On this day of commemoration of the armistice of November 11, 1918, Hubert Germain will have the right to the honors of the Republic. One month after his death, at the age of 101, the last Companion of the Liberation will be buried this Thursday at Mont Valérien, in the presence of Emmanuel Macron.
Two ceremonies will follow one another, at the Arc de Triomphe then at Mont Valérien, the main place of execution of resistance fighters during the Second World War, where the body of the eminent resistance member, who died on October 12, will be buried in the crypt of the memorial. of fighting France.
Cellar n ° 9 as the last resting place
In June 1960, by inaugurating this memorial at Suresnes in the Hauts-de-Seine, Charles de Gaulle had expressed the wish that the vault n ° 9 of the crypt be reserved for the last of the members of the Order of the Liberation, that he had created to “reward the persons or the military and civil communities which will have distinguished themselves in the work of liberation of France and its empire”. Only 1,038 people, including six women, received the title of Companion of the Liberation. Hubert Germain, who then became a Gaullist deputy and minister of Georges Pompidou, was the last of them.
Thursday, “it is the last companion who will symbolically enter with his 1,037 companions to Mont Valérien”, summarized General Christian Baptiste, national delegate of the Order of the Liberation. Pending this final tribute, the French could meditate on Wednesday in front of his coffin covered with the blue-white-red flag under the dome of the Invalides.
This Thursday morning, the coffin will be hoisted on an AMX-10 tank and will go up the Champs-Élysées, accompanied by the escort of the Republican Guard, to participate in the traditional Armistice ceremony, which will be attended by the American vice-president. Kamala Harris. Emmanuel Macron must then deliver a speech in which he will pay tribute to Hubert Germain who, “at dawn as at dusk, was the last to surrender”, according to the words he had made at the tribute ceremony Invalides on October 15. The president will also announce what will become of the Order of Liberation created in November 1940.
Marseillaise and Partisan Song
The convoy will then head to Mont Valérien, for a final tribute at 2:30 p.m., in the presence of the Head of State. The ceremony will take place “in the greatest sobriety and in silence” with the exception of one Marseillaise and Partisan song, according to the Élysée. Emmanuel Macron will meditate alone in the crypt in front of the coffin, on which he will place a cross of Lorraine carved in the wood of the framework of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, as Hubert Germain had wished.