Pineau, a trade unionist whom his bank had dismissed after a strike, wrote in December 1940 the first issue of an underground newssheet and founded Libération-Nord. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and deported to Buchenwald, he came back. Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1956 to 1958, he signed for France the Treaty of Rome, the birth certificate of the Common Market.
The story
A bank clerk sacked for taking part in a strike in 1938, a trade unionist, Christian Pineau wrote the first issue of an underground newspaper as early as December 1940 and founded the Libération-Nord movement. He made his way to London, came back, and argued with de Gaulle for bringing the resistance movements and the parties together — what would become the National Council of the Resistance.
Arrested by the Gestapo in May 1943, he was deported to Buchenwald, and came back from it. A Companion of the Liberation, he was then a Socialist deputy for the Sarthe and several times a minister under the Fourth Republic.
Foreign minister from February 1956 to May 1958, he crossed two opposite files: the Suez expedition, a diplomatic disaster, and the building of Europe, in which he believed deeply. With Maurice Faure he signed for France the Treaty of Rome of 25 March 1957, the birth certificate of the Common Market.
He wrote as well, children's tales among other things — Plume et le saumon, L'Ourse aux pattons verts. He died in 1995; his funeral was held at Saint-Louis-des-Invalides and he was buried in Division 97.
On site, do not miss
A discreet minister's grave in the middle of a militant plot: the neighbours tell the story of the Resistance better than the stone.
Visitors' questions
Where is Christian Pineau's grave?
In Division 97 of Père-Lachaise, in the memorial sector backing onto the Communards' Wall, where Resistance fighters, deportees and left-wing leaders of every stripe lie side by side. He was buried there after his funeral at Les Invalides, in April 1995.
Robert Chambeiron, of the National Council of the ResistanceWho signed the Treaty of Rome for France?
Christian Pineau, then foreign minister, and Maurice Faure, his junior minister. The signing took place on 25 March 1957 on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, and founded the European Economic Community.
Édouard DaladierWas Christian Pineau in the Resistance?
Yes, from 1940. A trade unionist, he wrote one of the first underground newspapers and founded the Libération-Nord movement. Arrested in May 1943 and deported to Buchenwald, he came back, and was made a Companion of the Liberation.
Léon JouhauxDid Christian Pineau write books?
Yes, a war memoir — La Simple Vérité, the plain truth — but also children's tales, among them Plume et le saumon and L'Ourse aux pattons verts. He also published an account of the Suez crisis, which he had lived through from the front row.
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