The office of the most famous prefect of Eure-et-Loir, Jean Moulin, and his inkwell, forgotten for many years, in a little frequented room of the Hôtel de Ligneris in the prefecture of Eure-et-Loir, now part of the historic assets. They were registered, by decree, on December 31, 2009, by the departmental commission of movable objects, which depends on the Drac (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs).
A former prefect, Nicolas Quillet, had a space dedicated to the great resistance fighter during the Second World War set up at the main entrance of the private mansion on rue Collin d’Harleville. “I wanted to give a historical dimension to this character and to make him public”, he explained to The Republican Echoin 2015.
“Historical Value”
Impossible to pass by, entering through the main door. It is also impossible to miss the sculpture of his face which stares at you as you enter. The prefect placed the inkwell on the desk, but also the replica of Jean Moulin’s ministerial identity card. “The neat design of Jean Moulin’s desk, in the Napoleon III style, gives it a certain cachet, but it is above all its historical value that makes it a piece of furniture apart”, noted, a few years ago, Anne-Marie Joly, former departmental curator of antiquities and works of art, now deceased.
50th anniversary of the transfer of Jean Moulin’s ashes to the Panthéon: a look back at the 1964 ceremony
It was while scrutinizing the piece of furniture closely, during a move, that she discovered a small yellowed label, under the top, allowing it to be dated. According to her, the desk was on the list of prefectural furniture during the 1872 inventory. And it was she who also realized that neither the precious desk nor the Empire-style inkwell that had also belonged to the famous resistance fighter, was not listed as a heritage site.
Major writings
To repair the outrage, the prefect Jean-Jacques Brot, a great admirer of Jean Moulin, presented in 2009, the furniture and the inkwell to the commission, and had installed it in his own office. Few archival documents accessible to the public make it possible to know which were the major writings written by Jean Moulin on this desk. Local historians had found a call for resistance from the prefect Jean Moulin addressed to the inhabitants of Eure-et-Loir.
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According to Anne-Marie Joly, “it was certainly also at this office, before he was detained by the Germans in a jail, that Jean Moulin refused, on June 17, 1940, despite beatings and torture, to sign a document from the German authorities, who wrongly accused the Senegalese skirmishers of the French army of acts of barbarism on civilians”, in reference to several writings from the archives of the prefecture.
When Winston Churchill was having lunch with Jean Moulin in Maintenon
Another writing by Jean Moulin, dated October 28, 1940, addressing his sub-prefects was written above, before he was relieved of his duties by the Vichy administration, by decree of November 2, 1940, accused of being “the continuation of a popular front policy in the department”.
Prefectural identity card
On Jean Moulin’s desk, now placed in the main entrance of the private mansion on rue Collin-d’Harleville, in Chartres, is the replica of Jean Moulin’s prefectural identity card. It was on January 21, 1939 that Jean Moulin was appointed prefect of Eure-et-Loir. On June 17, 1940, he refused to sign a document submitted to him by the German authorities, accusing the Senegalese skirmishers of the French army of acts of barbarism on civilians (see elsewhere). It was a fake. He continued to carry out his duties with dignity in occupied Chartres, before being relieved of it by the Vichy administration at the end of 1940.
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Francois Feuilleux
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