Moselle. Do you know who denounced François Mitterrand when he was hiding in Metz?

While mobilized on the Maginot Line, Sergeant-Major Mitterrand was seriously injured at Verdun on June 14, 1940. Evacuated to a military hospital, he was captured by the Germans and sent to a prisoner of war camp, first to Stalag IX A Trutzhain, from which he had tried unsuccessfully to escape, then to Stalag IX-C in Bad Sulza, in Hesse.

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For his second escape, “he took advantage of the agitation reigning in the camp on Sunday, November 30, the day the local peasants arrived, to leave with two of his comrades” ( Chronicles of History : Mitterrand 1998). He reached Metz, then annexed to the Third Reich, from where he tried to reach France.

This time, he prepared better. He had false papers made, got hold of German money and train tickets that allowed him to travel to Frankfurt, Saarbrücken and Metz (Institut François Mitterrand)…

“On the doorstep, the owners speak French”

Of the three men who escaped from the camp, one was recaptured immediately, the other took another route. Mitterrand arrived alone in the Moselle town. “He wanders around the station district without an address or a contact” (RL of January 9, 1996). “He hopes to find the help of “good Frenchmen” to get back inside”. His goal is to take the train to Nancy, “where Father Mansuy welcomes the escapees as part of Sister Hélène’s network run from Metz” (RL of May 17, 2021).

In his work The Promise (Ed Grasset), Anne Lauvergeon, who worked as a “sherpa” (personal representative responsible for preparing international summits) and deputy secretary general to President Mitterrand, also returns to this episode.

He is “emaciated and weakened,” the author relates. “Having been prevented twice by German patrols from crossing the border, he decides to rest in a hotel near the station where the owners, on the doorstep, speak French despite the formal ban from the Germans. This seems to him to be a good omen.”

Sent to the Boulay camp

So the fugitive entered the Cecilia Hotel to try to catch a few hours of sleep. But in the early hours of December 2, 1941, someone knocked on the door: “Polizei!” It was the Gestapo.

François Mitterrand was too confident: it was “the French owner of the hotel (who) denounced him”, continues Anne Lauvergeon in her book. The hotelier goes even further. She “demanded to be paid for the night when he was arrested!”

The future President of the Republic was sent to the Boulay camp, known to be very harsh. From this new stalag, he escaped ten days later, using Sister Helen’s network. This time, he was successful.

“Did you know? Metz” can also be heard as a podcast