On June 21, 1943, Jean Moulin was arrested.
–
The head of the National Council of the Resistance has an appointment at 2:30 p.m. in the house of Doctor Frédéric Dugoujon, in Caluire-et-Cuire, not far from Lyon.
There he is to meet the main military officials of the Resistance organizations in the southern zone.
The purpose of the meeting is to name the replacement for General Delestraint, head of the Secret Army, arrested a few days earlier in Paris.
At 2:30 p.m., the first five officials arrived on the scene. As agreed, they are greeted by the doctor’s housekeeper, Marguerite Brossier, and send her the password: “We have come from Monsieur Lassagne.”
Jean Moulin is 30 minutes late. He is accompanied by two other men.
The three resisters forget to give the password to Marguerite, who then confuses them with simple patients. She sets them up in the waiting room on the ground floor.
The arrest by the Gestapo
Barely a quarter of an hour passed when the Gestapo, led by Klaus Barbie, burst into the home.
They arrest everyone, but one of the resistance fighters manages to escape, it is René Hardy, alias Didot, member of the Combat movement.
The Germans shoot him several times, but he disappears in the wild.
Jean Moulin, who was one of the prisoners, died of torture on July 8, 1943, probably at Metz or Frankfurt station, during his transfer by train to Berlin which took him to the concentration camps.
Who denounced Jean Moulin?
A mystery then remains. Who denounced Jean Moulin and the rest of the gang?
For many, including former companions of the resistance, it is René Hardy. The ease with which he escaped surprises many.
But other of his comrades, like Raymond Aubrac, leader of the paramilitary groups of the “Liberation” movement, present that day, doubt his betrayal.
René Hardy was tried twice after the war, in 1947 and in 1950. Bleached both times, for the benefit of the doubt, he died in 1987, in his 76th year.
Even today, the doubt persists and we do not know exactly who denounced Jean Moulin.
–
