Jean Moulin

Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months later.

A prefect in Aveyron (1937–1939) and Eure-et-Loir and for his efforts to unify it under Charles de Gaulle. He was tortured by German officer Klaus Barbie while in Gestapo custody. His death was registered at Metz railway station.

Early life

Jean Moulin was born at 6 Rue d'Alsace in Béziers, Hérault (Bouches-du-Rhône), the village his parents came from. He spent an uneventful childhood in the company of his sister, Laure, and his brother Joseph. Joseph died after an illness in 1907. At Lycée Henri IV in Béziers, Jean was an average student.

In 1917, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law of Montpellier, where he was not a brilliant student. However, thanks to the influence of his father, he was appointed as attaché to the cabinet of the prefect of Hérault under the presidency of Raymond Poincaré.

Military service during World War I

Moulin was mobilised on 17 April 1918 as part of the age class of 1919, the last class to be mobilised in France. He was assigned to the 2nd Engineer Regiment of Montpellier. At the beginning of September, after an accelerated training, he headed with his regiment to the front in the Vosges, where he was posted in the village of Socourt.^:43.

His regiment was preparing to go to the front lines as part of the attack planned by Foch for November 13, but the Armistice was signed on November 11^:43.

Although Moulin did not fight directly on the front lines, he was nevertheless in a position to observe the horrors of war. He saw its aftermath on the battle fields, the devastation of villages and the state of prisoners of war. He helped to bury the war dead in the region around Metz.^:47.

While still enlisted after the War, he was posted successively to Seine-et-Oise, Verdun and Chalon-sur-Saône. He worked as a carpenter, a digger and later a telephonist for the 7th and 9th Engineer Regiments.

He was de-mobilised in November and, on 4 November 1919, immediately resumed his post as attaché at the préfecture of Hérault, in Montpellier^:52.

Interwar years

After World War I, Moulin resumed his studies of law. His position as attaché at the préfecture of Hérault allowed him to finance his university studies while also providing a useful apprenticeship in politics and government. He obtained his law degree in July 1921^:52. He then entered the prefectural administration as chief of staff to the deputy of Savoie in 1922 and then '' sous-préfet'' of Albertville from 1925 to 1930.

After his proposal of marriage to Jeanette Auran was rejected, Moulin, then aged 27, married a 19-year-old professional singer, Marguerite Cerruti, in the town of Betton-Bettonet in September 1926. The marriage did not last long. Cerruti quickly became bored and Moulin responded by offering her further singing lessons in Paris, where she disappeared for two days. Biographer Patrick Marnham cites one of the causes of the divorce being Moulin's mother-in-law, who had wanted to prevent her estate passing into Moulin's control upon Cerruti's 21st birthday. Moulin attempted to hide this rejection by excusing his wife's disappearances and not informing his family until after his divorce.

Moulin was appointed ''sous-préfet'' of Châteaulin, Brittany in 1930. At the same time, he published political cartoons in the newspaper ''Le Rire'' under the pseudonym ''Romanin''. He also illustrated books by the Breton poet Tristan Corbière, including an etching for ''La Pastorale de Conlie'', Corbière's poem about Camp Conlie where many Boon soldiers died in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. He also made friends with the Breton poets Saint-Pol-Roux in Camaret and Max Jacob in Quimper.

In 1932, Pierre Cot, a Radical-Socialist politician, named Moulin his second in command or ''chef adjoint'' when he was serving as Foreign Minister under Paul Doumer's presidency. In 1933, Moulin was appointed ''sous-préfet'' of Thonon-les-Bains, parallel to his function of head of Cot's cabinet of in the Air Ministry under President Albert Lebrun. On 19 January 1934, Moulin was appointed ''sous-préfet'' of Montargis, but he did not assume the office and chose to remain under Cot. In the first half of April Moulin was appointed to the Seine ''préfecture'' and, on 1 July, he took his place as secretary general in Somme, in Amiens. In 1936, he was once more named chief of cabinet of Cot's Air Ministry of the Popular Front. In that capacity, Moulin was involved in Cot's efforts to assist the Second Spanish Republic by sending it planes and pilots. For the Istres- Damas-Le Bourget race, he presented the winners with their prize; Benito Mussolini's son was one of those winners. He became France's youngest ''préfet'' in the Aveyron ''département'', based in the commune of Rodez, in January 1937. It has been claimed that during the Spanish Civil War, Moulin assisted with the shipment of arms from the Soviet Union to Spain. A more commonly-accepted version of events is that he used his position in the French air ministry to deliver planes to the Spanish Republican forces.

Experience as Préfet during the early part of World War II

In January 1939, Moulin was appointed prefect of the Eure-et-Loir

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