Rassemblement national des prisonniers de guerre

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The Rassemblement national des prisonniers de guerre (RNPG) (German association of French prisoners of war ) was a resistance network made up of prisoners of war during the Second World War , which François Mitterrand began to build up in spring 1943 after his release from the service of the Vichy government . For this purpose, he used a network of personal contacts with former prisoners of war with whom he had contact during his German prisoner-of-war camp, from which he fled in December 1941.

In this collective movement, the former prisoners of war had joined General Henri Giraud , who had escaped from a German prison . General Giraud was in competition with Charles de Gaulle over the leadership of the French resistance. Not least because of the charisma and personality of François Mitterrand, the RNPG retained its independence from other resistance organizations consisting of former prisoners of war. Mitterrand, who met de Gaulle in Algiers after fleeing from the German security service (SD) assigned to him , refused any cooperation with his nephew, Michel Cailliau , who also led a resistance organization made up of prisoners of war.

It was only after his return to France via England by ship that Mitterrand, the union of the RNPG with the other two large resistance groups, the Communists and the Gaullists , agreed to the National Movement of Deportees and Prisoners of War MNPGD (Mouvement national des prisonniers de guerre et déportés) under his leadership to.

According to an anecdote, the fight for the independence of the RNPG should have cost him an early high government office. When de Gaulle moved into Paris as part of the liberation , several men were introduced to him who were to become members of the provisional government. Mitterrand was among them as General Secretary of the Prisoners of War. When they met, de Gaulle is said to have whispered "Not you again!" Mitterrand was released 15 days later.

bibliography

  • Christophe Lewin: Le Retour des prisonniers de guerre français. Naissance et développement de la FNDPG. 1944-1952. Publications de la Sorbonne 1986.
  • Pierre Péan: Une jeunesse française. François Mitterrand, 1934–1947. Ed. Fayard 1994.