European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

The collaborating government, the mayor of the municipality, had already been arrested by the resistance

and we were supposed to organize the take-over of the City Hall

and the establishment of the Liberation Committee for the following day.

This all happened on August 20th 1944. The Germans were still in Nanterre.

Louis Meunier, his father and I had met to ensure the security of the event.

As I said, we split.

I went to meet comrades, with whom I went to Pont Neuilly to meet the old mayor of Nanterre,

Raymond Bardet, who was in the Résistance – he was one of the leaders of the resistance of the railroad workers.

We were to protect him during his return to the City Hall for the Council of the Liberation Committee next day.

So we separated, and while I left to perform my task,

Louis Meunier and his father met one of the comrades that had been imprisoned on July 14th, 1940.

He had just been liberated, as the prison guards had begun to open the doors of the prison and let the resistance fighters escape.

They lost time on this encounter.

Then the last Germans who were exploding the equipment from the aviation camp before leaving passed by and arrested them.

They searched them and found the revolver I had given to Louis Meunier.

He didn’t like weapons, but I gave him one, telling him he needed it to defend himself.

They found his FFI (Forces Françaises à l’Interieur – the French Forces inside the country which was the resistance) bracelet as well.

His family never blamed me, but I always wonder if things would have happened differently, had I not given him a revolver.

I am afraid so. It all had a big impact on me.

I would have been there with them had we not decided that I would meet the comrades to get the mayor.