home
Jean Moulin
Lyon was a key location for the French Resistance during WWII. One the Resistance's most famous fighters was Jean Moulin. He was given orders by Charles de Gaulle to unite French Resistance fighters and did much work towards this goal. He was arrested in Lyon on June 21, 1943, along with 9 other resistance leaders. As he was the most instrumental and knowledgable fighter, he was mercilessly tortured and interrogated by none other than Klaus Barbie aka The Butcher of Lyon, head of Gestapo in Lyon.
Barbie personally tortured prisoners and was responsible for more than 4,000 deaths. He was identified in Bolivia in 1971 by the Klarsfelds Nazi hunters and extradited to France in 1983. In 1987, he was sentenced to life in prison and died in jail in Lyon 4 years later.
Jean Moulin is a French hero. In 1969, director Jean-Pierre Melville made a brilliant film called L'armée des ombres or Army of Shadows starring Simone Signoret and Jean-Pierre Cassel (father of fabulous French actor Vincent Cassel) as Jean Moulin. This is a fantastic film about the everyday life of the French Resistants with many of the famous events in Jean Moulin's war experience in the French Resistance. Most of the film was made in Lyon.
I highly recommend the film; it's not a big action flick, its more of an intriguing, quality portrayal of the era.
Gros bisous de bon cinema et a demain!
Love,
Charley
Home
Post a Comment