In a saga that stunned France half a century ago, a group of admirers of French Nazi collaborator Philippe Petain stole his coffin from the Atlantic island where he died in prison to bury him alongside World War I heroes at Verdun.
The grave robbers want to return Petain to the best site where, as a general, he led France to victory over Germany in the longest battle of the 1914-1918 war.
They hope to restore the honor of the tainted general, who was convicted of treason for leading the collaborationist government of Vichy France during World War II but avoided the death penalty because of his old age.
He had been dead 22 years when his right-hand cell was revived on the night of February 18, 1973, in the Port-Joinville cemetery on the windswept Ile d’Yeu.
After a three-day national police manhunt, which reignited the debate over the legacy of the World War I hero-turned-World War II criminal, Petain’s body was traced to a garage on the outskirts of Paris.
– Fallen heroes –
For years, Petain’s admirers were shocked by his decision to bury their hero on Ile d’Yeu on France’s Atlantic coast.
Petain died there in 1951, six years after serving a life sentence for collaborating with the Nazis.
Petain asked to be buried in Verdun, together with those who died, but his wish was denied by the hero of the Resistance of World War II and then president Charles de Gaulle.
His final resting place is at the corner of the Port-Joinville cemetery, in a tomb covered with a white stone slab marked “Philippe Petain, Marshal of France” and surmounted by a white cross.
The mastermind behind the attack was far-right lawyer and failed presidential candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour.
But Hubert Massol, the advertising man, who led the operation to remove the coffin from the vault, opened it in a van and took it by ferry to the mainland.
Six people make light work of tombstones.
But they were tired.
They chipped the corner of the slab and then roughly closed it back in place, a detail that immediately caught the attention of the grave guard in the morning round.
At lunchtime, the news came out: “Unknown perpetrators have opened Marshall Petain’s tombstone,” AFP announced in a high-priority bulletin.
– find the coffin –
A nationwide manhunt was launched for a Renault van that had arrived on the island two days before Petain’s body was stolen and abandoned in the morning. Speculation was rife as to who was behind the robbery.
Opinion in the pro-Petain camp on the action was divided with some, like Petain’s lawyer Jacques Isorni, condemning the men’s guerrilla-style tactics.
On the way with the valuable cargo, the body robbers have a setback – the former pro-Petain parliamentarian who offered the use of the chateau in exchange for a vehicle, has disappeared when they arrive at his home.
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Realizing that the authorities were in pursuit, he abandoned the Verdun plan and headed for Paris where the coffin was kept in a locked garage in the suburb of Saint-Ouen.
The first person to be arrested was Solange Boche, a market trader who drove a van to the island, with others quickly following.
As the net tightened, Massol called a press conference saying that he would reveal the whereabouts of the remains of Petain if then president Georges Pompidou gave permission to be buried in Verdun’s Douaumont war memorial.
Massol was immediately arrested and questioned, agreeing to lead the police to the garage.
A furious Pompidou ordered that the coffin be immediately brought back to Ile d’Yeu where it remains to this day.
No charges were brought against the grave robbers, as the government feared that the trial would arouse sympathy for Petain.
The ghost of the fallen general did not disappear. To this day in France, Petain remains a controversial subject, with sharp divisions even within his own family with those who believe he should be remembered not for Vichy but for the Verdun victory.
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President Emmanuel Macron entered the debate in 2018 when he slammed attempts to “manipulate” Petain’s memory and said he was a “great soldier” in WWI.