Pierre Brossolette
Encyclopedia
Pierre Brossolette was a French journalist, left-wing politician, a top leader and major hero of French Resistance
.
Pierre ranked first at the entrance examination to the prestigious École Normale Supérieure
, and throughout his education held the title of "cacique
" which was internally attributed to the most brilliant student, ahead of intellectuals such as philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch
and two years before Jean-Paul Sartre
and Raymond Aron
. In 1925 he graduated second to Georges Bidault
after a small scandal on the dissertation themes for the final examination. His passion for history had led him to choose this "agrégation
" instead of the more usual and prestigious philosophy one. During this time he married Gilberte Bruel and had two children, Anne and Claude.
Instead of pursuing an academic career like most normaliens, he longed for action and decided to enter journalism and politics. He joined the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
(SFIO), the main socialist party, in 1929, adhered to the LDH
and LICA league and entered freemasonry. He worked as a journalist for Notre Temps, L'Europe Nouvelle, the party newspaper Le Populaire and the state-owned Radio PTT but was fired when he violently opposed the Munich Agreement
on air in 1939. In his newspaper columns, Brossolette had evolved from a resolute pacifist and europeanist, after Aristide Briand
's ideals, to a denunciator of both fascism and communism.
, when the Vichy regime forbade him to teach, Brossolette and his wife opened a bookstore at rue de la Pompe
near Lycée Janson-de-Sailly. The bookstore became an intelligence hub of Parisian resistance where documents, such as Renault
factory plans used for its bombing, were exchanged.
He was a popular voice on the radio before the war and his chronicles on Hitler's rise led to being blacklisted early in the 1930s by the Nazis. It did not take long before he was approached by his friend Agnès Humbert
and introduced to Jean Cassou
and the Groupe du musée de l'Homme
, the very first resistance network. He just had time to produce the last issue of the newsletter Résistance before narrowly escaping its dismantlement.
By then assuming a pivotal role in the ZO (Zone Occupée) Resistance, Bossolette coordinated contacts between groups such as Libération-Nord
from Christian Pineau
, Organisation Civile et Militaire
(OCM) and Comité d'Action Socialiste (CAS). He finally obtained a liaison with London and General Charles de Gaulle
when he was hired by conservative Gilbert Renault
a.k.a. Colonel Rémy as press and propaganda manager of Confrérie Notre-Dame
(CND), by then the most important network in northern France..
In April 1942, Brossolette met De Gaulle in London as representative of the ZO Resistance and was hired to work on bringing political credibility to De Gaulle to back his recognition as the only Free French Forces
leader by the Allies in his feud against Henri Giraud
in Algiers. At the same time, he was promoted to major (commandant) and awarded Compagnon de la Libération.
Brossolette created the civilian arm of the BCRAM intelligence service, which became the Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action (BCRA), in liaison with the RF section of the British side, Special Operations Executive
(SOE). Strong ties of camaraderie were forged between Brossolette (codenamed Brumaire), BCRA's chief André Dewavrin
(codenamed Arquebuse, a.k.a. Colonel Passy) and SOE's Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas (codenamed Shelley, a.k.a. The White Rabbit).
The three friends were sent on a mission to France and united, under the CCZN (Comité de Coordination de Zone Nord), the various ZO Resistance groups which had been thoroughly divided by political views, including the communist-led Front National
(mission Arquebuse-Brumaire), and were thus instrumental in the merging with the ZL (Zone Libre) Resistance similarly united by Jean Moulin
under the MUR
. This led to the creation of the Conseil National de la Résistance
(CNR) by Moulin through the addition of the political parties and unions, and ultimately to De Gaulle's unequivocal recognition as Free France's political representative to the Allies.
During this time, Pierre Brossolette resumed his radio chronicles on BBC with high-profile speeches to the "army of shadows", replacing Maurice Schumann
as anchor (38 times). In a speech at the Albert Hall on June 18, 1943, he famously praised the soutiers de la gloire (or "stokers of glory") in a reference to the fallen anonymous soldiers and resistants. Brossolette also resumed his newspaper work through a series of articles on France's situation, including one in La Marseillaise considered by many to be the doctrinal founding of the Gaullisme movement.
and was considered an up-and-coming star of the SFIO party, running elections on his Troyes (Champagne) base. He assumed cabinet functions during the Front Populaire
government and as a political pundit on official Radio-PTT he was considered the de facto foreign policy spokesman of the socialist government. Already calling for deep rejuvenation of the political class before the war, he attributed French defeat in 1940 to the corrupt political system of the Third Republic.
As he politically structured the Parisian resistance, Brossolette succeeded in convincing the network leaders to create a temporary Resistance Party under De Gaulle's leadership after the war, focused on promoting ambitious social transformations while avoiding the predictable enmity and chaos of post-Liberation times. This political and social plan, including nationalisations and price controls, inspired the March 1944 Conseil national de la Résistance
program and was implemented after war.
Brossolette's criticism of the old parliamentarian system, together with the role of communist networks inside the CNR, became the main point of disagreement with his southern counterpart Jean Moulin
. His desire to disband all the old parties through a complete reshuffle of ideological lines logically brought him into conflict with the party leaders. As a result, he was excluded from the newly-reconstituted SFIO party by Daniel Mayer and Gaston Defferre
a few days before being arrested, although the decision to remove him from the party was never enforced and was actually forgotten.
Despite this, most of his ideas were implemented in 1958 when De Gaulle created the Fifth Republic and established a presidentialist system based around his RPF party. However, De Gaulle was pushed in the short term to decide in favour of Jean Moulin's proposal as he still struggled to show the Allies that he was not a dictator. Brossolette's ideas of a Resistance party raised many opponents' fears of a "bonapartian" drift, especially among fellow socialists in London. Hence the French Fourth Republic eventually reverted to the a pre-war system.
During his last missions, Brossolette worked on creating a new party that could be the major force of the left. He was inspired by the British Labour party, utilizing a non-Marxist or, at least, reformist approach (thus effectively challenging the French Socialist Party). For that, he spent his last days writing an ambitious critique of Marx's political philosophy as a by-product of XVIIIth century rationalism that would provide the theoretical framework for this party. Unfortunately, at the time of his arrest the manuscripts were thrown overboard at sea over Brittany shores.
services after Jean Moulin's death and despite De Gaulle's clear reluctance to appoint him as substitute CNR chief. He escaped arrest many times and was summoned to return to Britain by late 1943 to introduce the newly-appointed CNR chief, Émile Bollaert, to De Gaulle. The bad winter weather cancelled many Lysander
exfiltration attempts (conducted only under moonlight) or Lysanders would be shot down as in a December attempt, so in February 1944, they decided to return by boat from Brittany. But the vessel, hit by a storm, shipwrecked at Pointe du Raz
. They managed to reach the coast and to be hidden by local Resistance, but were betrayed by a local woman at a checkpoint.
Bollaert and Brossolette were not identified and were kept imprisoned in Rennes for weeks. Yeo-Thomas, when informed of Brossolette's capture, decided to be immediately parachuted onto the continent and organize his escape. But they were recognized before the planned action and taken to the Gestapo HQ
on Avenue Foch
by senior SD
officer Ernst Misselwitz in person on March 19. It was recently confirmed that he was identified by an uncoded report from CNR's Claude Bouchinet-Serreules and Jacques Bingen intercepted at the Pyrenees.
s over a two and a half day period. On March 22, while he was left alone and recovered some consciousness, he threw himself through the window of the garret room of the HQ's sixth floor. Since he had not swallowed his cyanide capsule when captured in Rennes, he was afraid of implicating others and probably chose to silence himself. There was a widespread belief among resistants that it was difficult, if not impossible, not to speak under torture.
He died later in the evening at La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital and, on March 24, was cremated at Père-Lachaise without being identified. His ashes were kept with those of another resistant, François Delimal, and both urns remain unnamed.
by communists). Brossolette's fame was helped by his media notoriety before the war on Radio-PTT and on wartime BBC emissions, his networking role that made his name or codename known and remembered over almost every Resistance member in northern France and by flattering early accounts of BCRA's chief Passy in his memoirs. Although, he had also created, through his independent position and sarcastic wit, many enemies among party leaders, Gaullists and communists that survived him.
De Gaulle himself thought otherwise and as he started writing his memoirs on 1954 and later assumed power, he attributed the main leading role to his representative Jean Moulin rather than field leaders as De Gaulle emphasized the top-down unification work that objectively allowed him to be recognized by the Allies. This was formalized in 1964 by the transfer of Moulin's ashes to the Panthéon
, and backed by an emotional speech by André Malraux
.
With time, Brossolette was relegated to a second place and became the hero of his party SFIO while Moulin came to symbolize the myth of the French Resistance unity while the country struggled with the Algerian war and as De Gaulle tried to avoid civil war calling for union while noticing the growing popular clout of the Resistance legend on the postwar imagination.
Later, Brossolette's memory suffered another blow when the 1981 elected socialist president François Mitterrand
chose to honour Moulin at a Panthéon investiture ceremony instead of rehabilitating Brossolette's role. This further enhanced his relegation - even inside the socialist political family, as evidenced by the modest celebrations of his birth centenary in 2003 and the SFIO/PS centenary. Since then, he has been fairly better remembered than heroes such as Bingen, Jean Cavaillès
or Berty Albrecht
or important leaders such as Henri Frenay
, but overall eclipsed by Moulin's popularity.
In Paris, a small street in the Quartier Latin between Rue Érasme and Rue Calvin
, near École Normale Supérieure, was christened Rue Pierre-Brossolette in 1944 as among the very few celebrating a 20th century person, together with Pierre and Marie Curie
. A notable exception is Lyon, probably illustrating the rivalries between the two Zones as conversely no street in Paris had been christened after Jean Moulin until 1965.
Buildings in Paris such as the former bookstore and nearby Lycée Janson de Sailly's court at Rue de la Pompe
, the residence at Rue de Grenelle, his birthplace at rue Michel-Ange, the Maison de Radio France and the Ministry of the Interior's court at Rue des Saussaies
all feature commemorative plaques and his name is mentioned on a floor plaque at the Panthéon. Brossolette's ashes are currently kept at the columbarium of Père Lachaise Cemetery
(urns 3902 or 3913).
In Narbonne plage
, a unique aeolian memorial attests to his popularity in the early postwar years and marks the place of his exfiltration by felucca
Seadog. In Saint-Saëns, a stele commemorates the first Lysander exfiltration to London and nearby Plogoff
another marks the failed Brittany exfiltration attempt.
Brossolette was also featured in the first series of postage stamps of Resistance heroes by French PTT in 1957.
The Saint-Cyr
Military Academy ROTC Class of 2004 was christened after Brossolette, and a class song was created for the occasion. The Grande Loge de France, the main French masonic lodge, named its cultural circle after Condorcet-Brossolette.
and see this wonderful movie [ Gone with the Wind
]" - to Jean-Pierre Melville in front of Ritz Theater in London, adapted in the same location to Luc Jardie, interpreted by Paul Meurisse in the movie Army of Shadows produced in 1969.
"Mon Général, (...) There are times when someone must have the courage to say out loud what others whisper behind your back with weeping faces. There are subjects on which you do not tolerate any contradiction, let alone any debate. Moreover, these subjects are generally those in which your position is most emotional, i.e. precisely those on which you would have great interest in being tested against other people's reactions (...) Among your entourage, the not-so-good only go after your approval; the worst make a policy of coaxing you; the best soon cease to readily offer themselves to discussion. You end up reaching the situation, restful amid your daily worries, where you no longer meet anything but flattering assentment. But you know as well as me where this path has led others than you in history, and where it risks to lead yourself " - letter to General de Gaulle, 1942
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...
.
Education and journalism
Pierre Brossolette was born in Paris, France to a family deeply involved in the fights for laic schools in early 20th century France. His father was Léon Brossolette, General Inspector for Primary Education, and was the nephew of Francisque Vial, Director of Secondary Education, responsible for making secondary education free in France.Pierre ranked first at the entrance examination to the prestigious École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
, and throughout his education held the title of "cacique
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
" which was internally attributed to the most brilliant student, ahead of intellectuals such as philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch
Vladimir Jankélévitch
Vladimir Jankélévitch was a French philosopher and musicologist.- Biography :Jankélévitch was the son of Russian Jewish parents, who had emigrated to France....
and two years before Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
and Raymond Aron
Raymond Aron
Raymond-Claude-Ferdinand Aron was a French philosopher, sociologist, journalist and political scientist.He is best known for his 1955 book The Opium of the Intellectuals, the title of which inverts Karl Marx's claim that religion was the opium of the people -- in contrast, Aron argued that in...
. In 1925 he graduated second to Georges Bidault
Georges Bidault
Georges-Augustin Bidault was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions before he joined the Organisation armée secrète.-Early life:...
after a small scandal on the dissertation themes for the final examination. His passion for history had led him to choose this "agrégation
Agrégation
In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...
" instead of the more usual and prestigious philosophy one. During this time he married Gilberte Bruel and had two children, Anne and Claude.
Instead of pursuing an academic career like most normaliens, he longed for action and decided to enter journalism and politics. He joined the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
The French Section of the Workers' International , founded in 1905, was a French socialist political party, designed as the local section of the Second International...
(SFIO), the main socialist party, in 1929, adhered to the LDH
Human Rights League (France)
The Human Rights League of France, is a Human Rights NGO founded on 4 June 1898 by the republican Ludovic Trarieux to defend captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew wrongly convicted for treason - this would be known as the Dreyfus Affair...
and LICA league and entered freemasonry. He worked as a journalist for Notre Temps, L'Europe Nouvelle, the party newspaper Le Populaire and the state-owned Radio PTT but was fired when he violently opposed the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
on air in 1939. In his newspaper columns, Brossolette had evolved from a resolute pacifist and europeanist, after Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
's ideals, to a denunciator of both fascism and communism.
Resistance
When World War II broke out, he joined the army as a lieutenant of the 5e RI regiment and, before the fall of France, reached the rank of captain receiving two citations for the French War Cross for having retreated his battalion in an orderly way. After the ArmisticeArmistice
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...
, when the Vichy regime forbade him to teach, Brossolette and his wife opened a bookstore at rue de la Pompe
Rue de la Pompe
Rue de la Pompe is a street in Paris, France, which was named after the pump which served water to the castle of Muette. With a length of 1690 metres, Rue de la Pompe is one of the longest streets in the XVIe arrondissement...
near Lycée Janson-de-Sailly. The bookstore became an intelligence hub of Parisian resistance where documents, such as Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
factory plans used for its bombing, were exchanged.
He was a popular voice on the radio before the war and his chronicles on Hitler's rise led to being blacklisted early in the 1930s by the Nazis. It did not take long before he was approached by his friend Agnès Humbert
Agnès Humbert
Agnès Humbert was an art historian, ethnographer and a member of the French Resistance during World War II.- Early life :...
and introduced to Jean Cassou
Jean Cassou
Jean Cassou was a French writer, art critic, poet and member of the French Resistance during World War II.- Biography :Jean Cassou was born at Deusto, near Bilbao,...
and the Groupe du musée de l'Homme
Groupe du musée de l'Homme
The Groupe du musée de l'Homme was a movement in the French resistance to the Nazi occupation during the Second World War....
, the very first resistance network. He just had time to produce the last issue of the newsletter Résistance before narrowly escaping its dismantlement.
By then assuming a pivotal role in the ZO (Zone Occupée) Resistance, Bossolette coordinated contacts between groups such as Libération-Nord
Libération-Nord
Libération-Nord was one of the principal resistance movements in the northern occupied zone of France during the Second World War.It was one of the eight great networks to make up the National Council of the Resistance.- History :...
from Christian Pineau
Christian Pineau
Christian Pineau was a noted French Resistance fighter.He was born in Chaumont-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne, France and died in Paris.His father-in-law was the writer Jean Giraudoux, who was married to Pineau's mother...
, Organisation Civile et Militaire
Organisation civile et militaire
The Organisation civile et militaire was one of the great movements of the French Resistance in the zone occupée, the northern German-occupied region of France, during the Second World War....
(OCM) and Comité d'Action Socialiste (CAS). He finally obtained a liaison with London and General Charles de Gaulle
Charles 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....
when he was hired by conservative Gilbert Renault
Gilbert Renault
Gilbert Renault was known during the French Resistance under the name Colonel Rémy. He is one of the most famous secret agents of occupied France during the Second World war, and was known under various pseudonyms such as Raymond, Jean-Luc, Morin, Watteau, Roulier, Beauce and...
a.k.a. Colonel Rémy as press and propaganda manager of Confrérie Notre-Dame
Confrérie de Notre Dame
The Confrérie Notre-Dame , later called the CND-Castille, was a French resistance group founded by Colonel Rémy. It was joined by other anti-Nazi Catholics from France.-History:...
(CND), by then the most important network in northern France..
In April 1942, Brossolette met De Gaulle in London as representative of the ZO Resistance and was hired to work on bringing political credibility to De Gaulle to back his recognition as the only Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
leader by the Allies in his feud against Henri Giraud
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud was a French general who fought in World War I and World War II. Captured in both wars, he escaped each time....
in Algiers. At the same time, he was promoted to major (commandant) and awarded Compagnon de la Libération.
Brossolette created the civilian arm of the BCRAM intelligence service, which became the Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action (BCRA), in liaison with the RF section of the British side, Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE). Strong ties of camaraderie were forged between Brossolette (codenamed Brumaire), BCRA's chief André Dewavrin
André Dewavrin
Andre Dewavrin was a French officer who served with Free French Forces intelligence services during World War II.He was born in Paris, the son of a businessman...
(codenamed Arquebuse, a.k.a. Colonel Passy) and SOE's Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas (codenamed Shelley, a.k.a. The White Rabbit).
The three friends were sent on a mission to France and united, under the CCZN (Comité de Coordination de Zone Nord), the various ZO Resistance groups which had been thoroughly divided by political views, including the communist-led Front National
Front National (French Resistance)
The National Front was a World War II French Resistance movement, created in 1941 by Jacques Duclos and Pierre Villon, both members of the French Communist Party...
(mission Arquebuse-Brumaire), and were thus instrumental in the merging with the ZL (Zone Libre) Resistance similarly united by Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin was a high-profile member of the French Resistance during World War II. He is remembered today as an emblem of the Resistance primarily due to his role in unifying the French resistance under de Gaulle and his courage and death at the hands of the Germans.-Before the war:Moulin was...
under the MUR
Mouvements Unis de la Résistance
Mouvements Unis de la Résistance was a French Resistance organisation, resulting from the regrouping of three major Resistance movements in January 1943 and also the merger of the military arms of these movements within the Armée secrète . Its committee was headed by Jean Moulin...
. This led to the creation of the Conseil National de la Résistance
Conseil National de la Résistance
The Conseil National de la Résistance or the National Council of the Resistance is the body that directed and coordinated the different movements of the French Resistance - the press, trade unions, and members of political parties hostile to the Vichy regime, starting from...
(CNR) by Moulin through the addition of the political parties and unions, and ultimately to De Gaulle's unequivocal recognition as Free France's political representative to the Allies.
During this time, Pierre Brossolette resumed his radio chronicles on BBC with high-profile speeches to the "army of shadows", replacing Maurice Schumann
Maurice Schumann
Maurice Schumann was a French politician, journalist, writer, and hero of the Second World War who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Georges Pompidou in the 1960s and 1970s...
as anchor (38 times). In a speech at the Albert Hall on June 18, 1943, he famously praised the soutiers de la gloire (or "stokers of glory") in a reference to the fallen anonymous soldiers and resistants. Brossolette also resumed his newspaper work through a series of articles on France's situation, including one in La Marseillaise considered by many to be the doctrinal founding of the Gaullisme movement.
Politics
In addition to journalism, Pierre Brossolette was also a politician. He was a protégé of Léon BlumLéon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
and was considered an up-and-coming star of the SFIO party, running elections on his Troyes (Champagne) base. He assumed cabinet functions during the Front Populaire
Front Populaire
Front Populaire can refer to:* Popular Front * People's Front...
government and as a political pundit on official Radio-PTT he was considered the de facto foreign policy spokesman of the socialist government. Already calling for deep rejuvenation of the political class before the war, he attributed French defeat in 1940 to the corrupt political system of the Third Republic.
As he politically structured the Parisian resistance, Brossolette succeeded in convincing the network leaders to create a temporary Resistance Party under De Gaulle's leadership after the war, focused on promoting ambitious social transformations while avoiding the predictable enmity and chaos of post-Liberation times. This political and social plan, including nationalisations and price controls, inspired the March 1944 Conseil national de la Résistance
Conseil National de la Résistance
The Conseil National de la Résistance or the National Council of the Resistance is the body that directed and coordinated the different movements of the French Resistance - the press, trade unions, and members of political parties hostile to the Vichy regime, starting from...
program and was implemented after war.
Brossolette's criticism of the old parliamentarian system, together with the role of communist networks inside the CNR, became the main point of disagreement with his southern counterpart Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin was a high-profile member of the French Resistance during World War II. He is remembered today as an emblem of the Resistance primarily due to his role in unifying the French resistance under de Gaulle and his courage and death at the hands of the Germans.-Before the war:Moulin was...
. His desire to disband all the old parties through a complete reshuffle of ideological lines logically brought him into conflict with the party leaders. As a result, he was excluded from the newly-reconstituted SFIO party by Daniel Mayer and Gaston Defferre
Gaston Defferre
Gaston Defferre was a French socialist politician.-Biography:Lawyer and member of the French Section of the Workers' International political party, he was a member of the Brutus Network, a Resistance Socialist group during World War II...
a few days before being arrested, although the decision to remove him from the party was never enforced and was actually forgotten.
Despite this, most of his ideas were implemented in 1958 when De Gaulle created the Fifth Republic and established a presidentialist system based around his RPF party. However, De Gaulle was pushed in the short term to decide in favour of Jean Moulin's proposal as he still struggled to show the Allies that he was not a dictator. Brossolette's ideas of a Resistance party raised many opponents' fears of a "bonapartian" drift, especially among fellow socialists in London. Hence the French Fourth Republic eventually reverted to the a pre-war system.
During his last missions, Brossolette worked on creating a new party that could be the major force of the left. He was inspired by the British Labour party, utilizing a non-Marxist or, at least, reformist approach (thus effectively challenging the French Socialist Party). For that, he spent his last days writing an ambitious critique of Marx's political philosophy as a by-product of XVIIIth century rationalism that would provide the theoretical framework for this party. Unfortunately, at the time of his arrest the manuscripts were thrown overboard at sea over Brittany shores.
Arrest
Brossolette returned to Paris for a third mission to reorganize the Parisian Resistance which was in disarray after successive Gestapo raids, in special by CND's dismantlement. By then, his role and importance was already well known to the GestapoGestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
services after Jean Moulin's death and despite De Gaulle's clear reluctance to appoint him as substitute CNR chief. He escaped arrest many times and was summoned to return to Britain by late 1943 to introduce the newly-appointed CNR chief, Émile Bollaert, to De Gaulle. The bad winter weather cancelled many Lysander
Lysander
Lysander was a Spartan general who commanded the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which defeated the Athenians at Aegospotami in 405 BC...
exfiltration attempts (conducted only under moonlight) or Lysanders would be shot down as in a December attempt, so in February 1944, they decided to return by boat from Brittany. But the vessel, hit by a storm, shipwrecked at Pointe du Raz
Pointe du Raz
The Pointe du Raz is a promontory that extends into the Atlantic from western Brittany, in France. The local Breton name is Beg ar Raz. It is the western point of the commune of Plogoff, Finistère....
. They managed to reach the coast and to be hidden by local Resistance, but were betrayed by a local woman at a checkpoint.
Bollaert and Brossolette were not identified and were kept imprisoned in Rennes for weeks. Yeo-Thomas, when informed of Brossolette's capture, decided to be immediately parachuted onto the continent and organize his escape. But they were recognized before the planned action and taken to the Gestapo HQ
84 Avenue Foch
Number 84 Avenue Foch was a building in Paris used by the Gestapo during the German occupation of Paris in World War II.The location is found on Avenue Foch, a wide residential boulevard in the XVIe arrondissement which connects the Arc de Triomphe and the Porte Dauphine.During the German...
on Avenue Foch
Avenue Foch
Avenue Foch is a street in Paris, France, named after Ferdinand Foch in 1929. It was previously named Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris, and one of the most expensive addresses in the world, home to many grand palaces, including ones belonging to the...
by senior SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
officer Ernst Misselwitz in person on March 19. It was recently confirmed that he was identified by an uncoded report from CNR's Claude Bouchinet-Serreules and Jacques Bingen intercepted at the Pyrenees.
Death
Brossolette was tortured at the Gestapo HQ, enduring severe beatings and waterboardingWaterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...
s over a two and a half day period. On March 22, while he was left alone and recovered some consciousness, he threw himself through the window of the garret room of the HQ's sixth floor. Since he had not swallowed his cyanide capsule when captured in Rennes, he was afraid of implicating others and probably chose to silence himself. There was a widespread belief among resistants that it was difficult, if not impossible, not to speak under torture.
He died later in the evening at La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital and, on March 24, was cremated at Père-Lachaise without being identified. His ashes were kept with those of another resistant, François Delimal, and both urns remain unnamed.
Posterity
Just after the war, Brossolette was considered the main leader of the French Resistance, though many were claimed heroes by their political family (such as Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves by royalists and Gabriel PériGabriel Péri
Gabriel 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...
by communists). Brossolette's fame was helped by his media notoriety before the war on Radio-PTT and on wartime BBC emissions, his networking role that made his name or codename known and remembered over almost every Resistance member in northern France and by flattering early accounts of BCRA's chief Passy in his memoirs. Although, he had also created, through his independent position and sarcastic wit, many enemies among party leaders, Gaullists and communists that survived him.
De Gaulle himself thought otherwise and as he started writing his memoirs on 1954 and later assumed power, he attributed the main leading role to his representative Jean Moulin rather than field leaders as De Gaulle emphasized the top-down unification work that objectively allowed him to be recognized by the Allies. This was formalized in 1964 by the transfer of Moulin's ashes to the Panthéon
Pantheon
-Mythology:* Pantheon , the set of gods belonging to a particular mythology* Pantheon * Pantheon, Rome, now a Catholic church, once a temple to the gods of ancient Rome* Any temple dedicated to an entire pantheon-Other buildings:...
, and backed by an emotional speech by André Malraux
André Malraux
André Malraux DSO was a French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman. Having traveled extensively in Indochina and China, Malraux was noted especially for his novel entitled La Condition Humaine , which won the Prix Goncourt...
.
With time, Brossolette was relegated to a second place and became the hero of his party SFIO while Moulin came to symbolize the myth of the French Resistance unity while the country struggled with the Algerian war and as De Gaulle tried to avoid civil war calling for union while noticing the growing popular clout of the Resistance legend on the postwar imagination.
Later, Brossolette's memory suffered another blow when the 1981 elected socialist president François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
chose to honour Moulin at a Panthéon investiture ceremony instead of rehabilitating Brossolette's role. This further enhanced his relegation - even inside the socialist political family, as evidenced by the modest celebrations of his birth centenary in 2003 and the SFIO/PS centenary. Since then, he has been fairly better remembered than heroes such as Bingen, Jean Cavaillès
Jean Cavailles
Jean Cavaillès , was a French philosopher and mathematician, specialized in philosophy of science. He took part in the French Resistance within the Libération movement and was shot by the Gestapo on February 17, 1944....
or Berty Albrecht
Berty Albrecht
Berty Albrecht was a French Resistance Fighter, born Berthe Wild at Marseille, 15 February 1893. She died in 1943 at Fresnes.-Life:Born into a middle-class Protestant family, she married the Dutch banker Frédéric Albrecht in 1918...
or important leaders such as Henri Frenay
Henri Frenay
Henri Frenay was a French military officer and French resistance member.Henri Frenay was born in Lyon, France on 11 November 1905, into a Catholic family with a military tradition. He studied the Germanic languages at the University of Strasbourg...
, but overall eclipsed by Moulin's popularity.
Homages
In France today Brossolette's name is better known than the man himself or his life achievements, thanks to the great number of streets (over 400, including more than 100 in Greater Paris), schools and public facilities bearing it. His widow Gilberte was prominent in relaying his political ideas. In the 1950s, she was the first woman to enter, and occasionally preside over, the French Senate.In Paris, a small street in the Quartier Latin between Rue Érasme and Rue Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, near École Normale Supérieure, was christened Rue Pierre-Brossolette in 1944 as among the very few celebrating a 20th century person, together with Pierre and Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
. A notable exception is Lyon, probably illustrating the rivalries between the two Zones as conversely no street in Paris had been christened after Jean Moulin until 1965.
Buildings in Paris such as the former bookstore and nearby Lycée Janson de Sailly's court at Rue de la Pompe
Rue de la Pompe
Rue de la Pompe is a street in Paris, France, which was named after the pump which served water to the castle of Muette. With a length of 1690 metres, Rue de la Pompe is one of the longest streets in the XVIe arrondissement...
, the residence at Rue de Grenelle, his birthplace at rue Michel-Ange, the Maison de Radio France and the Ministry of the Interior's court at Rue des Saussaies
Rue des Saussaies
Rue des Saussaies is a short street in the VIIIe arrondissement of Paris that adjoins the Ministry of the Interior. It begins at place Beauvau and finishes at place Saussaies...
all feature commemorative plaques and his name is mentioned on a floor plaque at the Panthéon. Brossolette's ashes are currently kept at the columbarium of Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
(urns 3902 or 3913).
In Narbonne plage
Narbonne plage
Narbonne Plage is a resort on the southern coast of France in the Aude department. It is separated from the city of Narbonne by the limestone massif Montagne de la Clape and lies at its foot....
, a unique aeolian memorial attests to his popularity in the early postwar years and marks the place of his exfiltration by felucca
Felucca
A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean including Malta, and particularly along the Nile in Egypt, Sudan, and also in Iraq. Its rig consists of one or two lateen sails....
Seadog. In Saint-Saëns, a stele commemorates the first Lysander exfiltration to London and nearby Plogoff
Plogoff
Plogoff is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.It contains three small ports suitable for very small vessels: Pors-Loubous, Feunten-Aod and Bestrée...
another marks the failed Brittany exfiltration attempt.
Brossolette was also featured in the first series of postage stamps of Resistance heroes by French PTT in 1957.
The Saint-Cyr
École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr
The École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr is the foremost French military academy. Its official name is . It is often referred to as Saint-Cyr . Its motto is "Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre": literally "They study to vanquish" or "Training for victory"...
Military Academy ROTC Class of 2004 was christened after Brossolette, and a class song was created for the occasion. The Grande Loge de France, the main French masonic lodge, named its cultural circle after Condorcet-Brossolette.
Military honours
- Knight of Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. - First Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 with bronze star (1940).
- Compagnon de la Libération, by decree of October 17, 1942, and named member of Ordre de la LibérationOrdre de la LibérationThe Ordre de la Libération is a French Order awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is an exceptional honor, the second highest after the Légion d’Honneur and only a small number of people and military units have received it, exclusively for deeds accomplished...
Council. - Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with silver-gilt palm (1943)
- Médaille de la RésistanceMédaille de la RésistanceThe French Médaille de la Résistance was awarded by General Charles de Gaulle "to recognise the remarkable acts of faith and of courage that, in France, in the empire and abroad, have contributed to the resistance of the French people against the enemy and against its accomplices since June 18,...
with rosetteRosette (decoration)A rosette is a small, circular device that is presented with a medal. The rosettes are primarily for situations where wearing the medal is deemed inappropriate. Rosettes are issued in nations such as France, Italy and Japan...
.
Operations & Missions
- April 27, 1942 - Saint-Saëns (near Rouen) - 1st exfiltration
- June 3, 1942 - Chalon-sur-Saône - blind dropping (single)
- Operation Leda - Sept. 5th, 1942 - Narbonne - 2nd exfiltration - felucca Seadog
- Operation Atala - Jan. 26th, 1943 - Le Grand-Malleray (near Bourges) - dropping (single)
- Mission Arquebuse-Brumaire - Jan-April 1943
- Operation Liberté/Juliette - April 15, 1943 - 3rd exfiltration - Lysander (w/ André Dewavrin and Yeo-Thomas)
- Trip to Algiers - Aug 13 - Sept. 3rd, 1943
- Operation Bomb - Sept. 18th, 1943 - Angoulême - Lysander (w/ Yeo-Thomas)
- Mission Marie-Claire - Sept-Feb 1944
- Operation Sten - Dec. 10th, 1944 - near Laon - cancelled (Lysander shot down)
Famous quote
"For the French. the war will be over when they will be able to read Le Canard enchaînéLe Canard enchaîné
Le Canard enchaîné is a satirical newspaper published weekly in France. Founded in 1915, it features investigative journalism and leaks from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as many jokes and humorous cartoons.-Early...
and see this wonderful movie [ Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
]" - to Jean-Pierre Melville in front of Ritz Theater in London, adapted in the same location to Luc Jardie, interpreted by Paul Meurisse in the movie Army of Shadows produced in 1969.
"Mon Général, (...) There are times when someone must have the courage to say out loud what others whisper behind your back with weeping faces. There are subjects on which you do not tolerate any contradiction, let alone any debate. Moreover, these subjects are generally those in which your position is most emotional, i.e. precisely those on which you would have great interest in being tested against other people's reactions (...) Among your entourage, the not-so-good only go after your approval; the worst make a policy of coaxing you; the best soon cease to readily offer themselves to discussion. You end up reaching the situation, restful amid your daily worries, where you no longer meet anything but flattering assentment. But you know as well as me where this path has led others than you in history, and where it risks to lead yourself " - letter to General de Gaulle, 1942