Thanks to the plaque installed on the facade of the building now housing the Leisure Center activities, many Castres know that this building was once a prison. A prison also highlighted in the book by Jonny Granzow which narrated the now famous escape of several inmates, most of them resistant, in the heart of the Second World War. What few locals know is that another major escape took place from this same compound. An escape which did not make much noise under the Occupation but nevertheless concerned individuals whose abuses regularly fed the section of the various facts. Among them Auguste Méla …
On March 24, 1944, Auguste Méla (1897-1960) escaped from the Castres prison with Bernard Madeleine, a figure in the great banditry of the 1960s, who will be nicknamed the caïd des caïds or the king of escape. “Auguste Méla is known for being one of the organizers of the famous gold train attack in September 1938, during which 180 kg of gold and precious stones were stolen. He spent many years in prison , where he meets José Giovanni and Jacques Imbert, who will later be nicknamed Jacky the Matte and will be one of the sponsors of Marseille. the road. He was one of the first followers of American armed robbery “can be read on the sheet dedicated to him in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. José Giovanni was inspired by him for his character of Gustave Minda in his novel The Second Breath. A novel adapted for the cinema by Jean-Pierre Melville in 1966. This film with Lino Ventura as Gustave Minda will have a remake, with less success, in 2007. The latter is signed Alain Corneau who called on Daniel Auteuil for the role main.
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