Edmond Michelet, Minister for the Armies,
giving a speech (1946)
Journalist’s note: I imagined this first-person
narrative from my grandmother Monique's account of her father Papamond's life. The title is a
quote by Saint-Jean-Marie Vianney (the "He" of the title refers to Edmond Michelet).
“I am Edmond Michelet but everybody
calls me “Papamond” (i.e. “Papa Edmond”), not only my family but also the Council of Ministers!
I was born in1899. I was the eldest of four children.
My parents sent me early to a Christian boarding school.
After the First World War, I arrived in Brive and worked
for Catholic charities. They gave me values like wanting to help my fellow man.
I have tried to apply these values throughout my life.
I met my Marie and we got married in 1922 in Brive. My
first son, Jean, was born in 1923 then my first daughter, Christiane, in 1924.
Geneviève came to the world in 1925. Monique, was born in
1927, Bernard in 1931, Yves in 1934 and Claude in 1938.
In 1940, I became the head of the Briviste maquis and took the name of “Duval”. For
3 years, lots of Jewish families went through our house.
But on the 25th February 1943, the Gestapo came to take
me to prison. Marie was dignified as always. The children stayed inside as I
did not want them see. For six months, I was in Fresnes jail. My family kept in
touch by hiding little messages in the potatoes that they sent me. Once, the German
jail chaplain, Abbot Stock, told me, while we were reciting the “Hail Marie”: “Hail Mary, full of
grace… Your wife is well… The Lord is with thee… your kids too… Blessed art thou
amongst women… They asked me to tell you they love you…”
29th april 1945: the liberation of the camp.
The journalist Claude Dauphin interviewing ( from left to right )
Edmond Michelet, Vincent Badie (a politician)
and Armand Fily (a priest)
In 1943, I was deported as a political prisoner to Dachau. I was n° 52579. I tried to help and bring solace to my fellow prisoners. After the camp’s liberation, on the 29th of April 1945, I planned, with the Americans, the repatriation of the French.
Soon after my return, I
was called up by General de Gaulle to hold the post of Minister of the Army. We lived in the Départment de la Marine; in the Place de la Concorde (Paris). I did not see the
family much because I had lots of international obligations. I became the French
delegate to the UN from 1953 to 1957. I traveled to Indochina, Tunisia,
Algeria, and Madagascar. We moved to Rue
Madame in the 6th arrondissement
of Paris.
In 1957, I wrote my
book Contre la guerre civile (“Against
the civil war”) to denounce what was happening in Algeria. In 1959, I became
the first garde des sceaux (Minister
of Justice) of the 5th Republic. I held the post until 1961. I worked hard with
General De Gaulle to make a success of the 5th Republic. I joined the Constitutional
Council in 1962. That same year, I was raised to the dignity of Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur.
1939, on holiday in Biarritz with his seven children
I have lived a
wonderful life thanks my family and my friends, to the General, to Louis
Terrenoir and Charles de Foucault, and so many others…
I entitled my autobiography
Rue de la Liberté (“Freedom Street”).
Rue de la Liberté was the name given to the
main road through Dachau…”
Article by Thibault RIVIERE
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