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Jean Moulin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Moulin (June 20, 1899–July 8, 1943) was a high-profile member of the French Resistance during World War II. He is remembered today as an emblem of the Resistance primarily due to his courage and death at the hands of the Germans.
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Moulin was born in Béziers, France, and enlisted in the French Army in 1918, but World War I ended before he saw any action. After the war, he resumed his studies and obtained a law degree in 1921. He then entered the prefectural administration as chef de cabinet to the deputy of Savoie in 1922, then as sous préfet of Albertville, from 1925 to 1930. He was France's youngest sous préfet at the time, and was also the youngest préfet in 1930.
He married Marguerite Cerruti in September 1926, but the couple was divorced in 1928.
In 1930, he was the sous préfet of Châteaulin. During that time, he also drew political cartoons in the newspaper Le Rire, under the pseudonym Romanin.
He became France's youngest préfet in the Aveyron département, in the commune of Rodez, in January 1937.
During the Spanish Civil War, he supplied arms from the Soviet Union to Spain.
In 1939 Moulin was appointed préfet of the Eure-et-Loir département. The Germans arrested him in June 1940 because he refused to sign a German document that falsely blamed Senegalese French Army troops for civilian massacres. In prison, he attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a piece of broken glass. This left him with a scar that he would often hide with a scarf — the image of Jean Moulin remembered nowadays.
In November 1940, the Vichy government ordered all prefects to dismiss left-wing elected mayors of towns and villages. When Moulin refused, he was himself removed from office. He then lived in Saint-Andiol (Bouches-du-Rhône), and joined the resistance. Moulin reached London in September 1941 under the name Joseph Jean Mercier, and met General Charles de Gaulle, who asked him to unify the various resistance groups. On January 1, 1942, he parachuted into the Alpilles. Under the codenames Rex and Max, he met with the leaders of the resistance groups:
- Henri Frenay (Combat)
- Emmanuel d'Astier (Libération)
- Jean-Pierre Lévy (Francs-Tireur)
- Pierre Villon (Front National, not to be confused with the present-day far-right French political party Front National)
- Pierre Brossolette (Comité d'Action Socialiste)
In February 1943, Moulin went back to London, accompanied by Charles Delestraint, head of the new armée secrète group. He left on March 21, 1943 with orders to form the Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR), a difficult task since each resistance movement wanted to keep its independence. The first meeting of the CNR took place in Paris on May 27, 1943.
Jean Moulin was arrested June 21, 1943 in Caluire-et-Cuire (Rhône), in the home of Doctor Frédéric Dugoujon, where a meeting with most of the resistance leaders was taking place. Interrogated in Lyon by Klaus Barbie, head of the Gestapo there, and later in Paris, he never revealed anything to his captors. He eventually died under brutal torture near Metz, in the Paris-Berlin train which was taking him to a concentration camp.
René Hardy was caught and released by the Gestapo. They followed him when he came to the meeting at the doctor's house in Caluire, thus leading the Germans to Jean Moulin. Some believe that this was a deliberate act of treason; others think René Hardy was simply reckless.
Two trials were unable to determine that René Hardy was a traitor, and both concluded that he was innocent.
A recent TV film about the life and death of Jean Moulin depicted René Hardy collaborating with the Gestapo, thus reviving the controversy. The Hardy family attempted to bring a lawsuit against the producers of the movie.
Moulin was initially buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His ashes were later transferred to The Panthéon on December 19, 1964.
In France, many schools and a university (Lyon III) have been named after him.
Today, Jean Moulin is used in French education to illustrate civic virtues, moral rectitude and patriotism. He is a symbol of the Resistance.