Guy Môquet was seventeen when he was shot at Châteaubriant, in October 1941, among the hostages chosen after the Nantes attack. The letter he wrote to his parents the day before is still read in French schools today, and it is through that letter that his name survived. The monument that shelters him calls him “Guy MOCQUET, 17 ans étudiant”, with a C his name never had.
The story
The letter he wrote to his parents before being shot is read regularly in French schools. It is through that text that his name survived — the name of a schoolboy of seventeen.
Born in 1924, the son of a communist deputy, Guy Môquet was arrested in October 1940 for communist activity, at sixteen, and imprisoned. After the attack at Nantes, the occupier picked hostages from among the political prisoners: he was one of them, and was shot at Châteaubriant on 22 October 1941.
The monument in Division 97 does not name him individually. The inscription is a couplet followed by a dedication: “Gloire à notre France éternelle, Gloire à ceux qui sont morts pour elle. Aux héros et martyrs de la Résistance, fusillés par les nazis.” — glory to our eternal France and to those who died for her; to the heroes and martyrs of the Resistance, shot by the Nazis. This part of the cemetery honours groups, not names. The schoolboy of seventeen is one of the martyrs there, with no name of his own.
The grave
A collective monument, whose inscription is a couplet followed by a dedication: “Glory to our eternal France, Glory to those who died for her. To the heroes and martyrs of the Resistance, shot by the Nazis.” Then comes the list of the twenty-seven men shot, where he is named “Guy MOCQUET, 17 ans étudiant” — the stonecutter added a C his name never had. A later plaque spells it correctly and gives his date of birth, and another joins his brother Serge to him.
On site, do not miss
Look for his name in the engraved list: “Guy MOCQUET, 17 ans étudiant”, a seventeen-year-old student, with one C too many. A later plaque spells it without the C, and gives him back his date of birth.
Visitors' questions
Where is Guy Môquet's grave?
In Division 97, avenue Circulaire, first row — the sector of the Resistance fighters and the communists. The inscription is a collective one: “Aux héros et martyrs de la Résistance, fusillés par les nazis” — to the heroes and martyrs of the Resistance, shot by the Nazis. He was shot on 22 October 1941, aged seventeen.
Robert ChambeironWhy was he shot?
As a hostage: arrested in October 1940 for communist activity and imprisoned, he was picked out from among the political prisoners after the Nantes assassination. He was seventeen.
Colonel FabienWhat became of his farewell letter?
A symbol of the Resistance: the letter he wrote to his parents before he was shot is regularly read aloud in French schools. It is the text through which his name has lived on.
Paul Vaillant-CouturierWho was his father?
A communist deputy — and that parentage counted: it was as a communist activist that the son was arrested in 1940, at sixteen, before being taken hostage the following year.
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