citizens appointed by the Vichy government. The mayor of Terre-de-Haut, Théodore Samson, was replaced by a Béké of Martinique, Mr. de Meynard. Popular gatherings were forbidden and freedom of expression was