Fort Mont-Valérien

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fort Mont-Valérien (Fort du mont Valérien or simply Mont-Valérien) is a fortress in Suresnes a western Paris suburb, built in 1841 as part of the city's ring of modern fortifications. The fortress defended Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, and remained the strongest fortress protecting the city, withstanding artillery bombardments that lasted several months. The surrender of the fortress was one of the main clauses of the armistice signed by the Government of National Defense with Otto von Bismarck on January 17th 1871, allowing the Germans to occupy the strongest part of Paris' defences in exchange for shipments of food into the starving city. During the Second World War, the fortress was used as a prison run by the Nazi occupiers of Paris, and was used for executions during the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944. It overlooks the Bois de Boulogne. Built in 1841, it has played an important role in French history. Colonel Henry of army intelligence, a key player in the Dreyfus Affair, was confined at the prison of Mont-Valérien in 1898. The day after being confined, he cut his throat with a razor left in his possession, taking with him to the grave his secret and that of a great part of the affaire (August 31, 1898) (see Resolution of the Dreyfus Affair).

During World War II, the Germans brought prisoners here in a truck from other locations. The prisoners were incarcerated in an unused chapel, and were later taken to be shot in a clearing a hundred yards away. The bodies were then buried in various cemeteries in the area of Paris.

[edit] People executed by the Nazis at Mont-Valérien

Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves
Joseph Epstein
Missak Manouchian and the Affiche Rouge group
Gabriel Péri

[edit] Fort Mont-Valérien as a Memorial

The site now serves as a national memorial. On June 18, 1945, Charles de Gaulle consecrated the site in a ceremony. Today, the locality in front of the "Mémorial de la France Combattante", a reminder of the French Resistance against the German occupation forces, has been named Abbé Franz Stock. During the German occupation, Stock took care of condemned prisoners here, and mentions 863 executions occurring at Mont-Valérien in his diary.