in the shadow of Jean Moulin, the role of his big sister; Laura

50 years ago, on December 31, 1974, Laure Moulin, Jean Moulin’s older sister, disappeared. If her brother’s journey is taught in history books, Laure’s is less known. However, she was also a great resistance fighter and she accompanied Jean Moulin throughout his life.

You know Jean Moulin, considered one of the main heroes of the Resistance. However, few people know his sister, Laure, without whom he would not have this status. All her life, Laure accompanied her brother. First when he was a child, being “the protective big sister of her little brother. She has always been very close to Jean.”details Gilbert Benoit, member of Jean Moulin’s family. “She is six years his senior and following the death of their big brother, she found herself the eldest of the siblings and as such, she was even more keen to protect this little brother.“, adds Thomas Rabino, historian and writer.

Together, they spent all their holidays in the family home in the village of Saint-Andiol, at the foot of the Alpilles. Then during the Second World War, Laure was essential to Jean Moulin’s work for the resistance.

If for 30 years, she worked for her brother to become the most famous hero of the Resistance, she has erased herself from this history. This is why his name is now erased. But also for the simple reason that she was a woman.

Of the 1038 companions of the Formation, there are six women, so the number speaks for itself. And Laure Moulin is not there even though she was Jean Moulin’s first accomplice.

Thomas Rabino, historian and writer

“She was the one on whom he could have blind confidence. She was the first who knew everything about his activities in a very precise way. She was associated with his action from the beginning to the end“The historian details that she coded and decoded messages, she transported radio equipment, she was able to transport a weapon, she was a liaison agent, she would meet other resistance fighters…”She played an essential pivotal role and yet it is totally unknown.”

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A photo of Laure and Jean, at the foot of the Alpilles, is very well known. For Thomas Rabino, this photo tells of the closeness of a brother and a sister. “First, we notice their resemblance which is quite disturbing and we see their attachment to this Provence. If they are close for the photo, they were close intellectually, in their fight. She was recruited for the defense of the Republic when her brother was very young, she volunteered during the First World War as a nurse. They are complementary, they are in phase intellectually, philosophically and materially, since both will take considerable risks“, he continues.

On June 21, 43, Jean Moulin was arrested by the Gestapo in Caluire-et-Cuire, near Lyon, and succumbed to torture. Laure Moulin will then move heaven and earth to find the trace of her brother.

She dedicated her life to the memory of her brother. She campaigned and worked for her brother’s entry into the Pantheon.

Gilbert Benoit, member of Jean Moulin’s family

Thomas Rabbi added: “She had a “lobbyist” action, which she carried out with unfailing determination. It was for her the only way to truly do justice to her brother, to have this key role recognized which made him the most unifying figure of the resistance.“In 1969, she wrote and published a biography of her brother which is a reference for all historians who write about Jean Moulin.

After Jean’s disappearance, Laure Moulin also took a lot of care of Blanche, his mother. An English teacher in Montpellier, she never married. Laure Moulin died 50 years ago, on December 31, 1974. She is buried in the small cemetery of Saint-Andiol, far from her brother’s ashes.