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Resistance and Betrayal: The Death and Life of the Greatest Hero of the French Resistance

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Marnham admits that the character and personal life of Jean Moulin are at best vague and little of these aspects of the man are known. He then proceeds to build a highly speculative picture of Moulin, largely derived from secondary sources, and drags in the usual "was he a communist agent or was he not?" nonsense. Having just completed a reading of "France: The Dark Years 1940 to 1944" by Julian Jackson, by far the best comprehensive coverage of that miserable era in French history, I found Marnham's book, journalistic and amateurish. It adds nothing new and revives a few red herrings.
What lacks is a framework for the events related For example, much is made of Moulin's reception of the Germans as a Prefet, when he acted 'correctly' and cooperatively. No mention is made by the author of the terms of the armistice whereby officials were constrained to behave 'correctly'. Another important element in the situation of France in 1940 that goes unexplained or remarked is the reliance France had placed on having an agreement with the Soviet Union to protect, as in WW1, against a 100% German effort dircted against her. The mission to effect this, with the Brits as partners, was delayed and delayed due to British dragging of feet. Stalin found it was easier to gain the time he needed by making an agreement with the future enemy. However, the desire to have a mutual defense pact with the USSR renders the behavior of people like Pierre Cot explicable in terms other than 'communist agent' or betrayal. I find the lack of background and framework leads to inconclusiveness and even an element of misinterpretation of events and people. It detracts considerably from whatever value the book may have. In the first 20 pages, I found several errors of fact and in later pages contradictions about Moulin himself. If anyone is interested, I will be happy to point them out.

I was enthusiastic when I found this book since English books on Resistance are few, and books about Moulin are very rare. But I was to be disappointed.

The author claims to seek the real man behind the legend of Jean Moulin, who became the symbol of French Resistance, and it is a very worthwhile objective indeed except that it is impossible. So after he admits that very little is known about Moulin, he proceeds to fill these unknowns with conjectures built on conjectures, and it soon becomes clear that the purpose of this book is not to find the human and real Moulin, but to discredit the left-wing of Resistance at his expense.

Jean Moulin is French JFK. Now universally admired, he is shadowed by circumstances of his betrayal and death, and numerous conspiracy theories have crept up. Only difference is: here in America, a crackpot theory that LBJ is behind the plot wouldn't get any ink in the mainstream. But in France, most ridiculous assertions are taken seriously because Moulin is used by both the right and left wing to discredit one another. So in recent years, it has been alleged that Moulin is a Soviet agent, an OSS(pre-CIA) agent, an anti-Gaullist, etc with the most tenuous "evidence". While Moulin has not yet been accused of being a Nazi mole, the author insinuates possibility that Moulin betrayed himself (along with 7 other Resistance leaders) in this book. So finally, the whole ground is covered.

His right-wing tendencies and contempt toward the Republic and all it stands for is quite obvious from the first pages and color the whole presentation. His most assertions are easily refutable by anyone familiar with Resistance history, but unfortunately this book is most likely to be the first book on Resistance to most of readers, and that's why I'm getting riled.

I'll give just a few of many examples.
Simply put, the author's assertion that the communist party is most likely betrayer of Moulin just doesn't hold water. I don't subscribe to the conspiracy theory that royalists betrayed Moulin either, but at least that theory has some basis if only tenuous one. So in order to bolster his theory, the author strives to make Moulin a crypto-communist, which is solely based on Moulin's connection to Pierre Cot.

The author makes a big deal of Moulin's contact with Cot's associates after the Fall of France. Considering that Moulin spent most of his career in local governments and his only stint in national politics was with Cot in Air Ministry, it is not surprising that Moulin met Cot's associates for informations on resistance organizations nationwide. But to the author's mind, this is a proof that Moulin was interested only in communist organizations. The author admits that even if all his assertions turn out to be true (and they are not) that it doesn't mean that Moulin was a communist. However, later in the book, he flatout states that Moulin was more concerned with the future of Soviet Union than France.

There is no doubt that Mouin was a left-wing republican, sympathetic to the cause of Spanish republic. He even smuggled French aircrafts to Spanish republic to aid their cause (in what is close to our Iran-Contra scandal). However, we simply cannot know what Moulin's opinion was regarding communism and Soveit Union at the time. What is definitely known is that when Germany and Soviet Union signed Non-Aggression Pact, Moulin as a prefect, clamped down on the communists. When Vichy government decreed anti-Jewish laws, Moulin dragged his feet in enforcing it and interned no one, but when it came to communists, he showed less reluctance.

The author mentions these facts, as well as the fact that a Soviet informer reportedly incorrectly that Moulin was an OSS informer, but they are not taken into account when he insinuates that Moulin provided sensitive information to Soviet Union. Nor does he find it contraditory to claim that this Soviet informer was close associate of Moulin.

Secondly, the author is skeptical of veracity of biographical or personal accounts - including Moulin's - and rightly so, yet he loses objectivity when it comes to negative accounts made by Henri Frenay This is even more surprising since these accounts are from Frenay's book that was specifically written to discredit Moulin long after Moulin's death.

No same courtesy is shown to Moulin. The author admits that Moulin's accounts (about his time as a prefect) are all true in the areas that can be verified by facts. But when it come to areas that can't be verified, like what went on in Moulin's mind when he cut his throat, the author is skeptical and ready to assume the worst.

I could go on and on. And maybe I will when I finish the book, if only because this book is a most widely available book on Moulin, and that's a shame.

This book along with Ted Morgan's AN UNCERTAIN HOUR, should be on your must reading list if France during the Nazi occupation is of any interest.

Exposing the many competing factions that made up the resistance movement and how even the common German enemy could not prevent them from working for their own interests first and France's second.

His chapter dealing with excesses of the resistance forces during the L'epuration was the most interesting to me, as the french populace had no time to rejoice for the removal of fascist terror, as they were immediately confronted with communist inspired terror led by the resistance. The many acts of terror comitted by the resistance have never received the condemnation that they deserve, as well many Vichy police officials were able to segue smoothly into the new french government apparatus and were able to avoid any examination of their wartime activities.

This book was disturbing to me, in that as in life as well as war, many people acclaimed as heroes were not heroic, and that sadly many of the real heroes will never get their just recognition for their own bravery and selflessness.

Marnham's style makes this read more like a detective novel and less like the non-fictional historical book that it is.

I have known of Jean Moulin for about 2 months now. On a recent trip to France, I "tripped" over him so many times that I had to read more about him. "Resistance and Betrayal" is a moving and complex look at this complex man and his complex times.

The Moulin I encountered in Chartres and elsewhere in France was a handsome man in a fedora and natty scarf. He was tortured by the Nazis, survived the despairing cutting of his own throat, won the trust of De Gaulle and rallied the disparate and demoralized elements of the French resistance. It's a compelling and inspiring story. And in Marnham's telling, at least partly a mythical. To find out who was the real Jean Moulin, one has to look much deeper, and essay an excruciating journey into the soul of a man and a nation at war - with itself as with the external enemy.

I am clearly no Moulin expert, and have no idea whether Patrick Marnham's study is accurate or not. The Moulin he paints is a secretive and cagey fellow, certainly not one to leave reams of evidence around for a biographer to sift. Indeed, there are many gaps in the story, which Marnham fills in with conjecture. Moulin travels to Paris to visit a mistress. But his first stop is to a known agent of the Soviet government. Does this indicate Moulin's political sympathies? His desire to keep up with old friends? Or something else entirely? At first I was aghast that my new-found hero might have spurious motives and nefarious friends. But Marnham's telling is so even-handed and seemingly fair, that I let the pile of seeming contradictions and evasions settle into the form of a man.

Marnham starts the book with Moulin's arrest and death at the hands of the Gestapo, perhaps even that of the notorious Klaus Barbie - the Butcher of Lyons. For those of us who are not familiar with Moulin's story, this ordering of Moulin's life was a necessity. Only after establish Moulin's bona fides as a hero and martyr does Marham circle back to Moulin's early life. In this day and age, only those who are closeted would be offended at Moulin's bad-boy youth and playboy lifestyle. The truly great are not usually the virtuous or abstemious, but often those who enjoy of life's earthly pleasures, entwining their political and moral passions with fleshly ones. An angel's heart almost by necessity beats in the breast of a human animal. Marnham paints Moulin as conventionally ambitious (he was the youngest sub-prefect in France), artistic (he published cartoons under the pen name Romanin) and petulant as a youth. But in this mishmash of the wannabe bad boy were the makings of a hero as wily as Odysseus.

In Marnham's telling, France during the Second World War was deeply troubled and scarred. With the help of hapless leaders, a relatively weak and immature German fighting force had overrun the nation in a few weeks. Politically, the country was riven by hideous divisions. Royalists and staunch Catholics wanted a strong leader. Communist and their sympathizers reveled in the fall of France, as the first collapse of western capitalism. Socialists and secularists, to whom Moulin has nominally attached, strove to enact republican goals. Betrayal and assassination between the groups was not uncommon. Once the Germans arrived, the French factions continued to squabble, now factoring the enemy into their machinations. As a descendant of French Canadians, I found this Gallic mischief galling, abhorrent and embarrassing. But it was the world in which Moulin lived and worked.

In the end, regardless of his "real" motives and ambitions, Moulin lived and died a hero. His likely ambition to land a high government job after the war came to nothing. His life and work transformed for many into the that of a plaster saint, a cardboard hero or a political prop. Cheers to Patrick Marnham for showing Moulin the man -- petty, passionate, cunning, brilliant, loyal and ultimately patriotic. A man who answered his country's call when too few others did the same.

Every person capable of reading "Resistance and Betrayal" needs to read Jean Moulin's example of character and humanity at its highest level. Every high school and college student needs to understand his granite will, the demands of such a great freedom quest, and the ability of one human being to take on the daunting task of freeing his homeland from tyranny. Moulin shows that one person with a vision can indeed make a difference.

When I saw the face of Jean Moulin on the Cover of "Resistance and Betrayal," tears erupted from my eyes on down my face. The instant emotion shocked me, forced me to pick up the book. The tears still come every time I see the face of Jean Moulin.

Why? Jean Moulin is one of the few heroes who took responsibility out of goodness rather than vainglory. Jean Moulin cared so much for the freedom of his Beloved France that he suffered until death to achieve this grand goal and become the greatest hero of the French Resistance.

As an artist, Jean Moulin speaks to my heart and soul. I must paint him, create him in an image that speaks to his greatness.

Read Jean Moulin through Patrick Marnham and come away knowing that greatness is possible for any human being determined to realize a vision for the good of the people of a country, like Moulin, like Ghandi.