Guy Môquet
Guy Môquet (26 April 1924 – 22
October 1941) was a young French Communist militant. During the German
occupation of France during World War II, he was taken hostage by the Nazis and
executed by firing squad in retaliation for attacks on Germans by the French
Resistance. Môquet went down in history as one of the symbols of the French
Resistance.
Guy Prosper Eustache Môquet was
born on 26 April 1924 in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. He studied at the
Lycée Carnot and joined the Communist Youth Movement. After the occupation of
Paris by the Germans and the installation of the Vichy government, he was
denounced on 13 October 1940 and arrested at the Gare de l'Est metro station by
three police officers of the French Anti-Communist Special Brigade. Imprisoned
in Fresnes Prison, then in Clairvaux, he was later transferred to the camp at
Châteaubriant, where other Communist militants were detained.
On 20 October 1941, the
commanding officer of the German occupation forces in Loire-Atlantique, Karl
Hotz, was assassinated by three communist resisters. Pierre Pucheu, Interior
Minister of the government of Marshal Philippe Pétain, chose Communist
prisoners to be given as hostages "in order to avoid letting 50 good
French people get shot." His selection comprised 18 imprisoned in Nantes,
27 at Châteaubriant, and 5 from Nantes who were imprisoned in Paris.
Two days later, the 27 prisoners
at Châteaubriant were shot in three groups. They refused blindfolds, and died
crying out "Vive la France" ("Long live France"). Guy
Môquet, the youngest, was executed at 4 pm.
Before being shot, Môquet had
written a letter to his parents. This letter has become famous, especially when
it is put in relation with his political activism. His younger brother, Serge –
12 years old at the time – was traumatised by Guy's death and survived him only
by a few days.
Legacy Guy Môquet was
arrested in 1940 distributing propaganda against the war. This policy reversed
after resistance appeared as the only way to fight Nazism directly inside
France, and after resistance movements started gaining strength (about the same
time as Charles de Gaulle's appeal of 18 June 1940). The Communist party
offered itself as the leader of French resistance to German occupation and
internal French Nazi forces. Postwar propaganda argued that the French
Communist Party deserved every patriotic Frenchman's support because of the
heroism of its Resistance heroes and Môquet was one of those thus celebrated,
not least because of his now famous and very moving last letter before his
execution. This ideal was embraced in France for several decades after the war.
The PCF is commonly referred to as the "party of the 75,000 executed
people". A street and a Métro station in Paris were named after him in
1946. Many other place names across France also bear his name and Châteaubriant
dedicated a high school to him. Louis Aragon dedicated to him, along
with three other resistants (Gabriel Péri, Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves, and
Gilbert Dru, all together two Christians and two Communists), his poem "La
rose et le réséda." This poem contained the line "Celui qui croyait
au Ciel / Celui qui n’y croyait pas". (He who believed in Heaven / He who
believed not, those who believed in heaven being the resistants who believed in
an ideal of justice). Guy Môquet was portrayed in a short film in French, La
lettre ("The letter"), released in 2007, with the title role played
by Jean-Baptiste Maunier. Môquet is also one of the principal characters in the
2011 film Calm at Sea, which depicts the events that culminated in the
execution of the hostages. Môquet is portrayed by Léo-Paul Salmain.
The last letter " My
darling Mummy, my adored brother, my much loved Daddy, I am going to die! What
I ask of you, especially you Mummy, is to be brave. I am, and I want to be, as
brave as all those who have gone before me. Of course, I would have preferred
to live. But what I wish with all my heart is that my death serves a purpose. I
didn’t have time to embrace Jean. I embraced my two brothers Roger and Rino. As
for my real brother, I cannot embrace him, alas! I hope all my clothes will be
sent back to you. They might be of use to Serge, I trust he will be proud to
wear them one day. To you, my Daddy to whom I have given many worries, as well
as to my Mummy, I say goodbye for the last time. Know that I did my best to
follow the path that you laid out for me. A last adieu to all my friends, to my
brother whom I love very much. May he study hard to become a man later on.
Seventeen and a half years, my life has been short, I have no regrets, if only
that of leaving you all. I am going to die with Tintin, Michels. Mummy, what I
ask you, what I want you to promise me, is to be brave and to overcome your
sorrow. I cannot put any more. I am leaving you all, Mummy, Serge, Daddy, I
embrace you with all my child’s heart. Be brave! Your Guy who loves you. "
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