Did you know ? In 1940 Hitler had the remains of Napoleon's son repatriated to the Invalides

While listening to the story dedicated to the Invalides, you may have wanted to know more about the repatriation of Napoleon's tomb within this monument, otherwise known as "return of the ashes". In this bonus episode of "At the heart of history" , the history specialist Jean des Cars tells you how 100 years later, a second return of the ashes took place.

Paris, December 15, 1940, 1:20 a.m. The capital, humiliated, dark and silent, is frozen by the occupation, the curfew and the cold. However, at the Invalides, 200 motionless Republican guards form a double hedge and hold a resin torch in their hand. Preceded by motorcyclists, a convoy arrives from Gare de l'Est. What can it be in such dramatic, so to speak clandestine conditions? Witnesses will later say: " This is a historic event which was also, in its simple size, the most impressive of the shows."

Hitler's Ambassador, Otto Abetz, addresses Admiral Darlan, who represents Marshal Pétain: " I give you the ashes of the Duke of Reichstadt. " The admiral thanks, salutes. We hear the fifes of a regiment marching in Place Vauban. Then, silence envelops the Invalides. To coax the French, Hitler agreed that the remains of the son of Napoleon and Marie-Louise, the one who had been called the Aiglon, be transferred from Vienna, where he rested, to Paris. Thus, the father and the son would be reunited in the imperial vault.

In reality, this idea dates back to 1938. Ambassador Abetz, who was already stationed in Paris, defended this proposal. The French defeat had led him to defend it before Hitler, on condition of respecting the date of December 15: it would have been a hundred years since Napoleon had rested at the Invalides. The symbol would be strong.

Despite the circumstances, the ceremony took place under French control. Several generals, members of the Empire nobility, journalists acquired by the collaboration and a few personalities like Sacha Guitry attend this amazing solemnity. It is in memory of the imperial prince, titled king of Rome but died in Vienna under the Austrian identity of Duke of Reichstadt, carried away by tuberculosis at 21 years old.

It was by a special military train, a van of which had been transformed into a burning chapel, that his bronze coffin left Vienna. According to the ancient imperial rite of the Habsburgs, only part of the body was transferred from Vienna to Paris. The heart and viscera were to remain in Austria. They are still there.

Hitler's gesture was symbolic and strong. It is hardly appreciated by Parisians. We do not rush at the Invalides. The population shows neither recognition nor enthusiasm for this pompous ceremony. Even if Napoleon's only legitimate son, like his father, had not been cremated, this second "return from the ashes" is greeted with indifference bordering on contempt and with irony, playing on words. The next day, by allusion to the cold, a joke circulated: " We are running out of coal and we are being sent ashes!"

At the heart of history is a Europe 1 Studio podcast

Author and presentation: Jean des Cars
Project manager: Adèle Ponticelli
Sound recording and production: Guillaume Vasseau and Laurent Sirguy
Distribution and editing: Clémence Olivier
Illustration: Europe 1 Studio
Direction Europe 1 Studio: Olivier Lendresse

Bibliographic references

André Castelot and Alain Decaux History of France and the French from day to day, volume VIII, 1902-1969 (Perrin, 1977).
Jean Favier, from the Institut Paris, 2000 years of history (Fayard, 1997).

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