Fort Mont-Valerien retouched for brightness

Fort Mont-Valérien ( French: ''Forteresse du Mont-Valérien'') is a fortress in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud a ...

, a western

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

suburb, built in 1841 as part of the city's ring of modern fortifications. It overlooks the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...

History

Before Thiers built the fortress, Mont Valérien was home to hermits. Since the 15th century a community of hermits lived on the slope of Puteaux similar to the one of Chartreux: private cells, communal holy Mass and holy Office, perpetual silence. Manual labor and prayer divided the days equally. The fortress defended Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, and remained the strongest fortress protecting the city, withstanding

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

bombardments that lasted several months. The surrender of the fortress was one of the main clauses of the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

signed by the

Government of National Defense The Government of National Defense (french: Gouvernement de la Défense nationale) was the first government of the Third Republic of France from 4 September 1870 to 13 February 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War. It was formed after the proclam ...

with Otto von Bismarck on 17 January 1871, allowing the Germans to occupy the strongest part of Paris' defences in exchange for shipments of food into the starving city. Mont-Valèrien played a key role in the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

in 1871. The

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

failed to secure it after the first withdrawal of the regular army from Paris. After their return on March 21st, the army used the fort as an important base for the subjugation of the Commune during the ''

Semaine Sanglante The ''semaine sanglante'' ("") was a weeklong battle in Paris from 21 to 28 May 1871, during which the French Army recaptured the city from the Paris Commune. This was the final battle of the Paris Commune. Following the Treaty of Frankfurt ...

'', or 'Bloody Week.' Colonel Henry of army intelligence, a key player in the

Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

, was confined at the prison of Mont Valérien in 1898. The day after being confined, 31 August 1898, he cut his throat with a razor that had been left in his possession, taking to the grave his secret and that of a great part of the ''affaire Dreyfus''. (See Resolution of the Dreyfus affair.) During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the fortress was used, from 1940 to 1944, as a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

and place of execution by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupiers of Paris. The Germans brought prisoners to the prison in trucks from other locations. The prisoners were temporarily confined in a disused

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, and later taken to be shot in a clearing 100 metres away. The bodies were then buried in various cemeteries in the Paris area. More than 1,000 (some figures say 4,500) hostages and

resistants The Resistants, also known as Mutant Force, are a supervillain group appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They were originally the second incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants, but have become completely independent ...

were executed by the Nazis.

Executions during World War II

The 1,014 recorded executions by the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

'' at Mont-Valérien between 1941 and 1944 were all men as a French law, observed by the Germans, prohibited execution of women by firing squad. Olga Bancic, condemned to death as a member of the

Affiche Rouge The ''Affiche Rouge'' (Red Poster) is a notorious propaganda poster, distributed by Vichy France and German authorities in the spring of 1944 in occupied Paris, to discredit 23 immigrant French Resistance fighters, members of the Manouchian Gro ...

group, was then deported to Stuttgart where she was beheaded by axe. The immense majority were members of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, including: *

Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves (, 3 June 1901 – 29 August 1941) was a French Navy officer and one of the major heroes of the French Resistance, said to be the "first martyr of Free France". Early life He was born in Verrières-le-Buisson ...

, 29 August 1941; * Gabriel Péri, 15 December 1941, among a group of 70 men (including 53 Jews) shot that same day; *7 members of the ''

Groupe du musée de l'Homme The ''Groupe du musée de l'Homme'' (French for 'Group of the Museum of Man') was a movement in the French resistance to the German occupation during the Second World War. In July 1940, after the Appeal of 18 June from Charles de Gaulle, a resis ...

'', 23 February 1942: Boris Vildé, Anatole Lewitsky, Pierre Walter, Léon-Maurice Nordmann, Georges Ithier, Jules Andrieu, and René Sénéchal; * Georges Paulin, 21 March 1942; * Georges Politzer, 23 May 1942 * Jacques Decour, 30 May 1942 * Valentin Feldman, 27 July 1942, who shouted to the German soldier before being shot : "Imbéciles, I am dying for you too!" * Nicolae Cristea, 9 March 1943 * Missak Manouchian, Joseph Boczov, Léon Goldberg, Thomas Elek and 19 other members of the ''

'' group, 21 February 1944;Three photographs of the execution of the group, taken by Wehrmacht non-commissioned officer Clemens Rüther, were published i
the French daily newspaper, ''Le Figaro''
on 11 December 2009: * Joseph Epstein, 11 April 1944; *93 prisoners, 11 August 1944, the largest and last sorted execution at Mont-Valérien.

Memorial

The site now serves as a national memorial. On 18 June 1945, Charles de Gaulle consecrated the site in a public ceremony. The area in front of the "

Mémorial de la France combattante The Mémorial de la France combattante (Memorial to Fighting France) is the most important memorial to French fighters of World War II (1939–1945). It is situated below Fort Mont-Valérien in Suresnes, in the western suburbs of Paris. It commem ...

", a reminder of the

against the German occupation forces, has been named Square Abbé Franz Stock. During the German occupation, Stock took care of condemned prisoners here, and he mentioned 863 executions at Mont Valérien in his diary. There is also an American military cemetery on the site, which contains the remains of 1,541 American soldiers who died in France during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Notes

Sources

Order of the LiberationLe Mont-Valerien website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Mont Valerien Mont-Valerien Defunct prisons in Paris History of Hauts-de-Seine Buildings and structures in Hauts-de-Seine Dreyfus affair 1841 establishments in France Monuments and memorials in France World War II memorials in France Tourist attractions in Île-de-France Tourist attractions in Hauts-de-Seine Buildings and structures completed in 1841 Suresnes