The family of resistance fighter Jean Moulin came to Salon-de-Provence, on December 16, to speak to the students of 3e from the eponymous college. Interventions proposed by the Jean Moulin Committee and its vice-president Quentin Saraïs Nastasi, with the support of the Salonaise municipality and the Aix-Marseille academy.
“Admirers of Danton, Desmoulins et Gambettathe grandfather and father of Jean Moulin were already fervent defenders of the Republic, as well as secularismto the point that one was imprisoned twice and the other blamed, at a time not so long ago when some were still trying to reestablish the French monarchy.have started Cécile Benoit-Escoffier, second-cousin of war hero Jean Moulinand his partner Gilbert Benoitin front of surprisingly attentive Salonais teenagers.
When youth discovers the painter Jean Moulin…
“Enfant, Jean Moulin began to draw caricaturesat the age of 15 in particular, in the newspaper of his school in Béziers.” In 1915, the maturity of these caricatures allowed him to “receiving 10 francs, his first salary as an artist, by illustrating publications The bayonet et the Little Journal.“ An artistic practice that he will continue, after his time at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Montpellier, “under the Provençal pseudonym Romaninfrom the moment he became head of the cabinet of the prefect of Chambéry, in 1922, “then the youngest sub-prefect in France”three years later…
“Do you think that Jean Moulin would have liked to become a painterif the war had not suddenly broken out?”questioned, at that moment, a schoolgirl, while caricatures and watercolors of “the novel” scrolled in a slideshow. “Yes, without a doubt! Before the war, when he was prefect, Jean Moulin never stopped spending time with artists”replied the family of the resistance fighter, before continuing on their social action and ministerial.
We must help the Spanish Republicans, otherwise: one day it will be our turn!”
“Appointed chief of staff of the Minister of Airin 1933, he participated in the creations of theAir Forced’Air France and of People’s Aviationconvinced of the essential role that aeronautics will play in the 21ste century ! It is therefore thanks to him that, even today, you receive a scholarship to obtain your pilot’s license…”
Then, the time came to address the triggering mechanisms of the Second World War and its dark hours. “In 1936, the Anglo-Saxons put pressure on France not to support the Spanish Republicans.“ against the fascist dictatorship of General Franco. “In secret, Jean Moulin will, however, put in place logistical support in their favor”auguring in a private correspondence “that it was absolutely necessary to help these Republicans in Spain because, otherwise, it would be our turn one day!” Without knowing it, Jean Moulin thus marked his first act of resistance.
Understand History, to never reproduce its shadows again…
In 1939, events accelerated, “Jean Moulin was appointed prefect of Eure-et-Loire when Germany started the Second World War by invading Poland, an ally of France.” The Phoney War and its wait-and-see Maginot Line quickly gave way to the Debacle.
“Jean Moulin is arrested, for the first time, by the Germansin 1940.” The Nazi racist policy then spread across France. “They demanded that he sign a lying protocol which attributed to Senegalese riflemen of the French army for atrocities against civilians.” The resistance fighter refuses. He is tortured then tied over dismembered bodiesfor several days. “Jean Moulin persevered in his refusal to apply any Nazi instructions, particularly towards the Jews ! And was definitively dismissed from his functions by the Vichy regime…”
In 1941, Jean Moulin joined the resistance movements in the South zone, then met General de Gaulle in London. “What follows is Mission Rex to reunify all French resistance movements and its parachute drop in the Alpilles.” A decisive step which will allow, at the Liberation, to “strengthen the position of General de Gaulle, facing allies” very quick to exclude France from the Yalta Conference. “Because, at that time, Americans and English did not appreciate de Gaulle, preferring General Giraud, although close to Petain…”
A piece of history that Jean Moulin will not know. A few weeks “after creating the National Council of Resistancein 1943, the resistance fighter is arrested, then tortured, in Lyon and Paris, by the Gestapo by Klaus Barbie.” He would have died during his transfer to Berlin, without betraying the Secret Army, and his body would have been immediately cremated.
It would therefore be the ashes of Jean Moulin which entered the Pantheonthere are just 60 years old, the 19th December 1964, during the historical speech d’André Malraux… i.e. almost 20 years after this liberation of France to which the deceased resistance fighter had contributed so much.
In this period of political and military instability : transmit the memory and its interlines, in each school, to never again reproduce the shadows of History.
