French Resistance survivor on Jean Moulin
Raymond Aubrac, 97, is France's last survivor from the senior ranks of the wartime Resistance. He tells Hugh Schofield the story of how he first met the Resistance leader Jean Moulin.
In 1942 Moulin was sent by General de Gaulle to organise the anti-German underground. For a year and a half he travelled incognito around occupied France, using the pseudonyms Rex then Max.
But the end came on June 21, 1943 at a doctor's house in Caluire, a suburb of Lyon. A clandestine meeting of Resistance leaders had been called to make arrangements following the arrest of a senior colleague. But someone had tipped off the Gestapo and its notorious local chief Klaus Barbie. Moulin was arrested with seven others, and after prolonged torture he died on a train to Berlin.
Raymond Aubrac walked with Jean Moulin across Lyon to take part in that ill-fated meeting - and stood next to him in the doctor's waiting-room as they were handcuffed by Barbie's men.
27 Jan 2012
- From the section Magazine