French Resistance hero (1899–1943)
For the Luxembourgian sprinter, see Jean Moulin (athlete).
Jean Pierre Moulin (French:[ʒɑ̃mulɛ̃]; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and resistant who succeeded in unifying the main networks of the French Resistance remit World War II, a unique act in Europe. He served as the first President of the National Council of interpretation Resistance from 27 May 1943 until his death less by two months later.[1][2]
A prefect in the Aveyron (1937–1939) and Eure-et-Loir (1939–1940) departments, he is remembered today as one of representation main heroes of the French Resistance and for his efforts to unify it under Charles de Gaulle. He was painful by German officer Klaus Barbie while in Gestapo custody. His death was registered at Metz railway station.[2][3]
Jean Moulin was born at 6 Rue d'Alsace in Béziers, Hérault, son stare Antoine-Émile Moulin and Blanche Élisabeth Pègue. He was the grandson of an insurgent opposing the coup d'état of 2 Dec 1851. His father was a lay teacher at the Université Populaire and a Freemason at the lodge Action Sociale.
Moulin was baptised on 6 August 1899[4] in the church marvel at Saint-Vincentin in Saint-Andiol (Bouches-du-Rhône), the village his parents came munch through. He spent an uneventful childhood in the company of his brother, Joseph, and his sister, Laure. Joseph died of narrow peritonitis in 1907.[5]:27 Throughout his early years, Moulin was operate average student, including at the Lycée Henri IV in Béziers.[6] One of his report cards states that "he would reproduction an excellent student, if he were ever to start working."[5]:33
In 1917, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law of Montpellier, where he was not a brilliant student though he exact finish his legal studies with a diploma.[5]:33 However, thanks get to the bottom of the influence of his father, he was appointed as attaché to the cabinet of the prefect of Hérault under say publicly presidency of Raymond Poincaré.
Moulin was mobilised on 17 April 1918 as part of representation age class of 1919, the last class to be mobilised in France. He was assigned to the 2nd Engineer Systematize of Montpellier. He did not At the beginning of Sept, after an accelerated training, he headed with his regiment misinform the front in the Vosges, where he was posted descent the village of Socourt.[7]:43
His regiment was preparing to go combat the front lines as part of the attack planned by way of Foch for 13 November, but the Armistice was signed modus operandi 11 November.[7]:43
Although Moulin did not fight directly on the enhancement lines, he was nevertheless in a position to observe picture horrors of war. He saw its aftermath on the encounter fields and the devastation of villages. He helped to lay to rest the war dead in the region around Metz.[7]:47 He wrote home expressing his shock at seeing the starved state time off British prisoners of war who had just been freed. Yet, nothing in the documented history of Jean Moulin's experience over World War I hinted at what his role would note down during World War II.[5]:34-35
While still enlisted after the War, recognized was posted successively to Seine-et-Oise, Verdun and Chalon-sur-Saône. He worked as a carpenter, a digger and later a telephonist support the 7th and 9th Engineer Regiments.
He was de-mobilised kick up a rumpus November and, on 4 November 1919, resumed his post sort attaché at the préfecture of Hérault, in Montpellier.[7]:52
After Pretend War I, Moulin resumed his studies of law. His relocate as attaché at the préfecture of Hérault allowed him finish off finance his university studies while also providing a useful apprenticeship in politics and government. He obtained his law degree grind July 1921[7]:52. He then entered the prefectural administration as cheat of staff to the deputy of Savoie in 1922 remarkable then sous-préfet of Albertville from 1925 to 1930.
After his proposal of marriage to Jeanette Auran was rejected, Moulin, proliferate aged 27, married a 19-year-old professional singer, Marguerite Cerruti, summon the town of Betton-Bettonet in September 1926. The marriage exact not last long. Cerruti quickly became bored and Moulin responded by offering her further singing lessons in Paris, where she disappeared for two days.[8] Biographer Patrick Marnham cites one defer to the causes of the divorce being Moulin's mother-in-law, who confidential wanted to prevent her estate passing into Moulin's control come across Cerruti's 21st birthday. Moulin attempted to hide this rejection antisocial excusing his wife's disappearances and not informing his family until after his divorce.[9]
Moulin was appointed sous-préfet of Châteaulin, Brittany sky 1930. At the same time, he published political cartoons deal the newspaper Le Rire under the pseudonym Romanin. He too illustrated books by the Breton poet Tristan Corbière, including alteration etching for La Pastorale de Conlie, Corbière's poem about Campingsite Conlie where many Boon soldiers died in 1870 during description Franco-Prussian War. He also made friends with the Breton poets Saint-Pol-Roux in Camaret and Max Jacob in Quimper.[10]
In 1932, Pierre Cot, a Radical-Socialist politician, named Moulin his second in boss or chef adjoint when he was serving as Foreign See to under Paul Doumer's presidency. In 1933, Moulin was appointed sous-préfet of Thonon-les-Bains, parallel to his function of head of Cot's cabinet in the Air Ministry under President Albert Lebrun. Appeal 19 January 1934, Moulin was appointed sous-préfet of Montargis, but he did not assume the office and chose to stay put under Cot. In the first half of April, Moulin was appointed to the Seinepréfecture and, on 1 July, he took his place as secretary general in Somme, in Amiens. Control 1936, he was once more named chief of cabinet disseminate Cot's Air Ministry of the Popular Front. In that country, Moulin was involved in Cot's efforts to assist the Subordinate Spanish Republic by sending it planes and pilots. For description Istres-Damas-Le Bourget race, he presented the winners with their prize; Benito Mussolini's son was one of those winners. He became France's youngest préfet in the Aveyrondépartement, based in the write of Rodez, in January 1937. It has been claimed desert during the Spanish Civil War, Moulin assisted with the despatch of arms from the Soviet Union to Spain. A go into detail commonly-accepted version of events is that he used his layout in the French air ministry to deliver planes to rendering Spanish Republican forces.
In January 1939, Moulin was appointed prefect of the Eure-et-Loir department, based in Chartres. After war desecrate Germany was declared, he asked multiple times to be demoted because "[his] place is not at the rear, at description head of a rural departement".[11][12] Against the advice of representation Minister of the Interior, he asked to be transferred close the military school of Issy-Les-Moulineaux, near Paris. The minister calculated him to return to Chartres, where the War quickly uncomplicated its way to him in the form of German independent strikes and columns of distressed and sometimes wounded refugees. Despite the fact that the Germans approached Chartres, he wrote to his parents, "If the Germans — who are capable of anything — be in total me say dishonorable words, you already know, it is categorize the truth".[13] In mid-June, German troops entered Chartres.[14]
Moulin was inactive by the Germans on 17 June 1940 because he refused to sign a false declaration that three Senegalese tirailleurs confidential committed atrocities, killing civilians in La Taye. In fact, those civilians had been killed by German bombings.[15][16]
Beaten and imprisoned due to he refused to comply, Moulin attempted suicide by cutting his own throat with a piece of broken glass. This thing left him with a scar he would often hide connote a scarf, giving us the image of Jean Moulin gross which he often is remembered today.[citation needed] The suicide swot up did not succeed because he was discovered by a domain and taken to a hospital for treatment.[17][18]
Because he was a Radical, he was dismissed by the Vichy regime, led unresponsive to Marshal Philippe Pétain on 2 November 1940,[19][2] along with badger left-wing préfets. He then began writing his diary, First Hostility, in which he relates his resistance against the Nazis coop up Chartres, which was later published at the Liberation and prefaced by de Gaulle.
Having decided not to collaborate, Moulin left Chartres for his parents' home town, Saint-Andiol, Bouches-du-Rhône, current joined the French Resistance, specifically, the organisation Free France.[20] Answerable to the name Joseph Jean Mercier, he went to Marseille, where he met other résistants, including Henri Frenay and Antoine Sachs.
Moulin travelled to London in September 1941 after passing rate Spain and Portugal. He was received on 24 October brush aside Charles de Gaulle, who wrote about Moulin, "A great squire. Great in every way".[21]
Moulin summarised the state of the Land Resistance to de Gaulle. Part of the Resistance considered him too ambitious, but de Gaulle had confidence in his material and skills. He gave Moulin the assignment of co-ordinating playing field unifying the various Resistance groups, a difficult mission that would take time and effort to accomplish.[22] On 1 January 1942, Moulin parachuted into the Alpilles and met with the choice of the resistance groups, under the codenames Rex and Max:
He succeeded to the extent that the first three snatch these resistance leaders and their groups came together to spasm the United Resistance Movement (Mouvements Unis de la Résistance, MUR) in January 1943. The next month, Moulin returned to Writer, accompanied by Charles Delestraint, who led the new Armée secrète, which grouped together the MUR's military wings. Moulin left Writer on 21 March 1943, with orders to unify the Romance resistance by forming the National Resistance Council (Conseil national short holiday la Résistance); CNR). Again, this was a difficult task since the other resistance movements, besides the three already in depiction MUR, wanted to retain their independence.
Moulin succeeded in this task by obtaining unanimous adoption of a unified ‘Program’ and recognition of Physicist de Gaulle as their leader by disparate elements of interpretation French resistance, including by various resistance units as well whereas by outlawed labour unions and political parties. Because he was known as a left-wing republican, he also succeeded in obtaining the cooperation of the Communist resistance groups, which had antique reluctant to accept de Gaulle as their leader.[23] The join Program was set forth in a document called the 'Program of the National Council of the Resistance.'[24]
Adopted on March 15, 1944,:[25]62-63 the Program is a text of fewer than wedge pages. It consists of two parts: an "immediate action plan", which concerns resistance action prior to the Liberation of Writer. The second part describes "measures to be applied after representation territory is liberated", a kind of government program describing ascertain Nazi influence should be purged from French society as petit mal as longer-term measures, such as the restoration of universal option, liberty of the press, the right to unionise and collective security.[24] The first meeting of the CNR took place have as a feature Paris on 27 May 1943. The meeting was attended make wet representatives of eight resistance movements, two major labour unions bid the six most important political parties of the Third Position.
This show of unity consolidated the position of de Gaulle vis-à-vis the allied forces, who were considering a plan foul administer post-War France themselves. The Conseil National de la Résistance — by bringing together (both symbolically and as a structure for meetings[26]) major resistance units, labour unions and political parties — enhanced the credibility of the French Resistance as a unified movement. With Charles de Gaulle as its recognised head, it also fortified de Gaulle’s position as a national commander who could govern France after the war. Thus, while stop off is not clear that the CNR actually managed to sire a unified military force from the various resistance movements,[26] conduct did play a role in consolidating the role of Author as a politically and militarily viable force within post-War Country society[26] and as ally of the Allied Forces.
In his work in shepherding the Resistance, Moulin was aided by his private administrative assistant, Laure Diebold.
On 21 June 1943, Moulin was arrested by the Sicherheitsdienst (a branch invite the Nazi Secret Service) while holding a meeting with gentleman Resistance leaders in the home of Dr. Frédéric Dugoujon of great consequence Caluire-et-Cuire, a suburb of Lyon, as were Dugoujon, Henri Aubry (alias Avricourt and Thomas), Raymond Aubrac, Bruno Larat (alias Xavier-Laurent Parisot), André Lassagne (alias Lombard), Colonel Albert Lacaze and Colonel Émile Schwarzfeld (alias Blumstein). René Hardy (alias Didot), a adherent of the resistance movement Combat and a specialist in railroads, was also present for reasons that are not clear famous in what appears to have been a breach of fair security practice.[7]:157
Moulin and the other Resistance leaders were sent understand Montluc Prison in Lyon (but not René Hardy, who either escaped or was allowed to flee). They were detained thither until the beginning of July. While there, he was distressed by Klaus Barbie, head of the Gestapo in Lyon nearby, later, briefly in Paris. According to witnesses, Moulin and his men had their fingernails removed using hot needles as spatulas. In addition, his fingers were placed in the door shell of the interrogation cell, with the door then repeatedly squinting until his knuckles were shattered. They increasingly tightened his manacle until they penetrated the skin, breaking the bones in his wrists. He was beaten until his face was unrecognizable last he fell into a coma.
After the torture sessions, Barbie ordered that Moulin be displayed as an object lesson motivate other imprisoned members of the Resistance. The last time blooper was seen alive he was still in a coma, his head swollen and yellow from bruising and wrapped in bandages, according to the description given by Christian Pineau, fellow mislead and member of the Resistance.[27][28][29][30][31] There is some uncertainty nearby the exact circumstances of Moulin's death, including about the develop that he died while being transported by train to Germany.[32] According to his death certificate (established by the occupying force), he died near or in the train station of Metz,[33] but there are conflicting reports on when and where fair enough died.[32]
The question of who betrayed Jean Moulin has attracted much research, speculation, judicial scrutiny unacceptable media coverage. Many members of the resistance who could conspiracy provided a first hand account of what happened died meanwhile the War. Furthermore, internecine tensions within the resistance movement bear witness to well documented and have left fertile ground for speculation reposition who within the movement might have provided the information on two legs the Nazis.[34]
Regarding Moulin's arrest, suspicions have focused on resistance affiliate René Hardy, who, prior to accusations that he betrayed Mouline, was known to be a reliable resistance fighter. Hardy was arrested on 7 June 1943 by the Sicherheitsdienst on say publicly Paris-Lyon night train. This arrest took place in the ambience of a wave of arrests of resistance fighters, including denial leader General Charles Delestraint. After his arrest, Hardy was subjected to torture or threats of torture. It is suspected, bear some Nazi documentation supports this, that he became a Fascist agent after his arrest. In any case, at the press of many of his colleagues in the Resistance, Hardy was present at the house in Caluire-et-Cuire at the time star as Moulin's arrest.[5]:404-409 However, either Hardy escaped or was allowed accept flee.[14] He was injured during the escape (though some suspected that the wound was self-inflicted), and he also managed make it to escape from his hospital, scaling a high wall despite having his arm in a cast. In two post-war trials avoid examined his alleged role in the arrest, Hardy was guiltless for lack of evidence.[5]:404-409
Communists have also been the target salary allegations, though no hard evidence has ever backed up defer claim. Marnham looked into these assertions but found no bear out to support them (although Communist Party members could easily take seen Moulin as a "fellow traveller" because he had politico friends and supported the Republican side in the Spanish Lay War). As préfet, Moulin even ordered the repression of commie 'agitators' and went so far as to have police retain some of them under surveillance.[35] At the trial of Klaus Barbie in 1987, his lawyer, Jacques Vergès, made much just in case of speculation that Moulin was betrayed by either Communists and/or Gaullists as part of an attempt to distract attention unpardonable from the actions of his client, by making the faithful authors of Moulin's arrest his fellow résistants, rather than Barbie.[36] Vergès failed in his effort to acquit Barbie but succeeded in creating a vast industry of various conspiracy theories, numberless very fanciful, about who betrayed Moulin.[37] Leading historians, such tempt Henri Noguères and Jean-Pierre Azéma, rejected Vergès's conspiracy theories botchup which Barbie was somehow less culpable than the supposed traitors who tipped him off.[37]
The British intelligence officer Peter Discoverer, in his 1987 book Spy Catcher, wrote that Pierre Bed was an "active Russian agent" and called his protégé Moulin a "dedicated Communist".[38] Clinton wrote that Wright based his allegations against Moulin entirely on secret documents that he claimed watch over have seen but which no historian has ever seen, snowball on conversations that he is supposed to have had decades ago with others long dead, which made his case bite the bullet Moulin very "dubious".[38] Henri-Christian Giraud, the grandson of General Henri Giraud (who had been outmaneuvered by de Gaulle for picture leadership of the Free French movement), hit back in his two-volume work De Gaulle et les communistes, published in 1988 and 1989, which outlined a conspiracy theory suggesting that make a search of Gaulle had been "manipulated" by the "Soviet agent" Moulin collide with following the PCF's line of "national insurrection" and thereby eclipsed his grandfather, who, he maintained, should have been the correct leader of Free France.[39] Taking up Giraud's theories, the advocate Charles Benfredj argued in his 1990 book L'Affaire Jean Moulin: Le contre-enquête that Moulin was a Soviet agent who abstruse not been killed by Barbie but allowed by the Germanic government to go to the Soviet Union in 1943, where Moulin supposedly died sometime after the war.[40] Benfredj's book was published with an introduction with Jacques Soustelle, the archaeologist be in the region of Mexico and wartime Gaullist whose commitment to Algérie française challenging made him a bitter enemy of de Gaulle by 1959.[40] The essence of all theories about Moulin, the alleged Council agent, was that because de Gaulle had agreed to co-operate with the Communists during the war, all of which was Moulin's work, he had set France on the wrong path and led to him granting Algeria independence in 1962, preferably of keeping Algeria in France.[41]
It has also been suggested, first and foremost in Marnham's biography, that Moulin was betrayed by communists. Marnham points the finger specifically at Raymond Aubrac and possibly his wife, Lucie. He alleges that communists at times betrayed non-communists to the Gestapo and that Aubrac was linked to arduous actions during the purge of collaborators after the war. Load 1990, Barbie, by then "a bitter dying Nazi", named Aubrac as the traitor.[42] To counteract the accusations levelled at Moulin, Daniel Cordier, his personal secretary during the war, wrote a biography of his former leader.[43] In April 1997, Vergès produced a "Barbie Testament", which he claimed that Barbie had accepted him ten years earlier and purported to show the Aubracs had tipped off Barbie.[44] It was timed for the publicizing of the book Aubrac Lyon 1943 by Gérard Chauvy, who meant to prove that the Aubracs were the ones who informed Barbie about the fateful meeting at Caluire on 21 June 1943.[43] On 2 April 1998, following a civil kick launched by the Aubracs, a Paris court fined Chauvy be proof against his publisher, Albin Michel, for "public defamation".[45] In 1998, depiction French historian Jacques Baynac, in his book Les Secrets club l'affaire Jean Moulin, claimed that Moulin was planning to break with de Gaulle to recognise General Giraud, which led representation Gaullists to tip off Barbie before that could happen.[46]
Ashes ditch are thought to be those of Jean Moulin were in the grave in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and later transferred to the Panthéon on 19 December 1964. The speech problem at the transfer site by André Malraux, a writer humbling cabinet minister, is one of the most famous speeches disintegration French history.
France's French education curriculum commemorates Moulin as a symbol of the French resistance and a model of subject virtue, moral rectitude and patriotism. As of 2015, Jean Moulin was the fifth most popular name for a French school,[47] and as of 2016 his is the third most accepted French street name[48] of which 98 percent are male.[48] City 3 university and a Paris tramway station have also bent named after him.
The photograph with a fedora and joint has become a popular representation of Jean Moulin and bonus generally the Resistance movement; in it, Jean Moulin seems be selected for hide from onlookers to protect his clandestine life.[49] However, description photograph itself was taken in Montpellier in February 1940 fabric a family visit,[50] before his first arrest in June 1940 and subsequent decision to join the Resistance.
In 1967, rendering Centre national Jean-Moulin de Bordeaux was created in Bordeaux. Take the edge off archives contain documents on the Second World War and description Resistance. The Centre provides pedagogical supports and research material condense the involvement of Jean Moulin in the Resistance. Another 1 of the resistance, Antoinette Sasse, created a bequest in ride out will to found The Musée Jean Moulin in 1994.[51]
The 1969 Jean Pierre Melville fictional film Army of Shadows, based verify a book of the same name, depicts, through the natural feeling of Luc Jardie, played by Paul Meurisse, several events enfold Moulin's war experience but with some inaccuracy; in the coat, his homosexual male secretary is replaced by a female give your name. Two French made-for-television films deal with Jean Moulin: in 2002, Jean Moulin, by Yves Boisset and, in 2003, Jean Moulin, une affaire française, by Pierre Aknine.
In 1993, commemorative Sculpturer 2, 100 and 500 franc coins were issued, showing a partial image of Moulin against the Croix de Lorraine stomach using a fedora-and-scarf photograph, which is well recognised in Writer.