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 because of his great courage and his horrific death.
Moulin was born in Béziers, France, and enrolled in the French Army in 1918, but World War I came to an end 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 to of Albertville, from 1925 to 1930. He was France's youngest sous préfet at the time.
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 wrongly 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.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 near Metz, in the Paris-Berlin train which was taking him to a concentration camp.
Who betrayed Moulin?
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.
Ehrard Dabringhaus, ex-CIC in Europe, said that Klaus Barbie worked for him during the post-war period. According to Barbie, René Hardy was never a traitor; he never revealed anything that could be used against the Resistance, even under torture.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julian Coman in Brussels, The Telegraph, Sunday 13 June 1999
A leader of the French Resistance killed by the Gestapo in 1943, owed his death to a beautiful young Frenchwoman, whose treachery was finally exposed last week.At the age of 20, she infiltrated and betrayed the inner circles of the French Resistance using Hardy's obsessive love for her as a means of entry. Blackmailing the lover she despised, she orchestrated the arrest of Moulin through Hardy and was paid in diamonds and gems stolen from Jews. She wore them until her death in 1994.
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Jean Moulin, né à Béziers le 20 juin 1899 et mort aux environs de Metz le 8 juillet 1943, est un héros de la Résistance française.
Mobilisé en 1918, il participe aux derniers mois de la Première Guerre mondiale, puis obtient une licence de droit en 1921. Il entre alors dans l'administration préfectorale, comme chef de cabinet du préfet de la Savoie, en 1922, puis comme sous-préfet d'Albertville, de 1925 à 1930. Il y est à l'époque le plus jeune sous-préfet de France.
Nommé en 1939 préfet d'Eure-et-Loir à Chartres, il est arrêté en juin 1940 par les Allemands parce qu'il refuse d'accuser une troupe de soldats africains de l'armée française d'exactions. Il tente alors de se suicider en se tranchant la gorge avec un débris de verre. Il en a gardé une cicatrice qu'il cache sous une écharpe. Politiquement marqué à gauche, il est révoqué par le régime de Vichy le 2 novembre 1940 et placé en disponibilité. Il s'installe dans sa maison familiale de Saint-Andiol (Bouches-du-Rhône) et entre dans la Résistance. Il rejoint Londres en septembre 1941 sous le nom de Joseph Jean Mercier et y rencontre le général de Gaulle, qui le charge d'unifier les mouvements de la Résistance. Il est parachuté dans les Alpilles dans la nuit du 1er janvier 1942. Il emploie les pseudonymes de Rex puis de Max.
En février 1943, il retourne à Londres en compagnie du général Delestraint chef de l'Armée Secrète. Il en repart le 21 mars 1943, chargé de créer le Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR), tâche peu aisée, car chaque mouvement cherche à conserver son indépendance. La première réunion du CNR se tient à Paris, le 27 mai 1943.
Il est arrêté le 21 juin 1943 à Caluire-et-Cuire (Rhône), dans la maison du docteur Dugoujon, où se tenait une réunion avec les principaux chefs de la Résistance. Interrogé par Klaus Barbie, chef de la Gestapo à Lyon, il est torturé et meurt dans le train Paris-Berlin qui le conduit vers les camps de concentration.
