Jacques Lusseyran II

In 1943, the work of the "Volunteers of Liberty" caught the attention of the "Defense de la France"; an official Resistance group connected with Charles deGaulle and the Free French forces. The "Defense de la France" had more funds, its own print shop, trucks disguised as delivery wagons, an organized editorial board, a radio transmitter and a channel to the deGaulle government in London. The "Defense de la France" had everything the Volunteers lacked.




When Jacques was contacted by a leader of Defense de la France, he agreed to meet with him. Accompanied by Georges, they met Phillipe, the leader in the back room of a small restaurant. Jacques immediately liked the relaxed manner of the big man with the warm friendly voice, calm manner and keen sense of humor. Phillipe had solutions to difficult problems and talked of the advantages of merging the "Volunteers of Liberty" with the Defense de la France". Their main task would continue to be the distribution of a secret newspaper. "Le Tigres" was to become a real newspaper called "Defense de la France.



The "Volunteers" merged with the "Defense" and for the next six months, Jacques and Georges met with Philippe every day. They planned a complicated system of drop-offs, mailboxes and hidden communication and both Jacques and Georges became members of the executive committee.



As part of a major group, Jacques no longer felt alone or isolated, but he found the work to be harder and more demanding, One hundred thousand copies of "Defense de la France" a two page newspaper were to be printed and distributed all over France. Every article was carefully reviewed for its power to impress readers and make them aware that there was an active French resistance. The paper was filled with articles telling people of the brutal treatment and torture of arrested resistors, the slaughter of Jews in the death camps and appealing for

passive resistance to Nazi orders.



On February 16, 1942 the Nazi government issued the order, demanding that all young Frenchmen over 21 years be sent to Germany as forced labor. Thousands of young men were sent to Germany, the only exceptions were students and heads of families. The order strengthened the Resistance movement and the "Defense de la France" grew. Eighty young people, including Georges became professional underground operators. Francois was placed in charge of resistance in Brittany.



The members of the "Defense de la France" were young men and women who carried the secret to all parts of France at the risk of their lives. Georges and Jacques were responsible for the distribution of the newspaper in Paris. The two friends agreed that if one were arrested, the other would carry on the work.



The office where the newspaper was printed came under Gestapo suspicion and for three days, everyone who came out of the office was followed. The young people working with Jacques learned how to avoid being followed, they would go into a bakery and leave by the back door, board a subway train and exit at the next stop. They led the spies down false trails, while the equipment was packed up in small trucks with signs, "fragile" "meteorological" or "optical" equipment" were pasted on the outside of the trucks and a new print shop was prepared and the distribution of "Defense de la France" was resumed.



The government of Free France, established in Algiers, asked resistance groups to coordinate their efforts as much as possible. Jacques met with leaders of other groups including the famous writer, Albert Camus, who worked for the group called "Combat ". The work was dangerous; the students could be betrayed at any time. Still in charge

of recruitment, Jacques was taken by surprise a young man named Elio, who came to his home without prior notification.



The group was looking for someone to coordinate the distribution of the newspaper to the industrial and mining communities in the north and Elio, a native of the north was willing to give up his studies to devote himself full time to the resistance movement. Elio had good recommendations, but something about him aroused Jacques' suspicions. His heavy handshake and low voice lacked honesty and conviction and Jacques did not trust him. Phillipe said they could not afford to be too cautious and against his better judgment, Jacques reluctantly agreed and Elio joined "Defense de la France, " went to the city of Lille in the north and established a network for the distribution of the newspaper.



Thousands copies of "Defense de la France" were being distributed throughout France. Jacques and Georges were busy with distribution activities in Paris until the morning in July 1943 when two officers and four armed soldiers knocked on the door of the apartment in the Boulevard Port Royal. Heading straight for Jacques' rooms, they sent his Braille papers flying. Jacques worried that his parents would be arrested too. They knew of his activities and never did anything to discourage him. He felt relieved that he was the only one arrested.



At Gestapo headquarters, Jacques discovered that the Nazis had a record of every one of his activities from the day Elio joined "Defense de la France". When they took him to the Fresnes prison, his suspicions were confirmed. It was a mass betrayal; every one of his friends except Philippe had been arrested.



He was taken from Fresnes to Gestapo headquarters 38 times, he was threatened with death, beaten, and questioned from 7 o'clock in the morning to 7 o'clock, but he was resolute and determined not to give them any information. In July, he was sent to Buchenwald. Starved and sickly, Jacques tried to keep up his spirits and those of his friends. Knowing German and Italian, he even translated for other prisoners.



The United States Third Army liberated Buchenwald in April 1945. Jacques was one of thirty survivors of the 2,000 people who were arrested at the same time he was. He and Phillipe were the only leaders of the "Defense de la France" to survive the war. The newspaper of the "Defense de la France became the "France Soir", one of the most important daily newspapers in France.



Jacques returned to the university and his studies and his fight to be admitted to the Ecole Normale Superieur. Finally admitted to the elite school, graduated and took a teaching position in Paris. In the 1950's he moved to the United States and taught Literature at Western Reserve University and the University of Hawaii. He was tragically

killed in a tragic automobile accident when he was only 47 years of age.