Conseil national de la Resistance

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Conseil national de la Résistance (CNR: National Resistance Council) was the organ that opposed the various movements and groups of the Resistance , the press , the trade unions and members of political parties that opposed the Vichy regime and the German occupation , from 1943 coordinated and directed.

The CNR under the direction of Jean Moulin

The first President of the CNR was Jean Moulin, delegated by General Charles de Gaulle . After the defeat of France, de Gaulle had directed his ardent appeal on June 18, 1940 against the armistice Marshal Pétain and for the continuation of the war to his compatriots. As a result, various groups and movements of the Resistance emerged spontaneously in the underground .

Indeed, apart from the Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTP) and other groups close to the Communists , the groups of the Resistance were often disorganized and, according to the leaders of free France, insufficiently coordinated. The Maquis in particular had no relationships with one another and the isolation of the Resistance groups prevented jointly organized, successful actions.

Jean Moulin, a confidante of de Gaulle, became the general's representative on January 1, 1942, in the unification of the Resistance groups in the motherland. After Moulin had succeeded in several steps in uniting these groups, he returned to England from mid-February to mid-March 1943 to consult with de Gaulle and the other representatives of France in exile about the next steps. Together with Jacques Bingen , Moulin developed the idea of ​​creating a kind of underground parliament in which a common political program and a common strategy of actions could be agreed between the various groups. Every resistance political party and grouping should have a seat and vote in this body. In a gigantic effort, Moulin managed to get the CNR to meet for the first time on May 27, 1943 in René Corbin's apartment on the first floor, rue du Four 48 in the 6th arrondissement of Paris .

Members of the CNR on May 27, 1943

On May 27, 1943, Moulin opened the first session of the CNR with his two collaborators, Pierre Meunier (1908–1996) and Robert Chambeiron (1915–2014). The following representatives of the eight major Resistance movements took part:

There were also representatives from the two large pre-war unions:

In addition, the CNR also included representatives of the six most important political parties of the Third Republic :

Three important Resistance leaders were missing: Emmanuel d'Astier from Liberation Sud and Jean-Pierre Lévy from Franc-Tireur were unable to attend because they were in London at the time. Combat's Henri Frenay had refused to attend.

Robert Chambeiron explained the political significance of the meeting:

“ After June 27, the Americans could no longer doubt de Gaulle's legitimation . France became a full member of the Allies and under this title it presented itself as the victorious power at the surrender of the German Reich on May 8, 1945 . On the other hand, the Allies had to give up their plans for a separate (interim) administration of France after the liberation . And because there was the CNR and de Gaulle, France took one of the five permanent seats on the UN Security Council after the founding of the United Nations one . "

The CNR according to Jean Moulin

Shortly after the constitution of the CNR was its president, Jean Moulin in Caluire-et-Cuire from the Gestapo arrested. He was tortured by Klaus Barbie himself for three days and died while being transported to Germany without revealing anything to his tormentors. His silence prevented the Nazis from smashing the CNR. Nevertheless, this experience meant that further plenary sessions were dispensed with for security reasons and an executive office of five members was founded under the direction of the new General Representative Alexandre Parodi and Georges Bidault as the new President, each representing his own political currents and two other political currents. On September 15, 1944, Louis Saillant succeeded at the head of CNR Bidault.

In addition, the CNR formed a large number of commissions and committees that had to perform different tasks:

  • the Comité d'Action contre la Déportation (German Action Committee against Deportation ) fought against the forced labor of the Service du travail obligatoire ,
  • the Comité des Actions Immédiates coordinated acts of sabotage,
  • The Comité des Œuvres Sociales de la Résistance (COSOR, German Committee of the Social Works of the Resistance), headed by RP Pierre Chaillet, helped the families of imprisoned members of the Resistance,
  • the Noyautage des Administrations Publiques (NAP) committee obtained forged documents,
  • the Commission de la Production Industriel tried to fight economic collaboration and the economy of shortages ,
  • the Commission de Ravitaillement was responsible for the procurement of supplies .

The CNR's political program

The CNR commissioned the Comité général d'étude to prepare a political platform for France after the liberation. After brief negotiations, the Conseil National de la Résistance's program for profound social renewal was adopted. The influence of communist groups such as the Front National on the document - particularly on Section II - came e.g. B. expressed by the following intentions: "After the liberation of the territory measures are to be applied", which establish a true social democracy under an economic planification with a strong decentralization .

Among the measures envisaged and applied after the liberation were the nationalization of the energy supply ( Électricité de France ), insurance ( Assurances Générales de France ) and banks ( Crédit Lyonnais , Société Générale ), the creation of the Sécurité Sociale social security and the socialization of Renault ... These measures were fundamental social achievements of France from the second half of the twentieth century to the present.

In the first months after the Liberation, eleven Département Councils of Liberation (provisional institutions replacing the Vichy administration at the département level) refused to be replaced by the new prefectoral administration set up by the Provisional Government of France. The institutions formed from resists demanded the application of the CNR program, which ended after the first elections because the French as a whole demanded a return to the usual structures ( centralism , conseils généraux). From 1946 to 1947, no department council effectively played a role.

Culture of remembrance

The anniversary of the founding assembly, May 27 , was established in France by law of summer 2013 as the "Journée nationale de la Résistance", a national national day of remembrance. On this day in 2015, the remains of four members of the Resistance will be transferred to the Panthéon , the highest posthumous decoration in the country.

Web links

Wikisource: complete French text of the program of the Conseil national de la Résistance  - sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel Cordier: Jean Moulin. L'Inconnu du Panthéon , Volume 1 of 3. Une ambition pour la république. Juin 1899 - Juin 1936 . Paris, J.-C. Lattès, 1989. p. 198.
  2. ↑ L'Humanité, May 27, 1943