Pierre Durand (resistance fighter)

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Pierre Durand (born August 30, 1923 in Mulhouse ; † May 6, 2002 in Paris ) was a French communist , fighter in the Resistance , prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp and president of the International Buchenwald-Dora Committee and Commands .

Life

At the age of 18 Durand joined the Communist Resistance. At the age of 20 he was arrested by the Gestapo , then interrogated, and from January 1944 was imprisoned in a camp in Compiègne .

In May 1944 he was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was given prisoner number 49,749. Here he took part in the prisoner resistance and became a member of the International Camp Committee (ILK). He came into contact with “political prisoners” and experienced their help and solidarity . Durand campaigned for German and French prisoners to work together and also acted as an interpreter. After the liberation of the prisoners by the 3rd US Army , he spoke the "Buchenwald Oath" in French on April 19, 1945.

Even after his return to France , he remained active in pursuing the goals that the liberated prisoners swore to advance the " building of a new world of peace and freedom ". From 1982 to 2001 he was President of the International Buchenwald-Dora and Commands Committee. After the election of his successor, he was appointed honorary president . Many times after the liberation of the camp he came to Buchenwald to remind the following generations of the legacy of the survivors: We will only stop the fight when the ultimate culprit stands before the judges of the nations! . In particular, he warned against the moral equality of the Soviet special camp 2 and the Nazi concentration camp on Ettersberg . At a hearing of the " Commission of Inquiry for Overcoming the Consequences of the SED Dictatorship in the Process of German Unity" at the Buchenwald Memorial on October 14, 1994, on behalf of the International Buchenwald Committee u. a .:

“ If there have been unjustified internments , then justice should be done . But no alibi should be offered to the Nazi rampage . It is clear that there can be no cooperation whatsoever between us and the defenders of our executioners . This idea in itself is strange. There would be nothing so inconsistent in Oradour or Lidice , to give just these two examples. "

He made his last public call to those born after him in April 2001 with a speech at the memorial's bell tower , where he declared:

“ We are not the mourners in history . We are living proof that the struggle for freedom , peace and happiness is always possible. Our long life has taught us that one must never give up, that one must hold in the heart the flame of hope and the will to build a better world, a world worthy of humanity. We expressed this wish with our oath on April 19, 1945. Now you need to put it into action. "

Publications

  • Les armes de l'espoir. Les Francais a Buchenwald et a Dora (German: The French Resistance in Buchenwald and Dora) , Paris 1977

literature

  • Emil Carlebach / Willy Schmidt / Ulrich Schneider (eds.): Buchenwald a concentration camp. Reports - Pictures - Documents , Bonn 2000, p. 111, ISBN 3-89144-271-8 .
  • Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports , Berlin 1983
  • Harry Stein, Buchenwald Memorial (ed.): Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937 - 1945 , volume accompanying the permanent historical exhibition, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 978-3-89244-222-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from: Hans Daniel: Memories of Pierre Durand: Resistance fighters of the first hour . In: Junge Welt, May 22, 2002. Anti-Semitism website, accessed June 18, 2011
  2. ↑ Quoted from: Speech by Pierre Durand, 1st preface. of the ILK Buchenwald / Dora on the occasion of the anniversary of self-liberation 2001 on www.nadir.org. Retrieved June 18, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Durand, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French fighter in the Resistance
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Mulhouse
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 2002
Place of death Paris