July 8, 1943: Jean Moulin is executed by the Nazis. He was the leading figure in the French Resistance.
Jean Pierre Moulin was born on June 20, 1899 in Béziers, in Occitain on the Mediterranean coast. He became a lawyer, and served in World War I. He rose through the French national government, and, during the Spanish Civil War, used his position in the Air Ministry to send planes to the Spanish Republic, a move that didn't help the Republic, much, but boosted his credibility in France's political left.
The Nazis invaded Paris on June 14, 1940. Three days later, the arrested Moulin because he refused to sign a false declaration that three Senegalese tirailleurs had committed atrocities, killing civilians in La Taye. In fact, those civilians had been killed by German bombings. Beaten and imprisoned because he refused to comply, Moulin attempted suicide by cutting his own throat with a piece of broken glass. This act left him with a scar he would often hide with a scarf, giving us the image of Jean Moulin by which he often is remembered today. The suicide attempt did not succeed because he was discovered by a guard and taken to a hospital for treatment.
Moulin joined the Resistance sub-organization Free France, and traveled to London, where he met the exiled General Charles de Gaulle, whom he briefed on the state of the Resistance. de Gaulle put Moulin in charge of coordinating and unifying the Resistance.
Moulin united them under the name Moucements Unis de la Résistance (MUR), eventually becoming the Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR). His work convinced Communist groups to join, having previously refused due to de Gaulle's conservatism. de Gaulle considered this unity a step toward forming a Fourth Republic, to take the place of the Third Republic that had fallen to the Nazis.
On June 21, 1943, Gestapo agents raided a Resistance leaders' meeting. in Caluire-et-Cuire, outside Lyon. Moulin was among them. It came to be believed that one of the other leaders betrayed Moulin for a more lenient sentence. They were sent to Montluc Prison in Lyon, and Moulin was tortured by local Gestapo head Klaus Barbie. He fell into a coma, and was being transported to Germany for trial when he was discovered to be dead as the train sat in the station at Metz. He was 44 years old.
Barbie, known to the French as "The Butcher of Lyon," almost got away with it. U.S. intelligence services appreciated his anti-Communist efforts, and aided his escape to the South American nation of Bolivia, where he advised the fascist dictatorship on the proper use of torture, and became one of the most sought-after surviving Nazi war criminals.
In 1983, with the election of a leftist party, Barbie was arrested and extradited to France, where he was convicted of crimes against humanity. The American TV show Saturday Night Live had a field day with his surname, showing black-and-white photos of a Barbie doll in a Nazi uniform. Klaus Barbie died in prison in 1991.
In the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, American conservatives took to suggesting that the French are cowards, who easily surrender. Nothing could be further from the truth. In World War I, they fought for 4 years to keep Imperial Germany from taking over, until American troops could arrive to turn the tide. In World War II, they were technologically overwhelmed, and did the only thing they could do: Surrender, and then resist from within, fighting the Nazis on their own terms until, again, America could send troops in to liberate them. They never really surrendered.
And Jean Moulin was a big reason why. Even after his first meeting with Moulin, Charles de Gaulle wrote of him, "A great man. Great in every way." That opinion never changed for as long as de Gaulle lived, until 1970.
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July 8, 1943 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Hank Borowy allowed only 4 hits, and the game's only run scored on a groundout by Luke Appling in the bottom of the 1st inning.
Orval Grove (no relation to Lefty) came within 1 out of a no-hitter, but Joe Gordon doubled in the 9th inning, so, despite his superb effort, the result of the game was still in doubt at the end. Grove also walked 3 batters, and the White Sox also made an error. Grove pitched from 1940 to 1949, all with the White Sox, going 63-73 for his career, and was named to the 1944 All-Star Game.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-2 at Ebbets Field.
* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Cincinnati Reds won the opener, 7-5. The Philadlephia Phillies won the nightcap, 1-0. Merrill May singled Coaker Triplett home in the bottom of the 14th inning. Dick Barrett allowed 9 hits over 14 innings to win. Ray Starr allowed 3 hits over 10 innings to keep the Reds in it, before Joe Beggs pitched the last 4 and lost it.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 5-2 at League Park in Cleveland.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-1 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.)
* The St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* The Boston Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Braves Field in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 22. The Cards swept, 6-1 and 5-1. Stan Musial 4-for-9 with a walk and an RBI over the 2 games.
* And the New York Giants and the Chicago Cubs were not scheduled.
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