European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)
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His death affected me enormously.
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The day he was arrested by the Nazis, along with his father, we had separated just a quarter of an hour earlier.
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The collaborating government, the mayor of the municipality, had already been arrested by the resistance
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and we were supposed to organize the take-over of the City Hall
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and the establishment of the Liberation Committee for the following day.
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This all happened on August 20th 1944. The Germans were still in Nanterre.
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Louis Meunier, his father and I had met to ensure the security of the event.
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As I said, we split.
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I went to meet comrades, with whom I went to Pont Neuilly to meet the old mayor of Nanterre,
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Raymond Bardet, who was in the Résistance – he was one of the leaders of the resistance of the railroad workers.
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We were to protect him during his return to the City Hall for the Council of the Liberation Committee next day.
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So we separated, and while I left to perform my task,
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Louis Meunier and his father met one of the comrades that had been imprisoned on July 14th, 1940.
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He had just been liberated, as the prison guards had begun to open the doors of the prison and let the resistance fighters escape.
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They lost time on this encounter.
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Then the last Germans who were exploding the equipment from the aviation camp before leaving passed by and arrested them.
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They searched them and found the revolver I had given to Louis Meunier.
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He didn’t like weapons, but I gave him one, telling him he needed it to defend himself.
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They found his FFI (Forces Françaises à l’Interieur – the French Forces inside the country which was the resistance) bracelet as well.
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His family never blamed me, but I always wonder if things would have happened differently, had I not given him a revolver.
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