In October 1941, 27 Communist hostages (imprisoned by the Republican government during the run-up to WWII and by the Vichy police in the fall of 1941) in the Châteaubriant Internment Camp were handed over to the Nazis and shot by a firing squad in revenge for the murder of the German lieutenant-colonel Karl Hotz on October 20, 1941 in Nantes. The youngest of the 27 hostages, Guy Môquet, was 17 years old. The place of execution, known as the Carrière des Fusillés is one of the principal memorials to the Nazi occupation
in the region.

Châteaubriant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After the occupation of Paris by the Germans and the installation of the Vichy government, Môquet was arrested by the French police as he distributed flyers in his neighbourhood denouncing the new government and demanding the liberation of its prisoners. He was arrested on 13 October 1940, in the Métro station Gare de l'Est by French police who were looking for Communist militants. The police behaved in a friendly way towards him in the hopes that he would reveal the names of his father’s friends
Imprisoned in Fresnes Prison, then in Clairvaux, he was later transferred to the camp at Châteaubriant, where other Communist militants were detained.
On 20 October 1941, the commanding officer of the German occupation forces in Loire-Atlantique, Karl Hotz, was assassinated by three communist resisters. Pierre Pucheu, Interior Minister of the Pétain government, chose Communist prisoners to be given as hostages “in order to avoid letting 50 good French people get shot.” His selection comprised 18 imprisoned in Nantes, 27 at Châteaubriant, and 5 from Nantes who were imprisoned in Paris.
Two days later, the 27 prisoners at Châteaubriant were shot in three groups. They refused blindfolds, and died crying out “Vive la France” (“Long live France”). Guy Môquet, the youngest, was executed at 4PM.





Before being shot, Môquet had written a letter to his parents. His younger brother, Serge - 12 years old at the time - was traumatised by the death of Guy and survived him only by a few days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_M%C3%B4quet

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Thanx Skipper,

definitely a lesser known fact.

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Cheers Kai, I have decided to post a few of these stories from time to time. I hope many people abroad will read about these "smaller" event that were just as terrible as the larger massacres. It is also a way to pay a tribute to the fallen. Note that these guys belonged to the early Resistants, some were arrested as early as 1940.

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to unsung heroes!

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Actulaly Guy Moquet is an Emblem in France. the famous letter he wrote to his parents before being shot is read in schools as a tribute.

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