Following the death of Niels Arestrup, which occurred on December 1, the actor from Annecy André Dussollier paid tribute to him in Dauphiné Libéré. He mentioned the piece “Diplomacy” that they performed together from 2011 to 2014.
On this occasion, the actor also told our editorial staff that he would really like to meet the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Antoine Armand, also from Annecy. This is to tell him a story that he discovered while studying Cyril Gély's play.
The man who saved Antoine Armand's great-grandfather
The characters played by Dussollier and Arestrup did indeed exist. They were General Dietrich Von Choltitz and the Consul General of Sweden, Raoul Nordling. In reality, the diplomat actually saved Louis Armand, great-grandfather of Antoine Armand, from certain death. Louis Armand, then head of the SNCF, had been taken prisoner by the Germans and threatened with execution for treason. The intervention of Raoul Nordling (the role played by André Dussollier), within the framework of negotiations carried out with Dietrich Von Choltitz in 1944, saved him from a final conviction.
This indeed deserves a summit meeting between the two Haut-Savoyards, André Dussollier and Antoine Armand. Why not within our editorial staff? We are launching the invitations here and now.
