Legal case. An absurd story in a cave in the Lot

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“André Breton, Abel Bessac and the mammoth of the Pech Merle” : this is not a prevert-style enumeration. The name of these two Lotois personalities André Breton and Abel Bessac, certainly of unequal notoriety, associated with one of the most famous caves of Lot department: “Unlucky Merle” has Cabreretscontaining a prestigious collection of prehistoric paintings around the mammoth, hit the legal and media headlines for many months, 72 years ago.

A fine sleuth, Michel Auvray therefore set out to bring this “sensitive matter” up to date, in front of the large audience of members and friends of the Société des Études du Lot, on October 3, 2024, at the Espace Clément Marot in Cahors.

The facts are simple and Michel Auvray reopens the case with the rigor of a magistrate who takes over the entire procedure. On July 24, 1952, the poet André Breton visited the “cave-temple” of Pech Merle, in the presence of Abel Bessac, deputy. Scratching with his finger the representation of the trunk of a mammoth appearing on the wall of the cave, “to see if it was not a fake” (and perhaps also in a spirit of provocation), André Breton was sharply reprimanded . And as if that were not enough, he comments on his gesture by calling the deputy a “priest”, alluding to his political positioning, while he defined himself as a “libertarian”. An exchange of pet names ensues and the two men come to blows. Insults and violence; filing of a complaint, hearings, indictment, reconstitution,… the case is serialized until the day of judgment, giving rise to the conviction of André Breton, in much smaller proportions than those expected by his detractors.

It is the strange meeting of two strong personalities who are completely opposed: the culture, the way of life, the backgrounds and convictions, which fascinated Michel Auvray, in turn making his illustrated presentation captivating. The story is of local origin: the deputy Bessac, native of Saint-Martin-Labouval, is the concessionaire of the Cabrerets cave; André Breton, who discovered Saint-Cirq-Lapopie during the inauguration of the Route sans frontières

stays there in the summer. The impact of this incident was, however, immense, with newspapers from all sides taking sides. Le Vie Quercynoise takes up the cause of Abel Bessac! On November 27, 1953, the surrealist writer was sentenced in Cahors for “degrading a historic monument”. What would it have been like today?

Michel Auvray examined the press in all its diversity, as he studied all the available sources: archives of Maryse David, daughter of the “discoverer” of the cave, biographies, correspondence, numerous procedural documents, as well as, of course, the trial and the judgment, a total of more than 300 pages. Here is a speaker who deserves to be “heard!” “.

* On July 30, 1949, Cahors was the very first city to adopt the Charter of Globalization for Peace, declaring itself linked to the world community: it wanted to be Cahors du Monde, Cahors Mundi.