Jean Moulin

Jean Moulin (June 20, 1899 - July 8, 1943) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II.

Table of contents

1 Before the War 2 The Resistance 3 The Controversy 4 The legend 5 External link

Before the War

Jean Moulin was born in Bézier, France, and was enrolled in the French Army in 1918, but World War I came to an end before he could see any action. After the war, he resumed his studies and obtained a law degree in 1921. He then entered the prefectoral 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.

He married Marguerite Cerruti in September 1926, but divorced her in 1928.

In 1930, he is the sous préfet of Châteaulin. During that time, he also authored political satires in the newspaper "Le rire", under the pseudonym Romanin.

He became France's youngest préfet in the Aveyron region, in the commune of Rodez, in January 1937.

The Resistance

In 1939 he is named préfet of the Eure-et-Loir region. The Germans arrested him in june 1940 because he refused to sign a German document that wrongly blamed Senegalese French Army troops for civilian massacres. In prison, he attemped to take his own life by cutting his throat with a piece of broken glass. This left him with a scar that he would often hide with his scarf.

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. He then lived in Saint-Andiol (Bouches-du-Rhône), and joined the resistance. He 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 1st, 1941, he was parachuted in the Alpilles. He used the codenames Rex and Max, and 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 current political party Front National in France that is right-wing conservative)
• Pierre Brossolette (Comité d'Action Socialiste)

In February 1943, he went back to London, accompanied by Charles Delestraint, head of the new armée secréte group. He left on March 21, 1943, given for mission to form the Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR), a difficult task, since each movement wanted to keep their 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 Doctor Frédéric Dugoujon's house, where a meeting with most of the resistance leaders was taking place. Interogated in Lyon, and later in Paris, by Klaus Barbie, head of the gestapo, he never revealed anything to his captors. He eventually died, near Metz, in the Paris-Berlin train which was taking him to the concentration camps.

The Controversy

René Hardy was caught, and released, by the Gestapo. Hence, he was being followed when he came to the meeting at the doctor's house in Caluire, and led them to Jean Moulin. Some believe this was a deliberate act of treason, others think René Hardy was simply reckless.

Two trials have tried to determine if René Hardy was a traitor, and both acquitted him.

A recent made-for-tv movie about the life and death of Jean Moulin showed René Hardy collaborating with the Gestapo, which fueled the controversy once more. The Hardy family tried to sue the makers of the movie.

The legend

Burried in the Parisian Le Père Lachaise Cemetery, his ashes have been transfered to The Panthéon, on December 19, 1964.

Many schools in france, and an university (Lyon III) bear the name Jean Moulin.

External link

• Malraux' speech during jean moulin's transfer to The Pantheon in French