|  Jean
Moulin
Jean
Moulin, the son of a professor of history, was born in Beziers France, on
20th June 1899. He was conscripted into the
French Army in 1918 but the First World War came to an end
before he had the opportunity to see action.
After the
war Moulin joined the civil service and rose rapidly to become the country's
youngest prefect. Influenced by his friend, Pierre Cot, a radical pacifist,
Moulin developed left-wing views. During the Spanish Civil War Moulin helped to
smuggle a French aircraft to the Republican Army fighting against the
Royalists.
Moulin
refused to cooperate with the German Army when they occupied France
in June 1940. He
was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo and while in his cell he
attempted to commit suicide by cutting his throat with a piece of broken glass.
After recovering he was released from prison.
In
November 1940, the Vichy government ordered all
prefects to dismiss left-wing mayors of towns and villages that had been
elected to office. When Moulin refused to do this he was himself removed from
office.
Over the
next few months Moulin began to make contact with other French people who
wanted to overthrow the Vichy government and to
drive the German Army out of France. This included Henry Frenay, who had established Combat, the most important of all
the early French Resistance groups. He also
had discussions with Pierre Villon who was
attempting to organize the communist resistance group in France. Later, Moulin
was accused of being a communist but there is no evidence that he ever joined
the party.
Moulin
visited London in September, 1941 where he
met Charles De Gaulle, Andre Dewavrin and other French leaders in exile. In October 1941,
Moulin produced a report entitled The Activities, Plans and
Requirements of the Groups formed in France. De Gaulle was impressed
with Moulin knowledge of the situation and decided he should become the leader
of the resistance in France.
Moulin
was parachuted back into France on 1st January, 1942. Moulin brought with him a
large sum of money to help set up the underground press. This included working
with figures such as Georges Bidault and Albert Camus who had both been involved
in establishing the Combat newspaper.
Moulin's
main task was to try and unite all the different resistance groups working in France. Over the
following weeks he arranged meetings with people such as Henry Frenay (Combat), Emmanuel d'Astier (Liberation), Jean-Pierre Lévy (Francs-Tireur), Pierre Villon (Front National), Pierre Brossolette (Comité d'Action Socialiste) and Charles Delestraint (Armée Secrete). After much discussion Moulin persuaded the eight
major resistance groups to form the Conseil National de la Resistance (CNR) and the
first joint meeting under Moulin's chairmanship took place in Paris on 27th May 1943
On 7th June 1943, René Hardy, an important member of the
resistance in France, was arrested and
tortured by Klaus Barbie and the Gestapo. They eventually obtained
enough information to arrest Moulin at Caluire on 21st June. Jean Moulin died while being tortured on 8th July
1943.
|
Alpilles
