The Postcard
A postcard published by the Medici Society Ltd. of London. The artwork was by Margaret W. Tarrant. The card was engraved and printed in Great Britain. The card was published in the United States by Hale, Cushman and Flint Inc. of Boston, Mass.
The card was posted in Leatherhead, Surrey on Wednesday the 22nd. October 1941 to:
Miss Susette Jaeger,
'Solar View',
Bookhurst Hill,
Cranleigh,
Surrey.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"Many Happy Returns
of the day.
Love from Ronald".
Margaret W. Tarrant
Margaret Winifred Tarrant was an English illustrator, and children's author, specialising in depictions of fairy-like children and religious subjects. She began her career at the age of 20, and painted and published into the early 1950's.
Margaret was born in Battersea, London on the 19th. August 1888. She was educated at Streatham & Clapham High School and then at the Heatherley School of Fine Art.
Margaret died at the age of 70 in Cornwall on the 28th. July 1959.
The Odessa Massacre
So what else happened on the day that Ronald posted the card? Well, quite a lot, actually.
The 22nd. October 1941 marked the start of the Odessa massacre. The Odessa massacre was the mass murder of the Jewish population of Odessa and the surrounding towns during the autumn of 1941 and the winter of 1942 while it was under Romanian control.
At least 25,000 Jews were shot or burned by Romanian soldiers, Einsatzgruppe SS and local ethnic Germans.
The Sinking of the Darkdale
Also on that day, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary oil tanker Darkdale was torpedoed and sunk at Jamestown, Saint Helena by the German submarine U-68.
A Tokyo Blackout
Also on the 22nd. October 1941, Tokyo conducted its first practice blackout.
U-406
The day also marked the commissioning of the German submarine U-406.
'Candle in the Wind'
Also on that day, the three-act dramatic play 'Candle in the Wind' premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New York City. (.... Elton - the song title is not original!)
Wilbur Wood
The day also marked the birth of Wilbur Wood, baseball player, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Civilian Executions in France
Also on that day, 27 French hostages were shot outside Châteaubriant in reprisal for the killing of a high-ranking German officer in Nantes two days previously.
Guy Môquet
The 22nd. October 1941 was not a good day for the French Communist militant Guy Môquet, because he was executed at the age of 17.
Guy Môquet, who was born on the 26th. April 1924, was taken hostage by the Nazis and executed by firing squad in retaliation for attacks on Germans by the French Resistance. Môquet went down in history as one of the symbols of the French Resistance.
Guy Prosper Eustache Môquet was born in Paris. He studied at the Lycée Carnot and joined the Communist Youth Movement. After the occupation of Paris by the Germans and the installation of the Vichy government, he was denounced on the 13th. October 1940 and arrested at the Gare de l'Est metro station by three police officers of the French Anti-Communist Special Brigade. At the time he was distributing propaganda against the war.
Imprisoned in Fresnes Prison, then in Clairvaux, he was later transferred to the camp at Châteaubriant, where other Communist militants were detained.
On the 20th. October 1941, the commanding officer of the German occupation forces in Loire-Atlantique, Karl Hotz, was assassinated by three communists. Pierre Pucheu, Interior Minister of the government of Marshal Philippe Pétain, chose Communist prisoners to be given as hostages:
"In order to avoid letting 50
good French people get shot."
Pucheu's selection comprised 18 imprisoned in Nantes, 27 at Châteaubriant, and 5 from Nantes who were imprisoned in Paris.
Two days later, the 27 prisoners at Châteaubriant were shot in three groups. They refused blindfolds, and died crying out "Vive la France". Guy Môquet, the youngest, was executed at 4 pm.
Before being shot, Môquet had written a letter to his parents. This moving letter (see below) has become famous in France.
His younger brother, Serge – 12 years old at the time – was traumatised by Guy's death and survived him only by a few days.
Guy Môquet was portrayed in a short film in French, 'La Lettre', released in 2007, with the title role played by Jean-Baptiste Maunier. Môquet is also one of the principal characters in the 2011 film Calm at Sea, which depicts the events that culminated in the execution of the hostages.
The Last Letter
Guy's letter to his parents was as follows:
'My darling Mummy, my adored brother,
my much loved Daddy, I am going to die!
What I ask of you, especially you Mummy,
is to be brave. I am, and I want to be, as
brave as all those who have gone before
me. Of course, I would have preferred to
live. But what I wish with all my heart is
that my death serves a purpose.
I didn’t have time to embrace Jean.
I embraced my two brothers Roger and
Rino. As for my real brother, I cannot
embrace him, alas! I hope all my clothes
will be sent back to you. They might be
of use to Serge, I trust he will be proud
to wear them one day.
To you, my Daddy to whom I have given
many worries, as well as to my Mummy,
I say goodbye for the last time. Know that
I did my best to follow the path that you
laid out for me. A last adieu to all my
friends, to my brother whom I love very
much. May he study hard to become a
man later on.
Seventeen and a half years, my life has
been short, I have no regrets, if only that
of leaving you all. I am going to die with
Tintin, Michels. Mummy, what I ask you,
what I want you to promise me, is to be
brave and to overcome your sorrow.
I cannot put any more. I am leaving you
all, Mummy, Serge, Daddy, I embrace you
with all my child’s heart. Be brave!
Your Guy who loves you.'
A street and a Métro station in Paris were named after Guy in 1946. Many other place names across France also bear his name, and Châteaubriant dedicated a high school to him.
