Georges Picquart was born in Geudertheim, Alsace, in 1854. A bright student of the Lycée Impérial, in Strasbourg, his schooling was interrupted when war broke out with Prussia, in 1870. Following the annexation of Alsace-Moselle, his family fled to Versailles. The trauma of defeat and the effect of being uprooted doubtless played a part in his decision to pursue a military career, which got off to a very promising start: fifth in his year group, he graduated with flying colours from the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr. A brilliant officer committed to republican values, Picquart rose rapidly through the ranks. A highly cultured polyglot, fluent in six languages, he was a regular frequenter of salons, museums and theatres. A music lover, he became a friend of Gustav Mahler, travelling across Europe to attend concerts conducted by him. After a number of campaigns in Algeria and Tonkin (a former French protectorate in northern Vietnam), in 1893 he joined the staff of General Galliffet. It was in this role that he became involved, without playing a central part, in the investigation into Captain Dreyfus, accused of spying for Germany. Alfred Dreyfus was tried behind closed doors by a council of war which, at the end of 1894, stripped him of his rank and deported him for life to French Guiana.

 In July 1895, Georges Picquart replaced Colonel Sandherr as head of counter-espionage in what was known as the “Statistics Section” of the Deuxième Bureau.  In other words, he became head of the French intelligence service. Meanwhile, he taught topography at the École Supérieure de Guerre. A man of few words who respected military order, he was driven by a desire to modernise the army for the sake of technical efficiency. On 6 April 1896, he became the youngest lieutenant-colonel. Trusted by his superiors, his appraisals commended his “friendly, likeable” character, his “very sound” judgment, his “perfect” manners, his “very wide-ranging” education, and his “superior” intelligence. He unquestionably represented the future of the French army.

Everything was to change a year later.

In March 1896, Picquart discovered, in a bundle of papers from the German Embassy, a document that would lead to the reopening of the Dreyfus case. In Picquart’s opinion, this sheet of paper - the famous petit bleu - taken in conjunction with the document unjustly attributed to Dreyfus at his trial, provided irrefutable evidence of the innocence of the Devil’s Island deportee. His mind made up, Picquart undertook with absolute determination to see that the truth prevailed. This sense of a duty of truth, this concept of justice which he set above all other considerations - including an uncertain higher interest of the army - were decisive traits in Picquart’s personality. Relaunching his predecessor’s inquiry, Picquart soon became convinced of Dreyfus’s innocence and of the culpability of Ferdinand Esterhazy. As his conclusions were not in line with the official version of the affair, Picquart’s career came to an abrupt halt: sacked from his post as intelligence chief in October 1896, he was sent on an open-ended tour of inspection around France, followed by Algeria and Tunisia, in a sector so exposed that, on 2 April 1897, feeling in danger, he drew up his will.

But Georges Picquart was unyielding in his quest for the truth, and the humiliations he suffered only made him more determined to seek justice. He aligned himself increasingly with Dreyfus’s supporters, the dreyfusards, which led him in turn to be a target of accusations. It should be noted that war minister General Mercier was himself a fierce anti-dreyfusard. The fact that the French President, Félix Faure, was also hostile to any revision of the Dreyfus case helps give a clearer idea of Picquart’s tenacity. It was because of that tenacity that he was discharged - i.e. dismissed - from the army in February 1898, then arrested and imprisoned for 11 months, from 13 July 1898 to 9 June 1899, for passing on the evidence he had in support of Dreyfus’s innocence to a politician, Auguste Scheurer-Kestner.

A hero for the dreyfusards and a traitor for their adversaries, Picquart played a key role in the Rennes case of 1899, which ended with Dreyfus’s pardon and amnesty. But Picquart, who now had no more than his army discharge pension to live on, did not abandon his fight for the truth: the verdict, which spared the army’s honour without restoring his own, made him sick to the heart. The uncompromising Picquart was ardently opposed to all those he considered too hasty in forgetting the past. On his journey through the wilderness, his only goal was to get his name cleared. Dreyfus must be retried in order for his innocence to at last be recognised; that alone could both erase the injustice done to the degraded captain and make amends for the damage inflicted on the honour and career of the discharged lieutenant-colonel. Picquart’s quest for truth therefore caused his own destiny to become tied to that of Dreyfus.

 On 12 July 1906, the French court of appeal annulled the Rennes judgment, recognising Dreyfus’s innocence and clearing his name. As for Picquart, it was not a case of getting his name cleared, because he had not been convicted. But his military career had come to an abrupt end, and he was determined to obtain recompense. On 13 July 1906, two bills were tabled, one concerning Dreyfus’s reinstatement, the other Picquart’s. Both were passed with a very large majority, in the National Assembly and the Senate. The text of the bill read as follows:

“The proclamation of Dreyfus’s innocence shows that the efforts made loyally and courageously since 1896 by Lieutenant-Colonel Picquart, at the risk of ruining his career irrevocably, to ensure that truth prevailed, were justified. This senior officer, discharged on 26 February 1898, can only be reinstated into the ranks of the military by law. We request, in addition, that you permanently erase the effects of his discharge, promote him to the rank of brigadier, to which 64 officers of the rank of lieutenant-colonel with the same or fewer years of service than he have been appointed, and backdate his appointment to 10 July 1903, the day before the longest-serving of these officers was promoted.”

Justice had been done for Picquart. His honour restored, he progressed once more in his career. Now a brigadier with three retroactive years of service, he was promoted to major-general on 23 October 1906. Meanwhile, the elections brought victory for Georges Clemenceau’s radicals, the very same Georges Clemenceau who had previously worked for L’Aurore, the daily that published ‘J’accuse... !’, Émile Zola’s open letter in support of Alfred Dreyfus. France’s “number-one cop” became prime minister. He knew the Alsatian general well, having witness his strength of character, independence of spirit and courage. To everyone’s astonishment, beginning with that of Picquart himself, he made him his Minister of War.

The former outlaw knew more than anyone else how much the Dreyfus Affair had left marks and divisions within the army. Once in government, he strove to rebuild it more democratically. The new minister made frequent tours on the ground, showing a concern for improving the lives of the ordinary troops through advances in the areas of lodging, food, hygiene, transport and employment conditions. He intended to show the country that the government cared about its soldiers. He improved soldier training and urged Foch and Joffre to modernise the military academies. He worked to reconcile the army with itself and with the nation. His actions eased political tensions and asserted the core values of the Republic. Finally, the guiding principle of his work as war minister was the desire to modernise military hardware, in particular artillery. In late July 1909, with the fall of the Clemenceau government, it was almost with relief that Major-General Picquart left his ministerial functions, despite a more than respectable administration.

After a few months’ freedom which he spent travelling, Picquart was given a command role in February 1910. At the age of 56, he became - what was a constant throughout his career - the youngest commander of an army corps, when he took command of the 2nd Army Corps, stationed at Amiens.

On 14 January 1914, as every day, Georges Picquart set out on horseback. It was 7.30 am, bitterly cold, and the ground had been frozen solid for several days. He mounted Voltigeur, a notoriously agitated horse, accompanied by his flag-bearer. At full trot along a mud track between Dury and Saint-Fuscien, Voltigeur stumbled, then kicked. His rider lost hold of the reins and was thrown to the ground, landing on his head. He got up, quite composed despite considerable bleeding, and, refusing to rest, got back on the horse and set off for Amiens. On arrival at his headquarters, he alighted from his horse and, as usual, did not leave without first giving him a sugar cube. That day and the next, contrary to the advice of his doctor, friends and family, the general was at his post. But his condition deteriorated: the violent fall had caused facial swelling, which got worse, bringing on ever more severe fits of breathlessness. The last one was fatal. Georges Picquart died on the morning of 19 January 1914. He was not yet 60.

The portrait of Georges Picquart by Eugène Carrière is reproduced by kind permission of the Musée Eugène Carrière.

Born in Lons-le-Saunier on 10 May 1760, Claude-Joseph Rouget played the violin and composed instinctively from an early age. He added his grandfather’s “de Lisle” to the end of his name in order to get into the École du Génie in Paris aged 16.

Six years later he graduated as a lieutenant and, after three postings, in 1791 was sent to Strasbourg where, with other officers, he was received into the salons of mayor Dietrich. Tired of hearing “it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine” (the words of the revolutionary song Ça ira !), Dietrich asked the young captain, who already had something of a reputation as a composer, to write a patriotic song. Surprised, Rouget tried to wriggle out of it, but at the insistence of the mayor and officers, he eventually agreed.

On returning home, he took up his fiddle and ran through some arpeggios, while his head pounded with the words he had heard that evening. Gradually a melody took shape and the lyrics were fitted to the music. Exhausted, the composer fell asleep. At daybreak, he went to see the mayor who, astonished by his speed, sat down at the harpsichord and played through the piece. He called the officers who had been present the previous evening and, in a booming voice, sang: “Arise, children of the motherland!” All heartily approved, and Rouget was delighted.

After the proclamation of the Republic, he was reinstated and joined the Army of the North, but was suspended from his captain’s duties and became a target of suspicion. Arrested and imprisoned, almost certainly for criticising the execution of the former mayor of Strasbourg, he wrote a memoir. With the death of Robespierre, he was released.

The decree of the Thermidorian Convention of 26 Messidor Year III (in the Republican Calendar), which chose the Marseillaise as a “national song”, was never implemented.

Reinstated in the army, Rouget de Lisle resigned from his post to devote himself to poetry and music. On 10 Vendémiaire Year IV, his work was performed at the Opéra and the Opéra Comique. Bonaparte asked Rouget to compose him a song, but it was not to his liking and he rejected it. Mortified, Rouget wrote him an arrogant letter. He would never serve the Empire, and once again became an object of suspicion. In 1812, he went to live in the family home in Montaigu (Jura), and compose; in 1817, he moved to Paris where, in 1825, he published a collection of 50 Chants français (French songs).

The Duke of Orléans, an old comrade-in-arms, awarded Rouget de Lisle three pensions, which freed him of any financial worries. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Upon his death, in Choisy-le-Roi, at the age of 77, little did he know that his song would become the national anthem of France in 1879. He was buried in the cemetery of Choisy-le-Roi, and his ashes were transferred to Les Invalides on 14 July 1915.

Marie-Louise Jacotey - Historian

Transfer of Rouget de Lisle’s ashes to Les Invalides, 14 July 1915 © BnF, Distribution RMN-Grand Palais / Photo BnF

In 1859, a young Swiss man named Henry Dunant discovered the horrors of war on the battlefield of Solferino, Italy. He decided to create an international organisation to help people injured in conflicts.

The Red Cross was born.

Born in Geneva on 8 May 1828, Henry Dunant was the son of a very pious and charitable Calvinist family. He dropped out of secondary school and took up an apprenticeship at a Geneva bank. He became involved in social action and dedicated part of his time visiting prisoners and helping the poor.

In 1853, he went to Algeria to head a Swiss colony in Sétif. He sought to build a flour mill, but as he could not get a concession for the land he needed for it to operate, he went to Paris to meet with Napoléon III. But he was leading the Franco-Sardinian troops fighting against the Austrians in northern Italy. Dunant went there to see the Emperor. On 24 June 1859, the day of the battle, he arrived at Castiglione, in Lombardy, a small town near the site of the fighting. The next day he discovered the Solferino battlefield. "At every step, anyone who visited this immense theatre of the fighting the day before saw, in the unprecedented confusion, inexpressible despair and all kinds of misery ". Faced with so much suffering, Dunant took control of the organisation of assistance and managed to ensure that Austrian prisoners would be treated the same way as other soldiers. He also made sure that the Austrian doctors who had been taken prisoner were able to treat the wounded.

Back in Geneva, he wrote Un souvenir de Solferino (A Memory of Solferino, 1862) in which he described the battle and laid out his ideas for improving the fate of wounded soldiers. "Isn’t there a way to set up emergency relief societies whose purpose would be to provide care to the wounded in wartime by impassioned, dedicated, well-qualified volunteers?"

On 17 February 1863, Dunant created a permanent international committee for caring for wounded soldiers which, in 1875, took on the name of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). On 26 October 1863, some fifteen countries took part in the international conference of Geneva that was the Red Cross’s real founding act. Supported by Napoléon III, the committee, for which Dunant was a member and secretary, prepared the Geneva Convention signed by fifteen countries in 1864.

Dunant was now famous and was received by many Heads of State. But his financial affairs were in poor condition – he declared bankruptcy in 1867. Ruined, deep in debt, he had to resign from his position at the International Committee. In Paris, he was reduced to sleeping on park benches. But Empress Eugénie called him to the Tuileries Palace to get his opinion on extending the Geneva Convention to war at sea. Dunant was then named an honorary member of the National Red Cross Societies of Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Prussia and Spain.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he visited the wounded soldiers brought back to Paris and introduced the use of identification tags, or “dog tags”, to be able to identify the dead.

When peace returned, Dunant went to London where he tried to organise a diplomatic conference to rule on the fate of war prisoners; the Czar encouraged him, but England was hostile to the project. On 1 February 1875, at his initiative, an international conference for "the complete and definitive abolition of the trafficking of negroes and the slave trade" opened in London.

The following years were a time of wandering and poverty: Dunant travelled by foot to Alsace, Germany and Italy; he lived off the charity and hospitality of a few friends. Finally, in 1887, he found himself in a small Swiss town overlooking Lake Constance: Heiden.

Ill, he took refuge at the hospice and that is where a journalist found him in 1895 and wrote an article published in the press throughout Europe a few days later. Dunant suddenly became famous and received honours. He received the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. He died on 30 October 1910.

Source :

In Les Chemins de la Mémoire, 196/July-August 2009 

"There will be no peace on this planet as long as human rights are violated somewhere in the world". Thus spoke René Cassin, the great French jurist and one of the fathers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nobody more than he had understood that human rights and peace were inextricably linked.

Descended from an old family of Jewish extraction, René Samuel Cassin was born on 5 October 1887 in Bayonne. After his brilliant studies at Lycée Masséna in Nice, he went to Law School in Aix-en-Provence. With a Licence degree in Literature, he took the first prize of the “Concours Général” of the Law Schools, became a doctor of legal sciences, economics and politics and obtained his “agrégation” degree in private law in 1919.

René Cassin was called up in 1914 as a master corporal. He was seriously wounded by machine gun fire at Saint-Mihiel on 12 October of that year. He received the War Cross with palm and the Military Medal. He was discharged and went on to teach at the university in Aix-en-Provence, then in Marseille, Lille and Paris. In solidarity with his former comrades in arms, he took part in creating one of the very first associations of war victims, in 1917. In 1929, he became the Vice-President of the High Council for wards of the state. He dedicated part of his activities to veterans until 1940 and pushed through several laws in favour of the victims of war.

As a peace activist, René Cassin sought to "erase all borders between men, affording each of them the same inalienable rights and the dignity of being". In 1924, he was a member of the French delegation to the League of Nations. After the Munich Agreement, which he condemned, he refused to take his seat in Geneva. From the early 1930s, having been warned of the dangers of Nazism by German Jews whom he had met during a trip to Palestine, he had foreseen a new conflict in Europe.

The Nobel Peace Prize for this defender of human rights

In June 1940, he refused the idea of an armistice and fled to England, presenting himself to General de Gaulle on 29 June. De Gaulle entrusted him with the mission of negotiating the agreement of 7 August 1940 with the British, an agreement that made de Gaulle a full-fledged ally and gave Free France a status that would later receive the legal and administrative structures that would ensure the continuity of the State and the Republic.

In 1943, at General de Gaulle’s request, he took on the leadership of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, which he was to lead until his death. Secretary Permanent of the Defence Council of the French Empire, President of the Legal Committee of Fighting France, and then of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1941-1944), he was named Vice-President of the Council of State in 1944, a position he held until 1960.

As France’s delegate to the UN, René Cassin was part of a small group of specialists in charge of drawing up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights starting in 1946, which was adopted on 10 December 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris. He played a major role alongside the President of the Commission, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the late President of the United States; he made sure that the Declaration was "universal" and not "international", ensuring acceptance of the idea that economic, social and cultural rights are now considered as fundamental rights.

In January 1959, he was chosen by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe to sit as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights, which he presided from 1965 to 1968. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1968; the prize money enabled him to found the International Institute of Human Rights in 1969.

René Cassin also played an active role in France’s institutional life. In 1958, he presided over the committee in charge of drawing up the Constitution of the 5th Republic and, as President of the Council of State in 1959, he swore in the new President of the French Republic, General de Gaulle. He also played an essential role in creating the Constitutional Council, of which he was a member from 1960 to 1971.

Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Companion of the Liberation, Resistance Medal recipient, and Commander of Academic Palms, René Cassin died in Paris on 20 February 1976. His body was transferred to the Pantheon on 5 October 1987, for the centennial of his birth.

Source : In Les Chemins de la Mémoire, 188/November 2008

After attending secondary school in Paris, Alain Savary graduated with degrees in law and political science, then qualified as a naval staff officer at the École du Commissariat de la Marine.

He participated in the Battle of France as a member of the naval staff, then travelled to Britain where, on 8 August 1940, he enlisted in the Free French Naval Forces (FNFL). With the rank of sub-lieutenant, he became aide-de-camp to the FNFL commander, Admiral Muselier. After the territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon sided with Free France, he was appointed as its governor, with the rank of lieutenant.

In June 1943, Savary was sent to Tripolitania, first on the naval staff, then as commander of the 2nd Squadron, 1st Regiment of Naval Fusiliers, which became an armoured reconnaissance regiment incorporated in the 1st Free French Division. With his unit, he took part in the Italian campaign, the Provence landings and the liberation of France, before being appointed to represent the Companions of Liberation on the Provisional Consultative Committee in October 1944.

In 1945, he was assigned to the Ministry of the Interior and thus embarked on a career as a senior civil servant and politician.

General secretary of the Office for German and Austrian Affairs in 1946, then councillor of the French Union, deputy for Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and Minister for Moroccan and Tunisian Affairs, he was the first secretary of the Socialist Party from 1969 to 1971. Deputy for Haute-Garonne (1973-81) and chairman of the Midi-Pyrénées Regional Council (1974-81), he served as Minister for Education from 1981 to 1984.

Alain Savary was an Officer of the Légion d’Honneur and a Companion of Liberation, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 (with three citations), the Medal of the Resistance and the Silver Star (United States).

Source : MINDEF/SGA/DMPA