80 years later, the apartment where the National Council of the Resistance was created preserves the memory of Jean Moulin

Wilfried Devillers / Photo credit: Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP 10:13 am, May 27, 2023

That was 80 years ago to the day. On May 27, 1943, the CNR, the National Council of the Resistance, began its activities on the first floor of 48, rue du Four in Paris, with a first meeting led by Jean Moulin. 80 years later, Europe 1 pushed the door of this apartment that has since become a publishing house.

"We were really close to the enemy"

On this Thursday in May 1943, Jean Moulin and 16 of his companions met in this apartment to found the CNR. An office of which only a large original window remains today. Hanging on the wall, a photograph takes us back to 1943. "It's a shot of the table, a large table, a little dining room table," says Véronique Leblond, the administrative director of the publishing house that now occupies the apartment.

>> LISTEN ALSO - Jean Moulin, hero of the Resistance

"I think they obviously sat there. We recognize the window," she adds, pointing to the courtyard window, the only way to flee in case of Gestapo raid. "Just step over the ledge to access a small roof terrace that communicates with others. Knowing that the Hotel Lutetia, where the Gestapo was, is next door. We were really close to the enemy."

Keeping the memory of the place intact

No raid that afternoon, but Jean Moulin will be arrested in Caluire, near Lyon, a few days later. A portrait of the resistance fighter and the first members of the CNR was installed in the entrance to keep the memory of the place intact.

The President of the Republic asked that the graves of the participants in this first meeting of the CNR be flowered every May 27.