ETRETAT:
HISTORY ON THE WALL –MAURICE MARCEL GUILLARD
Hunting for
memorial plaques on walls is a thrilling activity. I appreciate the hunt. Last
week the small town Etretat in Normandy, France was an object for my private research. The content
of one of the plaques was easy to understand because the text was also in
English. The second plaque caused problems. Who was the man who gave his life
for the fight of France: Maurice Marchel Guillard. He was born June 4, 1895. He
died in a German concentration camp April 5, 1945. He was executed by the
Germans because of his active work in the French resistance movement. He was
shot. But who was the man? I have searched for information about him without
any facts except the official report of those who were killed during the war. Maurice
Marchel Guillard: Facts and photos wanted.
1 comment:
Maurice Marcel Guillard was almost the role model for star of the BBC's Allo Allo sitcom: Rene Artois. Maurice was a hotelier who ran a popular restaurant. He worked for the Resistance between 1942 and 1944, reporting on German defences along the coast of Normandy. He was arrested on 14th March 1944 and was used by the retreating Germans as a slave labourer until 15th April 1945, when he was executed in Marienburg (near Dresden, Germany), along with 56 other exhausted prisoners. Maurice was awarded the Legion d'Honneur.
https://www.havrais-en-resistance.fr/view/admin/entry/33000/?pagenum=65
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