Charles Cliquet

Charles Cliquet (born January 21, 1891 in Imphy ; died March 27, 1956 in Paris ) was a French resistance fighter during the German occupation of France in World War II .

Cliquet's father, Charles Cliquet (Sr.), owned a small company in Vierzon that produced porcelain and ceramics . The son obtained a law degree and later took over the family business. In the 1920s he married Solange Hubert (1898–1962), with whom he had two children (François-Louis and Armand Cliquet). At the end of the 1930s, his company had to file for bankruptcy. As a result, he began to study medicine, which he was only able to complete after the liberation of France because of the Second World War . During the war he worked for a time in a private clinic in Vierzon.

At the time of the Compiègne armistice on June 22, 1940, he was involved with his wife in the Resistance . Two days before the Wehrmacht had taken Vierzon, from then on the city was divided into two parts. The demarcation line between the occupied and the unoccupied zone ( "État français" ) of France ran along the Cher River , immediately behind Cliquets garden. The cliquets helped French commandos and escaped prisoners to escape from the Germans into the "free zone".

In July 1940, Cliquet was denounced and held in the local prison. For lack of evidence, he was released after five days. Immediately afterwards, he continued his work as a tug and now also helped Resistance fighters, intelligence agents and rescued Allied aircraft crews to cross the border. He himself crossed it repeatedly to deliver messages and documents. With the help of his wife, from December 1940 a member of the Pat O'Leary rescue organization for pilots shot down, he forged necessary documents.

Cliquet worked closely with the organization civile et militaire (OCM) and the British Cinquième Bureau . During his work, he helped up to 1500 people, including 21 British and American airmen, to cross the demarcation line. His actions were known to numerous people, and he himself knew that the German police were suspicious and monitored. In March 1941 she searched his house without success. He and his wife were arrested in August 1942 and released again four days later for lack of evidence.

On March 23, 1943, the German police discovered his address on the papers of an English officer who was a member of an aid organization for British aircraft crews. Cliquet was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo for 17 days in Bourges , but did not divulge any information even under torture . He was then transferred to Fresnes and on September 13, first to Saarbrücken and then to the Buchenwald concentration camp . In its Laura subcamp he was used as a forced laborer in the construction of the " retribution weapons " V1 and V2 . Within three months he saw two thirds of his comrades die there.

In June 1944 he was relocated to Buchenwald and volunteered for a work detachment in Cologne-Deutz in September . From there he hoped to escape and make his way to the Allied liberators. However, an attempt to escape on February 6, 1945 failed; after ten days, Cliquet was caught by the Gestapo trying to cross the Rhine . He was brought to Kaiserau , from where he was able to flee again on April 11th. At Ründeroth he reached the Allied troops.

After the war, Cliquet completed his medical studies and established himself as a doctor in Montreuil-sous-Bois . As a result of his deportation, he died at the age of 65 in the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris and was buried in Vierzon.

Charles Cliquet has received numerous awards, including the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur , the Croix de guerre , the Croix du combattant volontaire de la Résistance , the British King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom and the American Medal of Freedom . He was also appointed Compagnon de la Liberation .

Web links

• Charles Cliquet at ordredelaliberation.fr