Robert Davezies

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Davezies (* 1923 in Saint-Gaudens , Haute-Garonne Department ; † December 23, 2007 ) was a French Roman Catholic theologian , worker priest and supporter of the Algerian liberation fighters of the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN).

Live and act

After studying Catholic theology, Robert Davezies was ordained a priest for the diocese of Tarbes and Lourdes on June 29, 1951 . He also received a degree in mathematics and literature and entered the main seminar in 1945 . After his appointment as chaplain in Lannemezan (High Pyrenees ) he wanted to join the labor priests. He was refused this request because the Vatican had decided to stop this experiment . In 1953 he was sent to the Mission de France , continued his physics studies and from 1955 worked in the physics laboratories of the Ecole normal supérieure , an elite university-level school in Paris . He was actively involved in a network in support of the Algerian national liberation front FLN, the "November 3rd Movement". He took part in the exchange and dialogue between these groups and was also active in the “ Red Aid ”.

Regardless of his own safety, he became involved in the "Jeanson" resistance group, which was dedicated to the struggle for the liberation of Algeria. His commitment ranged from the smuggling of activists from the French resistance group into Spain , Germany , Belgium and Switzerland, collecting money, writing and distributing anti- colonialist literature to supporting militant actions such as the one against Minister Jacques Soustelle , an unyielding one Oppressor of the Algerian aspirations for freedom.

When the resistance group "Jeanson" was hit hard by several arrests, he continued to help the FLN as part of the resistance group of the Egyptian Henri Curiel . Davezies also took part in the creation of the "Young Resistance", a network for French deserters and military refractors who fled to Switzerland. In January 1961, he was arrested by the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) - a security service operating inside France - and sentenced to three years in prison. He met other French and Algerian resistance fighters again in Fresnes prison . There he learned of the signing of the treaties of Évian , which ended the Algerian war in March 1962. He later says:

"On that day I realized that people have the power to influence the course of history."

Louis Aragon had taken on his defense, and in a letter circulated by the anti-colonialist press he wrote to the labor priest's lawyer: “Please tell Abbé Davezies, whom I have not the honor of knowing personally, mine deep gratitude for what he does, what he is, that he belongs to the active part of our fatherland, which perhaps one day helps to forget that there were torturers who called themselves French. "

When he was a free man again, Robert Davezies stood up for the anti-colonialist fighters and their amnesty , which only came into force in 1966. He was involved in and with the national liberation movements , especially the Angolan . His involvement in the resistance had led him to his fundamental decision to “cast off the fetters of the yoke”, as he himself said.

Davezies found access to the Christian Peace Conference (CFK) and took part in the V. and VI. All-Christian peace meetings that took place in Prague in 1978 and 1985 . There he was elected to the Continuing Work Committee in 1985.

Twenty years after his friend and campaigner was murdered, Davezies published an appeal entitled May 4, 1998 - Henri Curiel - 20 Years After . With this appeal he asked for an explanation of the circumstances of the murder of the Egyptian Henri Curiel, who was a communist and a Jew. Curiel had campaigned for a Palestinian-Jewish dialogue early on , but also supported the Algerian FLN, which is why he was imprisoned in Paris. After the end of the Algerian war, he brought his Algerian experience to the liberation movements and anti-fascist groups, where he met with worker priests, pastors and trade unionists . On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his murder, Davezies and others demanded that this murder be investigated through access to the secret service files.

Abbé Davezies died in 2007. Several “porters” (as Jean-Paul Sartre called the FLN helpers) and Algerian fighters, such as the historian Mohammed Harbi , came to his funeral to honor his memory.

Works

  • The Front (Minuit, 1959), 1961 at Volk und Welt
  • Les Abeilles (Minuit, 1963)
  • Les Angolais (Minuit, 1965)
  • La Rue dans l'Eglise (Epi, 1968)
  • Echanges et dialogue ou la Mort du clerc (L'Harmattan, 1975)
  • La Saint-Jean d'été (Minuit, 1977)
  • Camion ou le voyage d'hiver (Minuit, 1978)
  • Clairières: Lettre à Yves Burdelot sur la Reine de carreau (L'Age d'Homme, 1996)
  • L'eau et le vin (Maspero, 1981)
  • Véroniques (L'Age d'Homme, 1991)
  • La Reine de carreau (L'Age d'Homme, 1993).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Davezies. Retrieved December 9, 2017 (French).
  2. ↑ a b Robert Davezies est mort. In: L'Humanité . January 3, 2008, archived from the original on September 30, 2008 ; Retrieved December 9, 2017 (French).
  3. ↑ Les sympathisants. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012 ; Retrieved December 9, 2017 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Davezies, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French labor priest and peace activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint-Gaudens , Haute-Garonne department
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 2007