Châteaubriant: The List of Hostages
On 20 October 1941 in Nantes, communist resistance fighters gun down the Feldkommandant . The occupier immediately demands 50 hostages shot in reprisal, chosen from among the internees. Many are held at the Choisel camp in Châteaubriant: communist and trade-union militants interned by the French administration itself.
The Germans demand the list of hostages. Vichy, through its Interior Minister , prefers to see communist internees designated rather than "national notables." The camp administration is ordered to hand over the designated men. To comply is to spare other heads and "maintain order"; to refuse or to warn them is to risk a German clampdown and one's own life.
The fate of dozens of men is decided in a matter of hours.
Châteaubriant, October 1941, the Choisel camp authorities ordered to hand over 50 hostages: what to do with these men?
The men were handed over. On 22 October 1941, 48 hostages were shot at 3 sites: 27 at Châteaubriant — including , aged 17 — 16 at Nantes, and 5 at Mont-Valérien. They refused the blindfold and fell crying "Long live France." Vichy's role in designating the communists (Pucheu) would count against him at his 1944 trial, which led him to the firing post. The next day, de Gaulle called over the BBC for no more Germans to be killed as long as reprisals struck hostages. Châteaubriant became a symbol of the Resistance.
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