On this Thursday, May 27, the anniversary of the first meeting of the National Council of the Resistance, a ceremony was celebrated to baptize the main courtyard of the prefecture into “Jean Moulin courtyard”. The stonemasons from the Lycée des Marcs d’Or made the plaque. The Dijon Opera choir sang the Marseillaise.
The prefecture of the Côte-d’Or has chosen the National Day of Resistance, this Thursday, May 27, 2021, to baptize the main courtyard, now called the Jean Moulin court. A ceremony took place in the presence of the niece of Jean Moulin, Cécile Benoît-Escoffier and the niece of Jean-Pierre Meunier, his companion in the Resistance, Martine Guyon.
After watching a film about Jean Moulin, Cécile Benoît-Escoffier paid tribute to the memory of her uncle by reading testimonials from people who have met him throughout his life and who have manifested themselves through different correspondences. She recalled the human and creative qualities of Jean Moulin who was also a designer, poet, musician, and for whom friendship was a fundamental value.
Worried about the rise of fascism in Italy and Spain, testimonies show according to his niece that Jean Moulin quickly realized the risk lurking in France, provided with an unstoppable clairvoyance with regard to Nazism.
The niece looks back on a painful episode that almost turned her uncle’s life upside down. In 1939, two German officers asked him to sign a memorandum of understanding to incriminate Senegalese troops in atrocities committed against women and children. For fear of being forced to sign this famous document, Jean Moulin will attempt to commit suicide during the night.
For the prefect Fabien Sudry, this shows the bravery of the character. His refusal to sign the agreement is motivated by the fact that this act is defamatory for the French army, which is why, recalls the prefect, “he is then locked in a shed on the remains of human corpses”.
“In spite of the tortures, he will not speak, he who nevertheless knew everything”
In a meticulous speech, the prefect recalls Jean Moulin’s high sense of state and “the soaked courage”, his seriousness, and his idealism. Starting again from his military service, he retraces the prefectural career of Jean Moulin, at the ministry, as secretary general in the Somme, then as the youngest prefect of France in Aveyron in 1937, before joining two years later the prefecture of Chartres.
Fabien Sudry takes up the speech of Jean Moulin before the departmental assembly of Aveyron in 1939: “If I intend to serve without weakness an ideal which is dear to me, I can give you my assurance that my administration will make every effort. opportunity to stay away from any sectarianism. If it were one day to weaken the rigor of its regulations, I would like it to be only in favor of those who toil and those who suffer ”.
His journey underground is recalled, until the first National Council of the Resistance, which Jean Moulin chaired, on May 27, 1943, rue du Four in Paris.
Finally, Jean Moulin was tortured to give information about his companions in the Resistance, but, recalls the prefect, “despite the tortures, he will not speak, he who nevertheless knew everything”. The prefect recalls the last days of the resistant through the words of André Malraux in 1964: “Bruised, swollen, deeply cut, but overcoming the uniform of the prefect that his blood covered with honor, that face at that time, c ‘was that of France’.
A historic day inscribed in Dijon life
Before proceeding to the unveiling of the new plaque, Fabien Sudry informs the public that it was produced by the professional section “Stone cutters” of the Lycée des Marcs d’Or in Dijon and is delighted that the teachers responded positively to the prefecture project.
During this ceremony, the members of the Dijon opera choir will perform the Partisan Song and the Marseillaise. During this symbolic day, the prefect announced that the new prefecture room (located at 43 rue de la préfecture) will bear the name of Pierre Meunier, member of the Resistance and companion of Jean Moulin. Finally, an exhibition devoted to the life of Jean Moulin is accessible in the lobby of the Bouhier hotel in Lantenay.
Sabrina Dolidze
The Resistance commemorated at the Jean Moulin Memorial in Dijon
The Regional Prefect, Fabien Sudry, is both disciple and ambassador of Jean Moulin
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