Betrayal in occupied France: Who killed Jean Moulin, leader of the French Resistance? with Patrick Marnham, author of War in the Shadows
In conversation with Simon KuperTwenty years ago, Patrick Marnham published an acclaimed biography of Jean Moulin, who was hand-picked by Charles De Gaulle to lead the French Resistance. Moulin was arrested by the Gestapo in Lyon in 1943, and died soon afterward on the train taking him to Germany.
After the Moulin biography appeared, Marnham received a series of anonymous letters hinting at how Moulin had been betrayed. This led Marnham back to the Loire chateau where he had learned French from a former Resistance family in the early 1960s. Could this family’s fate and Moulin’s be connected? And did the British, French, American or Soviet intelligence services play a role? Marnham tells the story in his new book War in the Shadows: Resistance, Deception and Betrayal in Occupied France.
Patrick Marnham is a British biographer, journalist and screenwriter. In addition to Jean Moulin, he has written biographies of Diego Rivera, Georges Simenon and Mary Wesley. He spent twelve years as Paris correspondent for the British newspapers the Independent and the Evening Standard.
Simon Kuper is a columnist for the Financial Times.
