Fort Mont-Valérien
Encyclopedia
Suresnes
Suresnes is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The nearest communes are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt...
a western Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
suburb, built in 1841 as part of the city's ring of modern fortifications. It overlooks the Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine...
.
History
The fortress defended Paris during the Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, and remained the strongest fortress protecting the city, withstanding artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
bombardments that lasted several months. The surrender of the fortress was one of the main clauses of the armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
signed by the Government of National Defense
Government of National Defense
Le Gouvernement de la Défense Nationale, or The Government of National Defence, was the first Government of the Third Republic of France from September 4, 1870, to February 13, 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War, formed after the Emperor Louis Napoleon III was captured by the Prussian army. The...
with Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
on 17 January 1871, allowing the Germans to occupy the strongest part of Paris' defences in exchange for shipments of food into the starving city.
Colonel Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry , French Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897 involved in the Dreyfus affair. Arrested for having forged evidence against Alfred Dreyfus, he was found dead in his prison cell...
of army intelligence, a key player in the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
, was confined at the prison of Mont-Valérien in 1898. The day after being confined, 31 August 1898, he cut his throat with a razor that had been left in his possession, taking to the grave his secret and that of a great part of the affaire Dreyfus. (See Resolution of the Dreyfus Affair
Resolution of the Dreyfus Affair
-Trial of Esterhazy for forgery:On the same day as this arrest the examining magistrate Bertulus, disregarding the threats and entreaties directed at him, on his own initiative sent Major Esterhazy and his mistress, Marguerite Pays, to prison on the charge of forgery and of using forgeries...
.)
During the Second World War, the fortress was used, from 1940 to 1944, as a prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
and place of executions by the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
occupiers of Paris. The Germans brought prisoners here in trucks from other locations. The prisoners were temporarily confined in a disused chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
, and later taken to be shot in a clearing a hundred metres away. The bodies were then buried in various cemeteries
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in the Paris area.
Notable people executed by the Nazis at Mont-Valérien
- Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'OrvesHenri Honoré d'Estienne d'OrvesHenri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves was a French Navy officer, reputed "first martyr of Free France" and one of the major heroes of the French Resistance.-Early life:...
, 29 August 1941 - Gabriel PériGabriel PériGabriel Péri was a prominent French Communist journalist and politician, and member of the French Resistance. He was executed by Nazi-occupied France during World War II.-Early life:Péri was born in Toulon to a Corsican family...
, 15 December 1941 - Seven members of the French ResistanceFrench ResistanceThe French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
Groupe du musée de l'HommeGroupe du musée de l'HommeThe Groupe du musée de l'Homme was a movement in the French resistance to the Nazi occupation during the Second World War....
were executed by firing squad on 23 February 1942: Boris VildéBoris VildéBoris Vildé was a linguist and ethnographer at the Musée de l'Homme, in Paris, France. He specialised in polar civilizations. He was born in St. Petersburg into a family of Eastern orthodox Russians. His family moved to Tartu, Estonia in 1919...
, Anatole LewitskyAnatole LewitskyAnatole Lewitsky was a French anthropologist and member of the French Resistance in World War II. He was head of the European-Asiatic department at the Musée de l'Homme, and a world authority on Siberian shamanism....
, Pierre Walter, Leon-Maurice Nordmann, Georges Ithier, Jules Andrieu and René Sénéchal - Missak ManouchianMissak ManouchianMissak Manouchian was a French poet of Armenian birth, a militant communist in the MOI , and military commissioner of the FTP-MOI in the Paris region...
, Joseph BoczovJoseph BoczovJoseph Boczov or József Boczor, aka Ferenc Wolff , was a chemical engineer, Hungarian Jew, and volunteer fighter for the French liberation army FTP-MOI. In 1942 Boczov founded and led the 4th detachment, called the dérailleurs, as they specialized in derailing trains...
, Léon GoldbergLéon GoldbergLéon Goldberg, called "Julien" was a Polish Jew and volunteer fighter in the French Liberation army FTP-MOI in the Manouchian Group.- Youth :...
, Thomas ElekThomas ElekThomas Elek, also known as Támas Elek and KERPAL was one of the members of the French resistance executed at the fort of Mont Valérien as a member of the Manouchian Group, a volunteer of the French liberation army FTP-MOI...
and nineteen other members of the Affiche RougeAffiche RougeThe Affiche Rouge is a famous propaganda poster, distributed by Vichy French and German authorities in the spring of 1944 in occupied Paris, to discredit 23 French Resistance fighters, members of the Manouchian Group...
group, 21 February 1944 - Joseph EpsteinJoseph Epstein (French Resistance leader)Joseph Epstein , also known as Colonel Gilles and as Joseph Andrej, was a Polish-born Jewish communist activist and a French Resistance leader during World War II. He was executed by the Germans.-Communist organizer:Joseph Epstein was born in Zamość, Congress Poland. He studied law at Warsaw...
, 11 April 1944
Fort Mont-Valérien as a Memorial
The site now serves as a national memorial. On 18 June 1945, Charles de GaulleCharles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
consecrated the site in a public ceremony. There is an American military cemetery on the site, the resting place of 1541 American soldiers, who gave their lives in France during the First World War.
Today, the area in front of the "Mémorial de la France Combattante", a reminder of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
against the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
occupation forces, has been named Square Abbé Franz Stock
Franz Stock
Abbé Franz Stock was a German Roman Catholic priest. He is known for ministering to prisoners in France during World War II, and to German prisoners of war in the years following.- Early life :...
. During the German occupation, Stock took care of condemned prisoners here, and he mentioned 863 executions at Mont-Valérien in his diary.