The Death Of Jean Moulin

"According to legend Jean Moulin was General de Gaulle's emissary to the resistance movements in occupied France and became the political head of the Resistance in 1943. But despite the fact that he has entered French history as one of the great heroes of the Second World War, surprisingly little is known about him. He was captured in Lyons and tortured by the Gestapo and is thought to have died a few days later without talking. Ever since his disappearance arguments have raged in France as to whether or not he was betrayed by other Resistance leaders. Why should they have been suspected of doing that? Was Jean Moulin just a brave civil servant who volunteered to become a secret agent? Or was he, as some believe, a French Philby, working to promote a Communist insurrection in France? But in order to find out who he was, one must first know who killed him.In this fascinating book, Patrick Marnham traces the childhood and early career of Jean Moulin and places him in the context of French political life in the 1930s, when Left and Right fought violent battles in the streets of Paris. He searches for the key to Jean Moulin's political convictions and examines the way in which a countr

Who was the enigmatic Jean Moulin, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? The memory of this French Resistance hero, who was betrayed to the Gestapo and tortured by Klaus Barbie, the infamous 'Butcher of Lyon', is revered alongside that of other national icons. But Moulin's story is full of unanswered questions and the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend. Patrick Marnham, winner of the Marsh Prize for biography, thrillingly tells the epic story of France's greatest war hero, bringing to light the shadowy and often deceitful world of the French Resistance, and offers a shocking conclusion to one of the great unsolved mysteries of World War II.

Jean Moulin is a universally recognized French hero, celebrated as the delegate of General de Gaulle to Nazi-occupied France in 1942-3 and founder of the National Resistance Council in May 1943. He is known for defiance of the German invaders in June 1940 and for his death in the hands of Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie in July 1943. This book is the fist fully documented account in English of his republican background, his resistance activities, and of his death and reputation.

“Enthralling and intelligent, a masterly exploration of the sinister labyrinth that was wartime France . . . It is a remarkable book, utterly fascinating.” —Allan Massie Not long after 2:00 p.m. on June 21, 1943, eight men met in secret at a doctor’ s house in Lyon. They represented the warring factions of the French Resistance and had been summoned by General de Gaulle’s new envoy, a man most of them knew simply as “Max.” Minutes after the last man entered the house, the Gestapo broke in, led by Klaus Barbie, the infamous “Butcher of Lyon.” The fate awaiting Barbie’s prisoners was torture, deportation, and death. “Max” was tortured sadistically but never broke: he took his many secrets to his grave. In that moment, the legend of Jean Moulin was born. Who betrayed Jean Moulin? And who was this enigmatic hero, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? After the war, his ashes were transferred to the Panthéon—France’s highest honor—where his memory is revered alongside that of Voltaire and Victor Hugo. But Moulin’s story is full of unanswered questions: the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend conveniently manufactured by de Gaulle. Resistance and Betrayal tells for the first time in English the epic story of France’s greatest war hero, a Schindler-like character of ambiguous motivation. A winner of the Marsh Prize for biography, praised by Graham Greene and Julian Barnes, Patrick Marnham is a brilliant storyteller with a keen appreciation for the complex maze of moral compromises navigated in times of war. Told with the drama and suspense of the best espionage fiction, Resistance and Betrayal brings to life the dark and duplicitous world of the French Resistance and offers a startling conclusion to one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Second World War. NOTE: This edition does not include photographs.

The French resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II was a struggle in which ordinary people fought for their liberty, despite terrible odds and horrifying repression. Hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen and women carried out an armed struggle against the Nazis, producing underground anti-fascist publications and supplying the Allies with vital intelligence. Based on hundreds of French eye-witness accounts and including recently-released archival material, The Resistanceuses dramatic personal stories to take the reader on one of the great adventures of the 20thcentury. The tale begins with the catastrophic Fall of France in 1940, and shatters the myth of a unified Resistance created by General de Gaulle. In fact, De Gaulle never understood the Resistance, and sought to use, dominate and channel it to his own ends. Brave men and women set up organisations, only to be betrayed or hunted down by the Nazis, and to die in front of the firing squad or in the concentration camps. Over time, the true story of the Resistance got blurred and distorted, its heroes and conflicts were forgotten as the movement became a myth. By turns exciting, tragic and insightful, The Resistancereveals how one of the most powerful modern myths came to be forged and provides a gripping account of one of the most striking events in the 20thcentury.

Jean Moulin is a universally recognized French hero, celebrated as the delegate of General de Gaulle to Nazi-occupied France in 1942-43 and founder of the National Resistance Council in May 1943. He is known for defiance of the German invaders in June 1940 and for his death in the hands of Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie in July 1943. This book is the first fully-documented account in English of his republican background, his resistance activities, and his death and reputation.

The story of the French Resistance is central to French identity, but it is a story built on myths. 'La Résistance française' was not simply a national effort to free the country from German occupation, but a wider struggle, filled with conflicts and division. It included Spanish republicans, Italian and even German anti-Nazis. The defence against the Holocaust brought in Jewish resisters and Christian rescuers. It involved a civil war for the French Empire in Africa and the Near East. The movement itself was split between those on the far right and the far left, fighting for very different visions of the world. Robert Gildea returns to the testimonies of the resisters themselves, asking who they were, what they believed in and what compelled them to take the terrible risks they did. He brings to the fore the woman resisters, who history neglected. By looking again at the constructions and interplay of the myths surrounding the resistance, Gildea builds a vivid, gripping and entirely new account of one of the most compelling narratives of the Second World War.

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