In June and July 1944, during the Second World War, the French Resistance, known as the Maquis du Vercors, staged a major uprising against the German occupation in Vercors and proclaimed the Free Republic of Vercors. It was the first democratic territory in France since the beginning of the German occupation in 1940 - the revolt was brutally suppressed. For its great acts of resistance the town was awarded the Ordre de la Libération. A memorial was built at the Col de la Chau to remember the grim events of the Second World War, and includes a cemetery where the victims of a July 1944 German massacre are buried.