Georges Picquart was born in Geudertheim, Alsace, in 1854. A bright student of the Lycée Impérial, in Strasbourg, his schooling was interrupted when war broke out with Prussia, in 1870. Following the annexation of Alsace-Moselle, his family fled to Versailles. The trauma of defeat and the effect of being uprooted doubtless played a part in his decision to pursue a military career, which got off to a very promising start: fifth in his year group, he graduated with flying colours from the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr. A brilliant officer committed to republican values, Picquart rose rapidly through the ranks. A highly cultured polyglot, fluent in six languages, he was a regular frequenter of salons, museums and theatres. A music lover, he became a friend of Gustav Mahler, travelling across Europe to attend concerts conducted by him. After a number of campaigns in Algeria and Tonkin (a former French protectorate in northern Vietnam), in 1893 he joined the staff of General Galliffet. It was in this role that he became involved, without playing a central part, in the investigation into Captain Dreyfus, accused of spying for Germany. Alfred Dreyfus was tried behind closed doors by a council of war which, at the end of 1894, stripped him of his rank and deported him for life to French Guiana.

 In July 1895, Georges Picquart replaced Colonel Sandherr as head of counter-espionage in what was known as the “Statistics Section” of the Deuxième Bureau.  In other words, he became head of the French intelligence service. Meanwhile, he taught topography at the École Supérieure de Guerre. A man of few words who respected military order, he was driven by a desire to modernise the army for the sake of technical efficiency. On 6 April 1896, he became the youngest lieutenant-colonel. Trusted by his superiors, his appraisals commended his “friendly, likeable” character, his “very sound” judgment, his “perfect” manners, his “very wide-ranging” education, and his “superior” intelligence. He unquestionably represented the future of the French army.

Everything was to change a year later.

In March 1896, Picquart discovered, in a bundle of papers from the German Embassy, a document that would lead to the reopening of the Dreyfus case. In Picquart’s opinion, this sheet of paper - the famous petit bleu - taken in conjunction with the document unjustly attributed to Dreyfus at his trial, provided irrefutable evidence of the innocence of the Devil’s Island deportee. His mind made up, Picquart undertook with absolute determination to see that the truth prevailed. This sense of a duty of truth, this concept of justice which he set above all other considerations - including an uncertain higher interest of the army - were decisive traits in Picquart’s personality. Relaunching his predecessor’s inquiry, Picquart soon became convinced of Dreyfus’s innocence and of the culpability of Ferdinand Esterhazy. As his conclusions were not in line with the official version of the affair, Picquart’s career came to an abrupt halt: sacked from his post as intelligence chief in October 1896, he was sent on an open-ended tour of inspection around France, followed by Algeria and Tunisia, in a sector so exposed that, on 2 April 1897, feeling in danger, he drew up his will.

But Georges Picquart was unyielding in his quest for the truth, and the humiliations he suffered only made him more determined to seek justice. He aligned himself increasingly with Dreyfus’s supporters, the dreyfusards, which led him in turn to be a target of accusations. It should be noted that war minister General Mercier was himself a fierce anti-dreyfusard. The fact that the French President, Félix Faure, was also hostile to any revision of the Dreyfus case helps give a clearer idea of Picquart’s tenacity. It was because of that tenacity that he was discharged - i.e. dismissed - from the army in February 1898, then arrested and imprisoned for 11 months, from 13 July 1898 to 9 June 1899, for passing on the evidence he had in support of Dreyfus’s innocence to a politician, Auguste Scheurer-Kestner.

A hero for the dreyfusards and a traitor for their adversaries, Picquart played a key role in the Rennes case of 1899, which ended with Dreyfus’s pardon and amnesty. But Picquart, who now had no more than his army discharge pension to live on, did not abandon his fight for the truth: the verdict, which spared the army’s honour without restoring his own, made him sick to the heart. The uncompromising Picquart was ardently opposed to all those he considered too hasty in forgetting the past. On his journey through the wilderness, his only goal was to get his name cleared. Dreyfus must be retried in order for his innocence to at last be recognised; that alone could both erase the injustice done to the degraded captain and make amends for the damage inflicted on the honour and career of the discharged lieutenant-colonel. Picquart’s quest for truth therefore caused his own destiny to become tied to that of Dreyfus.

 On 12 July 1906, the French court of appeal annulled the Rennes judgment, recognising Dreyfus’s innocence and clearing his name. As for Picquart, it was not a case of getting his name cleared, because he had not been convicted. But his military career had come to an abrupt end, and he was determined to obtain recompense. On 13 July 1906, two bills were tabled, one concerning Dreyfus’s reinstatement, the other Picquart’s. Both were passed with a very large majority, in the National Assembly and the Senate. The text of the bill read as follows:

“The proclamation of Dreyfus’s innocence shows that the efforts made loyally and courageously since 1896 by Lieutenant-Colonel Picquart, at the risk of ruining his career irrevocably, to ensure that truth prevailed, were justified. This senior officer, discharged on 26 February 1898, can only be reinstated into the ranks of the military by law. We request, in addition, that you permanently erase the effects of his discharge, promote him to the rank of brigadier, to which 64 officers of the rank of lieutenant-colonel with the same or fewer years of service than he have been appointed, and backdate his appointment to 10 July 1903, the day before the longest-serving of these officers was promoted.”

Justice had been done for Picquart. His honour restored, he progressed once more in his career. Now a brigadier with three retroactive years of service, he was promoted to major-general on 23 October 1906. Meanwhile, the elections brought victory for Georges Clemenceau’s radicals, the very same Georges Clemenceau who had previously worked for L’Aurore, the daily that published ‘J’accuse... !’, Émile Zola’s open letter in support of Alfred Dreyfus. France’s “number-one cop” became prime minister. He knew the Alsatian general well, having witness his strength of character, independence of spirit and courage. To everyone’s astonishment, beginning with that of Picquart himself, he made him his Minister of War.

The former outlaw knew more than anyone else how much the Dreyfus Affair had left marks and divisions within the army. Once in government, he strove to rebuild it more democratically. The new minister made frequent tours on the ground, showing a concern for improving the lives of the ordinary troops through advances in the areas of lodging, food, hygiene, transport and employment conditions. He intended to show the country that the government cared about its soldiers. He improved soldier training and urged Foch and Joffre to modernise the military academies. He worked to reconcile the army with itself and with the nation. His actions eased political tensions and asserted the core values of the Republic. Finally, the guiding principle of his work as war minister was the desire to modernise military hardware, in particular artillery. In late July 1909, with the fall of the Clemenceau government, it was almost with relief that Major-General Picquart left his ministerial functions, despite a more than respectable administration.

After a few months’ freedom which he spent travelling, Picquart was given a command role in February 1910. At the age of 56, he became - what was a constant throughout his career - the youngest commander of an army corps, when he took command of the 2nd Army Corps, stationed at Amiens.

On 14 January 1914, as every day, Georges Picquart set out on horseback. It was 7.30 am, bitterly cold, and the ground had been frozen solid for several days. He mounted Voltigeur, a notoriously agitated horse, accompanied by his flag-bearer. At full trot along a mud track between Dury and Saint-Fuscien, Voltigeur stumbled, then kicked. His rider lost hold of the reins and was thrown to the ground, landing on his head. He got up, quite composed despite considerable bleeding, and, refusing to rest, got back on the horse and set off for Amiens. On arrival at his headquarters, he alighted from his horse and, as usual, did not leave without first giving him a sugar cube. That day and the next, contrary to the advice of his doctor, friends and family, the general was at his post. But his condition deteriorated: the violent fall had caused facial swelling, which got worse, bringing on ever more severe fits of breathlessness. The last one was fatal. Georges Picquart died on the morning of 19 January 1914. He was not yet 60.

The portrait of Georges Picquart by Eugène Carrière is reproduced by kind permission of the Musée Eugène Carrière.

Colonel Fred Moore, Honorary Chancellor of the Order of Liberation, 8 April 1920 - 16 September 2017

Fred Moore was born in Brest on 8 April 1920. He was brought up in Amiens, where his father, a former officer of the Royal Navy who became a French citizen in 1926, opened a shop in 1921.

After completing his schooling at the Lycée d’Amiens, Moore trained as an optician at the École Nationale d’Optique, in Morez, in the Jura.

Too young to be mobilised, in May 1940 he enlisted as a volunteer with the 117th Air Battalion stationed at Chartres, but was not allowed to join his unit.

Having gained his driving licence in 1938, Moore was eventually assigned to the 1st Transport Regiment, before taking part in the Dakar expedition in September 1940.

Sent for cadet training at Camp Colonna d’Ornano, Brazzaville, in December 1940, on 14 July 1941 he was appointed a junior officer and sent to Beirut to serve with the Levant forces.

On 1 September 1941, he was assigned to the Moroccan Spahis, as leader of 2nd Platoon, 1st Squadron of the Army Corps Reconnaissance Group (GRCA), in Damascus, in training for the Libya campaign.

In April 1942, he went to Egypt with his unit, which soon became the 1st Infantry Regiment of Moroccan Spahis (1st RMSM). From then on, as leader of the 2nd Reconnaissance Platoon, he took part in all the campaigns with 1st Squadron, 1st RMSM, fighting in Egypt, then Libya.

In 1943, Moore distinguished himself in Tunisia, in particular on 6 March at Oued Gragour, where, outnumbered, he engaged his platoon with dogged determination against enemy armour, holding them back twice. This delaying action gave time for the bulk of the troops to arrive and defeat the enemy. In April, he took part in the fighting around Djebel Fadeloun with General Leclerc’s “Force L”.

In July 1943, he was assigned for a month and a half to General de Gaulle’s guard of honour in Algiers, before returning to the 1st RMSM in Morocco, where the 2nd Armoured Division (2nd DB) was being formed.

On 10 April 1944, he embarked at Oran for England with his unit.

Promoted in June 1944 to the rank of lieutenant, Moore landed at Grandcamp, Normandy, with the 2nd DB, on 2 August 1944. He fought in Normandy as commander of 2nd Platoon, 5th Squadron (the renamed 1st Squadron) of the 1st RMSM. Between 15 and 29 August 1944, he and his platoon put three German anti-tank guns out of action and captured over a hundred prisoners and a significant amount of equipment, losing only two men in the process.

In the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944, he played an active part in the taking of the École Militaire, then, on 27 August, in the battle of Dugny-Le Bourget, at Seine-Saint-Denis.

Next came the Vosges campaign where, showing boldness and initiative, on 23 September 1944 he joined the fighting in the Mondon Forest, inflicting heavy material and human losses on the enemy at Buriville, on the Luneville-Strasbourg road.

In the Alsace campaign, he fought actively at Mittelbronn near Sarrebourg on 20 November, in the liberation of Strasbourg on 23 November, then in the taking of Plobsheim, Krafft and Gerstheim on 28, 29 and 30 November.

In April 1945, Lieutenant Moore took part in operations on the La Rochelle front, before participating in the final combats in Germany.

After being demobilised in April 1946, he opened his own optician’s shop in Amiens.

Promoted to the rank of reserve captain in 1950, Moore was called up again in May 1956 and assigned to the 6th Regiment of Moroccan Spahis. He served in Algeria until November 1956, as commander of 4th Squadron.

He was promoted successively within the reserve, first to squadron commander in October 1958, then to lieutenant-colonel in 1966 and colonel in 1971. He was commanding officer of the 54th Divisional Infantry Regiment (RID) of the Oise from 1962 to 1978.

He was made an honorary colonel on 8 April 1982.

Elected as a member of parliament for Amiens (the first constituency of the Somme department) in 1958, he served as a technical advisor to the Ministry of Industry (1962-64) and as a member of the Economic Council (1964-66). In 1969, he retired from all his political functions to devote himself to his work as an optician.

Between 1969 and 1974, he was national vice-chairman of the Order of Opticians, chairman and CEO of Société Industrielle de Développement Électronique et Nucléaire (SIDEN), and also served on the boards of a number of companies.

From 1977 to 1982, he was general secretary of the French opticians union and its European equivalent, EUROM.

In March 2004, Moore was appointed a member of the board of the Order of Liberation; by decree of 11 October 2011, he succeeded François Jacob as the Order’s chancellor.

On 16 November 2012, he was appointed general secretary of the Order of Liberation’s governing body, the Conseil National des Communes “Compagnon de la Libération”. After having his appointment renewed in October 2015, he retired from his functions in January 2017 and was made Honorary Chancellor of the Order of Liberation.

Fred Moore died on 16 September 2017 in Paris, where he is buried.

• Grand Croix of the Legion of Honour

• Compagnon de la Libération, by decree of 17 November 1945

• Croix de Guerre 1939-45 (various citations)

• Médaille des Evadés

• Médaille Coloniale, with additions for “Libya” and “Tunisia”

• Croix du Combattant Volontaire 1939-45

• Croix du Combattant Volontaire de la Résistance

• Officier des Palmes Académiques

• Médaille des Services Militaires Volontaires

• Médaille Commémorative des Services Volontaires dans la France Libre

• Médaille Commémorative des Opérations de Sécurité et de Maintien de l’Ordre en Algérie

• Presidential Unit Citation (USA)

• Officer of the Order of Nichan Iftikhar (Tunisia)

• Officer of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite (Morocco)

Publication :

• « Toujours Français Libre ! », Elytis, Bordeaux 2014

ITW [P. 5] Les Chemins de la Mémoire-n°232 - Déc. 2012/Jan. 2013 (in French)

Remembrance sites | Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération

The son of a captain in the gendarmes, Henri Berthelot was born on 7 December 1861 in Feurs, in the Loire. He graduated from Saint Cyr fourth in his year, and opted to join the Colonial Army. As a sub-lieutenant in the 1st Regiment of Zouaves of Koléas, Algeria, he was sent to Indochina, where he had his baptism of fire. Promoted to lieutenant in 1886, he became a Knight of the Order of the Dragon of Annam in July 1887. A fever prompted his return to France, where he joined the 96th Infantry Regiment at Gap.

Admitted to the École Supérieure de Guerre, he obtained his General Staff Brevet and was promoted to the rank of captain in 1891. He then left for Austria to improve his German. He became General Joseph Brugère’s aide-de-camp in the 132nd Infantry Regiment at Reims, then in the 8th Army Corps at Bourges. After a spell with the 2nd Army Corps at Amiens, he was reassigned to the 132nd Infantry Regiment at Reims in 1897, then transferred to the 115th Infantry Regiment in July 1899.

Returning to General Brugère, now military governor of Paris, Berthelot supervised the organisation of the army pavilion at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Promoted to chef de bataillon (major) in November that year, he accompanied Czar Nicholas II on a visit to Reims in 1901, as Brugère’s aide-de-camp.

In 1903, he became commander of the 20th Battalion of Chasseurs à Pied in Baccarat. Recalled by Brugère in January 1906, in December he was appointed to the 2nd Bureau of the Directorate for Infantry. Made a lieutenant-colonel in March 1907, in October he became secretary of the Army Staff Technical Committee. He was promoted to colonel in 1910, and took over command of the 94th Infantry Regiment of Bar-le-Duc the following year. In 1913, he joined the staff of Joffre, the Chief of the General Staff. Involved in drawing up Plan XVII, the plan for the mobilisation and concentration of the French Army in the event of war, he did not believe the Germans would invade via Belgium.

In 1914, he was made General Joffre’s chief aide-de-camp in charge of operations. In disgrace following the failures of August, Berthelot received notice of transfer to the command of the 5th Reserve Divisions Group on 21 November. In January 1915, he led an offensive at Crouy, near Soissons. After fierce fighting, he was forced to retreat behind his starting positions.

From 3 August 1915 to 19 September 1916, he was in command of the 32nd Army Corps (32nd CA), or the “Berthelot Group”, which took part in the Champagne offensive in September-October. In March 1916, the 32nd CA was at Verdun, where it was tasked with taking back Mort-Homme and Hill 304. The 32nd CA left Verdun in June to serve in the Vosges then on the Somme.

On 14 October 1916, Berthelot led the French military mission in Romania, with nearly 2 000 officers and NCOs in his command. He reorganised the Romanian Army, which had been severely impacted by Germany and was resisting with difficulty in Moldavia. Cut off from the Allies after Russia’s withdrawal from the conflict, Romania signed the Armistice of Focșani on 9 December 1917..

Following his return to France, General Berthelot was put in command of the 5th Army by General Foch, from 5 July to 7 October 1918, taking part in the battles of Reims and Épernay.

On 7 October, he was recalled to command another Romanian mission. This time, his role was as much diplomatic as military. Now with a modernised and reorganised army, Romania took up arms once again on 10 November, just as the Central Empires were crumbling. This new military intervention succeeded in containing the pressure from the Russian Revolution in the Balkans, as well as satisfying certain Romanian claims, namely regarding Transylvania and northern Banat.

Following the German defeat, Berthelot was tasked with fighting the Russian Bolsheviks in Bessarabia, then the Hungarian Bolsheviks in Transylvania during the Hungarian-Romanian War of 1919. He went on to become military governor of Metz until 1922, then of Strasbourg from 1923 to 1926.

He died in Paris in January 1931, and is buried in Nervieux, in his native Forez.

He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d’Honneur, the Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 with three palms, the Médaille Militaire, the 1914-1918 Inter-Allied Victory Medal, as well as many foreign decorations.

Ministère de la défense/SGA/DMPA

The son of a clergyman, Milan Stefanik was born on 21 July 1880, in Kosariska.  After studying in Bratislava, Sopron and Sarvas, he went on to Prague University, where he studied mathematics and astronomy, before gaining a PhD in 1904. In 1905, he became assistant director of the Meudon Observatory, in France, published many treatises and organised seven astronomical observation expeditions to the summit of Mont Blanc. A great traveller, he undertook a number of diplomatic and astronomical missions on behalf of the French government, including one to Tahiti in 1910 to observe the passage of Halley’s Comet.

Milan Stefanik during a stay at the Meudon Observatory, France. Source: IMS

Naturalised French in 1912 and made a Knight of the Légion d’Honneur in 1914, Stefanik enlisted in the French Army, and in three years rose to the rank of brigadier. Assigned to the air force, he made improvements to military meteorology. In 1916 and 1917, he went in an official capacity to Romania, Siberia and the United States, to organise the recruitment of Czechoslovakian volunteers. On 21 April 1918, Stefanik signed, with Italian prime minister Orlando, the treaty establishing a Czechoslovak army on the Italian front.

Sergeant Stefanik is awarded the Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 with palm, for his service in the air force, France. © SHD

France made him a Commander of the Légion d’Honneur. On 28 October 1918, Czechoslovakia became an independent nation, and Stefanik was appointed Minister for War in the new government. On his journey home, on 4 May 1919, he was killed when his aircraft crashed near Bratislava. His body has laid to rest in the Bradlo mausoleum since 1928.

Source : Ministère de la défense/SGA/DMPA

Born in Lons-le-Saunier on 10 May 1760, Claude-Joseph Rouget played the violin and composed instinctively from an early age. He added his grandfather’s “de Lisle” to the end of his name in order to get into the École du Génie in Paris aged 16.

Six years later he graduated as a lieutenant and, after three postings, in 1791 was sent to Strasbourg where, with other officers, he was received into the salons of mayor Dietrich. Tired of hearing “it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine” (the words of the revolutionary song Ça ira !), Dietrich asked the young captain, who already had something of a reputation as a composer, to write a patriotic song. Surprised, Rouget tried to wriggle out of it, but at the insistence of the mayor and officers, he eventually agreed.

On returning home, he took up his fiddle and ran through some arpeggios, while his head pounded with the words he had heard that evening. Gradually a melody took shape and the lyrics were fitted to the music. Exhausted, the composer fell asleep. At daybreak, he went to see the mayor who, astonished by his speed, sat down at the harpsichord and played through the piece. He called the officers who had been present the previous evening and, in a booming voice, sang: “Arise, children of the motherland!” All heartily approved, and Rouget was delighted.

After the proclamation of the Republic, he was reinstated and joined the Army of the North, but was suspended from his captain’s duties and became a target of suspicion. Arrested and imprisoned, almost certainly for criticising the execution of the former mayor of Strasbourg, he wrote a memoir. With the death of Robespierre, he was released.

The decree of the Thermidorian Convention of 26 Messidor Year III (in the Republican Calendar), which chose the Marseillaise as a “national song”, was never implemented.

Reinstated in the army, Rouget de Lisle resigned from his post to devote himself to poetry and music. On 10 Vendémiaire Year IV, his work was performed at the Opéra and the Opéra Comique. Bonaparte asked Rouget to compose him a song, but it was not to his liking and he rejected it. Mortified, Rouget wrote him an arrogant letter. He would never serve the Empire, and once again became an object of suspicion. In 1812, he went to live in the family home in Montaigu (Jura), and compose; in 1817, he moved to Paris where, in 1825, he published a collection of 50 Chants français (French songs).

The Duke of Orléans, an old comrade-in-arms, awarded Rouget de Lisle three pensions, which freed him of any financial worries. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Upon his death, in Choisy-le-Roi, at the age of 77, little did he know that his song would become the national anthem of France in 1879. He was buried in the cemetery of Choisy-le-Roi, and his ashes were transferred to Les Invalides on 14 July 1915.

Marie-Louise Jacotey - Historian

Transfer of Rouget de Lisle’s ashes to Les Invalides, 14 July 1915 © BnF, Distribution RMN-Grand Palais / Photo BnF

The 2008 graduating class at the Naval Officers’ College took the name "promotion Hederer" in memory of Fernand Hederer, a Navy Commissioner, veteran of the Great War and resistant against the Nazi occupant.

Born in 1889, Fernand Hederer was part of the 1913 graduating class of the French Naval Officers’ College. In 1914, he was assigned to the 1st Regiment of Naval Gunners, and then to the 1st Heavy Railway Artillery group, where he served as second officer and then as battery commander. On 6 April, 1916, Hederer became an air observer and then fighter pilot in September 1917. In February 1918 he took over commandment of the SPAD 285 fighter squadron, an exceptional honour for a young 3rd-class commissioner.

The war was an opportunity for him to get to know “Flying Aces”, notably Coli, Guynemer, Fonck and Navarre. Hederer received several commendations (army, division and regiment) and was decorated with the War Cross with three palms and three stars, as well as the Legion of Honour in 1917. All the commendations he received pointed out the man’s qualities, his courage, his energy, his disdain for danger and his leadership qualities. Hederer also brought home from the war a piece of shrapnel in his right forearm and a half-frozen foot from a flight during which the only way he got away from the enemy was by flying as high as he could. But there was one wound that would never heal – the twenty pilots in his squadron who were killed in action in less than one year.

When peace returned, 1st class commissioner Hederer served on board the armoured cruiser Marseillaise, then as the commissioner of the naval base in Constantinople. He then joined the maritime stewardship services at various ports. In 1925, he started a new career in the naval inspection corps. In 1929, at his own request, he was assigned to the Ministry of Aviation. He carried out sometimes sensitive inspection missions, such as that of the Compagnie Générale Aéropostale in South America, which led to his integration, in 1933, into the French aeronautics administration’s inspection corps. Appointed inspector general in March 1936, he worked with Pierre Cot, then Minister of Aviation, in directing the nationalisation of the aeronautics industry.

Still on Cot’s staff during the "phoney war", Hederer was seriously wounded in an automobile accident during the rout of June 1940. At the start of the Occupation, he took part in distributing anti-German propaganda. Under the war name "Pommery", he took part in many resistance actions and joined the Marco Polo resistance network on 1 January 1943. He had contacts with emissaries from London and supplied information to the SRA in Lyon, notably concerning the Luftwaffe’s activities between Salon-de-Provence and Marignane: warehousing "of bombs and munitions, control points, radars, location of anti-aircraft defences, etc.” As the organiser of this aviation intelligence service, his activities led him to be on the Gestapo’s wanted list for Marseille and Aix at the beginning of 1944.

During the liberation of Paris, he ensured and reorganised the administrative organs of the Ministry of Aviation under his own authority. His conduct was rewarded with the Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour plaque, the 1939-1945 War Cross with palms and the Resistance Medal with rosette.

After the war, he was named director of inspections for aeronautics and then for armaments, finishing his career in government service as Secretary General for Civil Aviation. Having reached the age limit for his rank in 1951, he began a new career in industry. He held the position of CEO of the Société Française d'équipements pour la Navigation Aérienne until 1965.

At the age of 93, he was elevated to the dignity of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. This decoration was presented to him by Marcel Dassault, who was happy to pay homage to the man who had defended him when, in 1941, he was arrested on order from Laval, to the man who had helped his wife during the two years that the aircraft manufacturer spent in deportation at the Buchenwald concentration camp and who had helped several Jewish families seeking refuge in the South of France.

C. Mommessin, First Class Navy Commissioner, In Les Chemins de la Mémoire, 197/September 2009

In 1859, a young Swiss man named Henry Dunant discovered the horrors of war on the battlefield of Solferino, Italy. He decided to create an international organisation to help people injured in conflicts.

The Red Cross was born.

Born in Geneva on 8 May 1828, Henry Dunant was the son of a very pious and charitable Calvinist family. He dropped out of secondary school and took up an apprenticeship at a Geneva bank. He became involved in social action and dedicated part of his time visiting prisoners and helping the poor.

In 1853, he went to Algeria to head a Swiss colony in Sétif. He sought to build a flour mill, but as he could not get a concession for the land he needed for it to operate, he went to Paris to meet with Napoléon III. But he was leading the Franco-Sardinian troops fighting against the Austrians in northern Italy. Dunant went there to see the Emperor. On 24 June 1859, the day of the battle, he arrived at Castiglione, in Lombardy, a small town near the site of the fighting. The next day he discovered the Solferino battlefield. "At every step, anyone who visited this immense theatre of the fighting the day before saw, in the unprecedented confusion, inexpressible despair and all kinds of misery ". Faced with so much suffering, Dunant took control of the organisation of assistance and managed to ensure that Austrian prisoners would be treated the same way as other soldiers. He also made sure that the Austrian doctors who had been taken prisoner were able to treat the wounded.

Back in Geneva, he wrote Un souvenir de Solferino (A Memory of Solferino, 1862) in which he described the battle and laid out his ideas for improving the fate of wounded soldiers. "Isn’t there a way to set up emergency relief societies whose purpose would be to provide care to the wounded in wartime by impassioned, dedicated, well-qualified volunteers?"

On 17 February 1863, Dunant created a permanent international committee for caring for wounded soldiers which, in 1875, took on the name of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). On 26 October 1863, some fifteen countries took part in the international conference of Geneva that was the Red Cross’s real founding act. Supported by Napoléon III, the committee, for which Dunant was a member and secretary, prepared the Geneva Convention signed by fifteen countries in 1864.

Dunant was now famous and was received by many Heads of State. But his financial affairs were in poor condition – he declared bankruptcy in 1867. Ruined, deep in debt, he had to resign from his position at the International Committee. In Paris, he was reduced to sleeping on park benches. But Empress Eugénie called him to the Tuileries Palace to get his opinion on extending the Geneva Convention to war at sea. Dunant was then named an honorary member of the National Red Cross Societies of Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Prussia and Spain.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he visited the wounded soldiers brought back to Paris and introduced the use of identification tags, or “dog tags”, to be able to identify the dead.

When peace returned, Dunant went to London where he tried to organise a diplomatic conference to rule on the fate of war prisoners; the Czar encouraged him, but England was hostile to the project. On 1 February 1875, at his initiative, an international conference for "the complete and definitive abolition of the trafficking of negroes and the slave trade" opened in London.

The following years were a time of wandering and poverty: Dunant travelled by foot to Alsace, Germany and Italy; he lived off the charity and hospitality of a few friends. Finally, in 1887, he found himself in a small Swiss town overlooking Lake Constance: Heiden.

Ill, he took refuge at the hospice and that is where a journalist found him in 1895 and wrote an article published in the press throughout Europe a few days later. Dunant suddenly became famous and received honours. He received the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. He died on 30 October 1910.

Source :

In Les Chemins de la Mémoire, 196/July-August 2009