Jean-Pierre Timbaud
Encyclopedia
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
section of the Confédération Générale du Travail
Confédération générale du travail
The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.It is the largest in terms of votes , and second largest in terms of membership numbers.Its membership decreased to 650,000 members in 1995-96 The General...
(CGT). He took part in the strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
s which preceded the Popular Front
Popular Front (France)
The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...
. During the Second World War, he joined the Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
and organized clandestine trade union committees.
Jean-Pierre Timbaud was executed by the Germans on October 22, 1941, along with 26 other Communist
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s detained in Châteaubriant
Châteaubriant
-Coat of arms:Two coats of arms are attributed :*First Pale: Blue, three gold fleurs de lys, Pales split in two by a shortened staff with a red hache....
, in punishment of the October 20 execution of Feldkommandant Karl Hotz, commander of the German troops in the Loire-Inférieure region, who was assassinated in Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
by Resistants. Guy Môquet
Guy Môquet
Guy Môquet was a young French Communist militant. During the German occupation of France during World War II, he was taken hostage by the Nazis and executed by firing squad in retaliation for attacks on Germans by the French Resistance...
, 17 years old, was also part of the executed communist hostages, as well as Charles Michels, a Communist deputy of the XVe arrondissement
XVe arrondissement
The 15th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France.Situated on the Rive Gauche of the River Seine and sharing the Montparnasse district with the 6th and 14th arrondissements, it is the city's most populous arrondissement...
of Paris. Some say Jean-Pierre Timbaud died crying out “Long life to the German Communist Party
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
!”, while Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
declared during the Riom Trial
Riom Trial
The Riom Trial was an attempt by the Vichy France regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic had been responsible for France's defeat by Germany in 1940...
that he had sung the Marseillaise before the firing squad. Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.- Early life :...
also stated: “The name of Timbaud among the Châteaubriant hostages was to be my direct reason, my individual reason to accept the clandestine duty which fell on me.”
Jean-Pierre Timbaud’s name has been given to a street of Paris (it was also the name of a street in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
, but the street was renamed after the reunification of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
and the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
).
External links
- Le Procès de Riom: Eloge de Jean-Pierre Timbaud et des combattants de Stalingrad, Léon BlumLéon BlumAndré Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
’s statement in favor of Timbaud during the Riom TrialRiom TrialThe Riom Trial was an attempt by the Vichy France regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic had been responsible for France's defeat by Germany in 1940...
- Biography on Timbaud
- "Berlin: Jean-Pierre Timbaud indésirable", in L'HumanitéL'HumanitéL'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
, September 22, 1990 (search for "Jean-Pierre Timbaud" on L’Humanité’s English website for translations). - On 1936 strike organized by Timbaud, in L’Humanité, July 25, 2006
- "Châteaubriant, assassinat politique de 27 ôtages", in L’Humanité, October 20, 2001 (with the list here of the 27 executed hostages)