Moulin, Jean (1899–1943)

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MOULIN, JEAN (1899–1943)

POLITICS
UNIFIER OF THE RESISTANCE
THE CALUIRE AFFAIR
BIBLIOGRAPHY

French patriot and leader of the French Resistance.

In 1943, acting on the authority of General Charles de Gaulle, Jean Moulin organized and coordinated the various resistance groups inside France. After being arrested on 21 June 1943 he did not survive tortures inflicted on him on orders of Klaus Barbie, the head of the Gestapo in Lyon, France. As the head of the Resistance, the "chief of the people of the night," Moulin was honored by the French novelist André Malraux (1901–1976) upon the ceremonial transfer of his ashes to the Pantheon on 19 December 1964. He has become the key figure emblematic of the French Resistance during World War II.

POLITICS

Moulin was the son of a professor of history and geography, a republican of conviction who was active in regional politics. He studied law at the University of Montpellier while working in the office of the prefect, or regional chief administrator, of Hérault. Although he enlisted in the army when he came of age, he was mobilized too late to fight in World War I. Receiving his license to practice law, in 1922 he won an administrative appointment with the prefect in Savoy; three years later he became the youngest subprefect then, in 1937, the youngest prefect of the Aveyron region.

Moulin's political career began in the early 1930s with his appointment to the undersecretary of state Pierre Cot's office of foreign affairs. He followed Cot when the latter headed the Ministry of Air, initiating nationalization of the private airlines and establishing Air France.

In 1939, while prefect of the Eure-et-Loire region in Chartres, Moulin tried to enlist in the army but could not win release from his administrative duties. He remained at his post in the new government that formed under Philippe Pétain until 2 November 1940, when he was dismissed.

UNIFIER OF THE RESISTANCE

Moulin immediately joined the Resistance in the southern zone, then operating free of Nazi occupation but under Pétain's collaborationist government. At first he only distributed flyers and clandestine publications. But in September 1941 he left France, using the pseudonym Joseph Jean Mercier, and after a trip that took him to Lisbon, a month later he arrived in London. His objective was to obtain funds for the gathering French Resistance. General Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), with whom he met several times, made him the representative of the French National Committee in the unoccupied zone.

Moulin returned to France with three missions. The first, codenamed "Rex," which would also be one of his noms de guerre (pseudonyms), was to develop a propaganda machine. Second, he was to initiate the creation of military cells in each of the resistance movements. Third, Moulin was to unite the action of the various, often conflicting independent resistance movements under the authority of General de Gaulle, leader of the Free French.

Provided with funds and protected by a double cover—as a farmer from Saint Andiol and as an employee of an art gallery in Nice—Moulin parachuted back into France near Avignon on the night of 1 January 1942. From Lyon, where he made his headquarters, he succeeded in rallying the major groups behind the Free French. He organized the distribution of funds, coordinated air operations, and set up a system of communications through various organizations such as Wireless Transmissions (WT), Service des Opérations Aériennes et Maritimes (Air and Naval Operations Service, SOAM), Bureau d'Information et de Presse (Press and Information Agency, BIP), and ComitéGénéral des Études (General Study Committee, CGE).

In mid-May 1942 Moulin brought together the paramilitary units, creating the Armée Secrète (Secret Army, AS), placing it under the authority of General Charles Delestraint. In October 1942 Moulin set up a committee that coordinated the actions of the three major resistance movements in the southern zone—Combat, Libération, and Franc-Tireur—with himself at its head. Soon thereafter, in January 1943, this coordinating group was supplanted by a solid administrative arm, the Comité directeur des Mouvements Unis de la Résistance (United Resistance Movements, MUR), also with Moulin as leader; the development occurred separately from any decisions made by La France Combattante (Fighting France), as the movement led by de Gaulle was now called.

During a second visit to London in February and March 1943, Moulin was appointed the sole permanent representative of General de Gaulle and the French National Liberation Committee for the whole of occupied France. Back in Paris, after complex talks he established on 27 May 1943 the Conseil National de la Résistance (National Council of the Resistance, CNR). This brought together not only the representatives of the eight major paramilitary and civilian resistance movements but also representatives of the two major unions as well as six political parties. The CNR was the "embryo of national representation" according to André Philip, the representative of the Resistance in London, which recognized General de Gaulle's authority and reinforced his legitimacy with the allies.

All these achievements could not help but create tensions among the various protagonists. Moulin's authority—he was accused of being autocratic—was often contested by movement leaders. He was both the delegate of the National Liberation Committee in London and the most important figure in the central organization of the Resistance in occupied France. Criticisms made against him were often directed toward decisions that had been made in London and through him were intended to contest de Gaulle's authority.

THE CALUIRE AFFAIR

Starting in May 1943 came a succession of arrests. The imprisonment of General Delestraint left the Secret Army without its head, and Jean Multon, alias Lunel, cooperated with the German Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service, SD) after his arrest. Representatives of various resistance groups set up a summit meeting in Caluire. There agents of Klaus Barbie captured Moulin as well as seven other leaders on 21 June 1943. The Gestapo quickly identified Moulin as the famous "Max," as he was also known. He was severely tortured and survived just two weeks. The Germans failed to make him talk. The exact circumstances of his death, which probably occurred during his transfer to Germany, are not known.

Much has been written about the Caluire affair, and the issue of who was responsible for the arrests of 21 June was bitterly debated and discussed, fueling and in some cases reviving the political and personal hostilities that had contaminated the relationships among resistance leaders. René Hardy, close to Henri Frenay, the chief of Combat, was at the center of these polemics. Hardy himself had been arrested by the Gestapo on 7 June 1943 but succeeded in escaping. Two weeks later, though uninvited, he attended the meeting at Caluire and was again arrested—and once more he escaped. Some leaders denounced him as a traitor, while others defended him. Hardy was acquitted twice at trial, on 24 January 1947 and again on 8 May 1950. Although the details of his role remain uncertain, today it seems established that he bears at least partial responsibility.

On the occasion of the ceremonial transfer of Moulin's ashes to the Panthéon in Paris, André Malraux, in a particularly moving speech, recalled that witnesses said Moulin had been savagely beaten about the face before his death. Malraux evoked "the poor face of the last day, the lips that did not speak," and added, "that day, there was the face of France."

See alsoBarbie, Klaus; Gaulle, Charles de; Resistance; World War II.