Lettre de Guy à sa famille – 22 octobre 1941

This letter is causing controversy in France:

“Ma petite maman chérie,
mon tout petit frère adoré
mon petit papa aimé”

“Je vais mourir ! [1] Ce que je vous demande, toi, en particulier ma petite maman, c’est d’être courageuse. Je le suis et je veux l’être autant que ceux qui sont passés avant moi. Certes, j’aurais voulu vivre. Mais ce que je souhaite de tout mon cœur, c’est que ma mort serve à quelque chose. Je n’ai pas eu le temps d’embrasser Jean. J’ai embrassé mes deux frères Roger et Rino. Quant au véritable je ne peux le faire hélas ! J’espère que toutes mes affaires te seront renvoyées elles pourront servir à Serge, qui je l’escompte sera fier de les porter un jour. A toi petit papa, si je t’ai fait ainsi qu’à ma petite maman, bien des peines, je te salue une dernière fois. Sache que j’ai fait de mon mieux pour suivre la voie que tu m’as tracée.

Un dernier adieu à tous mes amis, à mon frère que j’aime beaucoup. Qu’il étudie bien pour être plus tard un homme.

17 ans 1/2, ma vie a été courte, je n’ai aucun regret, si ce n’est de vous quitter tous [2]. Je vais mourir avec Tintin, Michels. Maman, ce que je te demande, ce que je veux que tu me promettes, c’est d’être courageuse et de surmonter ta peine.

Je ne peux en mettre davantage. Je vous quitte tous, toutes, toi maman, Serge, papa, en vous embrassant de tout mon cœur d’enfant. Courage !

Votre Guy qui vous aime

Guy

Dernières pensées : “Vous tous qui restez, soyez dignes de nous, les 27 qui allons mourir ! [3]

For those who don’t speak French here are the key parts:

[1] I am going to die.

[2] 17 and a half years old, my life is to be short, I have no regrets, if only I didn’t have to leave you.

[3] My last thoughts: You all who remain, be worthy of us, the 27 that will die!

Guy Moquet was a resistance fighter. He joined after France fell and was turned over to the Germans by the Vichy regime. After a German officer was killed by the resistance, the German occupation forces demanded that 27 prisoners be executed as a collective punishment. Guy Moquet was the youngest of those executed.

This is now controversial because President Sarkozy as his first order of business wants to make this letter mandatory reading in all French schools. From the Post (not on line, but from Kim Willsher, May 28, p.A3):

Mr. Sarkozy was moved to tears when a young student read out the leter at the Bois de Boulogne ceremony. “A 17-year-old who gives his life to France – it’s an example not of the past, but of the future,” he said. “I have never been able to read the letter by Guy Moquet without being profoundly moved,” he added

Teachers around France have refused to read the letter to their students. Again from the Post:

“I will not be reading Guy Moquet’s letter to my pupils,” said Pierre Schilli, a history teacher in Montpellier. He said that doing so risked turning the history of Moquet into an “emotional reflex” of limited educational use, and a carricature, and added: “Leave history teachers the autonomy to teach the Resistance their own way.”

I wonder how he teaches his students about the resistance? However it is, I bet you a nickle that France doesn’t come out of that looking well.

I found an article from Le Figaro by a French teacher. He’s clearer than Mr. Schilli on why he won’t teache Moquet to his students:

I will not read it because for thirty years, school has taught them nothing but contempt and mistrust of the past. I will not read it because this letter shames me, shames me by contrasting the maturity of a teenager from sixty years ago and the teenagers of today who have been infantilise by our schools. I will not read it because our children are unaware of the events to which it refers…

Here’s that letter (in French)

UPDATE: English translation of Guy Moquet’s letter

My dear, sweet mother, my little baby brother that I adore, my dear
father that I love–I am going to die! What I ask of you, especially my
dear mother, is to be courageous. I am, and I want to be as courageous
as those who went before me.

Sure, I would have liked to have lived. But what I wish for, with all
my heart, is that my death means something. I didn’t have time to hug
Jean. I hugged my two brothers Roger and Rino [note: his
brothers-in-arms]. As for you, I’m afraid that I can’t! I hope that
all my things will be sent to you–Serge can use them; I trust he will
be proud to wear them one day. To you, dear father, if I ever gave you
or dear mother any trouble, I praise you one last time. Know that I did
the best to follow the path you set out for me.

One last goodbye to all of my friends, to my brother whom I love
dearly. He should study hard so that one day he will become a man.
Seventeen and a half years old–my life was short, I have no regrets,
other than leaving you all. I will die with Tintin, Michels. Mother,
what I ask of you, what I want you to promise me, is to be courageous
and to rise above your pain.

I can’t add any more. I’m leaving you all, all of you, mother, Serge,
dad–my child’s heart holds you in its arms. Courage!

Your Guy who loves you.

PS – “Final thoughts: You who remain, be worthy of us, the 27 who will die!” I suspect Sarkozy’s fondness for the letter comes, in large part, from that last sentence.

Filed under: Conservative, France, Politicians, Politics, The left