Manuscripts of Charles de Gaulle | EUROtoday

Wenn es in Frankreich einen historischen Staatsmann gibt, auf den sich heutzutage alle Parteien anerkennend einigen können, dann ist es Charles de Gaulle. Im Juli 1940 hatte der gegen die deutsche Offensive kämpfende General in Reaktion auf die Kapitulation und die Besetzung seines Landes von London aus den Widerstand gegen das NS-Regime ausgerufen und die Forces françaises libre (FFI) begründet. Frankreich feierte ihn 1944 als seinen Befreier. Als Staatspräsident und Begründer der Fünften Republik musste er jedoch 1969 von seinem Amt zurücktreten, nachdem ein von ihm anberaumtes Referendum abgelehnt worden war. Er starb 1970, politisch umstritten, mit fast achtzig Jahren.

Jahrzehnte nach seinem Tod gehört es wieder zum guten Ton, sich auf den „Gaullismus“ als hoher Idee von der Souveränität Frankreichs zu berufen. Der Landesbefreier und Chef d’État in Jahren des wirtschaftlichen Aufschwungs ist zu einem Vater der Nation geworden, der auf der wichtigsten Meile der Grande Nation, den Champs Élysées, mit einem Standbild geehrt wird. Dort schreitet er heroisch – auf einem vier Meter hohen Sockel den gemeinen Spaziergänger weit überragend – in seiner unverwechselbaren, etwas steifen Haltung auf die Place de la Concorde zu.

Nearby, at the Artcurial auction house, on December 16th, an extraordinary auction will be held in addition to souvenir items such as medals, badges and personal items, as well as manuscripts with private correspondence, notebooks and manuscripts of the French statesman’s political texts.

The extensive catalog is a historical treasure trove, as excerpts from the manuscripts are quoted in detail in the contributions to the 360 ​​lots. You leaf through Charles de Gaulle’s life and at the same time more than six decades of history. It spans both world wars, which de Gaulle experienced as a professional military man. Prices start at 100 to 200 euros for a small, painted wooden box from the middle of the last century that shows the general in uniform and with two badges of French resistance groups.

One of the most important lots with the highest estimates is a group of manuscripts with heavily corrected drafts of de Gaulle’s first political-military work: “La discorde chez L’ennemi” analyzes the explanations for the German defeat within the First World War and was printed in 1924, as de Gaulle taught on the Saint-Cyr army college (estimate 50,000 to 60,000 euros).

The public sale is organized chronologically. Among the primary heaps from his childhood and youth, a 5 centimeter excessive, time-weathered lead soldier (300/400) is astonishing because the final remnant of a veritable military of round 1,800 army collectible figurines that little Charles had collected. As a youngster, he wrote passionate tales about battle, love and loss of life. “Campagne d’Allemagne” is the identify of a textual content written in 1905, by which – arduous to imagine – a “General de Gaulle” defends his fatherland from a German invasion. The booklet is offered for an estimated 10,000 to twenty,000 euros. In the poem “Je voudrais” the writing self needs to at some point die on the battlefield (1500/2000).

A number of years later, the writings of the younger man, who fought as a primary lieutenant on a battlefield that had now turn into a actuality in 1914, in addition to the lengthy letters to his father or mom present a pointy mind that analyzed political and army occasions and typically commented sarcastically. The mail from German captivity is attention-grabbing to learn in that de Gaulle made a number of daring makes an attempt to flee (between 2000 and 7000). He describes these adventures in a story “Rapport sur mes évasions”. A draft of the report is valued at 15,000 to twenty,000 euros. During his last escape, he hid in a chest of soiled laundry that was being transported from the jail camp.

All heaps come from the property of Philippe de Gaulle’s son, who died final March on the age of 102 after a army and political profession. Part of the proceeds from the public sale will go to the inspiration that Charles and Yvonne de Gaulle based within the identify of their daughter Anne. She suffered from Down syndrome and died on the age of twenty. The basis helps the admission and lifelong assist of individuals with disabilities in specialised amenities.