![Juliette Dodu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Juliette_Dodu.jpg)
Juliette Dodu (
Saint-Denis de
la Réunion
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
, June 15, 1848 – October 28, 1909) was a legendary heroine of the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and the first woman to be awarded the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
. However, many doubts have been raised about her actions during the war, and her story remains controversial.
Early life
Juliette Dodu was born in Réunion, the daughter of Alphonse Dodu, a navy surgeon originally from
Indre
Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...
, and Desaïffre de Pellegrin, a
créole
Creole may refer to:
Anthropology
* Creole peoples, ethnic groups which originated from linguistic, cultural, and often racial mixing of colonial-era emigrants from Europe with non-European peoples
* Criollo people, the historic name of people ...
. Her father died of
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
when she was two. In 1864, at the age of sixteen, she left the island with her mother, who found work in France as director of the
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
office of
Pithiviers
Pithiviers () is a communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department, north central France. It is one of the Subprefectures in France, subprefectures of Loiret. It is twinned with Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, Eng ...
(
Loiret
Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434. ).
The Franco-Prussian War and the Famous Wiretap Story
It was in the course of the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870 that she became famous. The Prussians occupied Pithiviers on September 20, 1870. The telegraph office was seized and the Dodu family was relegated to the second floor of the house. The young woman of twenty-two then had the idea to rig up a tap on the wire that passed by her room. Having kept a receiving apparatus, she was thus able to intercept the transmissions each time that the occupiers received or sent dispatches.
For 17 days, the young woman was able to deliver the dispatches to the French authorities without the slightest suspicion on the part of the Prussians, who were seduced by the charm of the young Frenchwoman. It was claimed that she saved the lives of 40,000 soldiers of General
Aurelle de Paladines by means of one of her intercepted messages. However, the wiretap was discovered when a German soldier overheard a housekeeper accuse Juliette Dodu of tapping the telegraph wires. The Prussians prosecuted Juliette Dodu and tried her for espionage before a court-martial. She is reputed to have told her judges, ''Je suis Française et ma mère aussi, j’ai agi pour mon pays. Messieurs, faites de moi ce que vous voudrez'' ("I am French and so is my mother. I have acted for my country. Messieurs, do with me as you wish!"). She was condemned to death. But the armistice was signed before her execution and Juliette Dodu was pardoned by prince
Frederick Charles of Prussia Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederi ...
and set free.
However, decree number 1942 of December 8, 1870 only accorded her an honorable mention, as well as the 20 other employees and agents of the telegraphic service, because the postal employees were utilized to aid the army in the use of the telegraph.
Creating the Legend in the Press
In 1873, Juliette Dodu was responsible for the telegraph office of
Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the département of Val-d'Oise.
Enghien-les-Bains is famous as a spa resort and a well-to-do suburb of Paris, developed in ...
, where she made the acquaintance of
Hippolyte de Villemessant
Jean Hippolyte Auguste Delaunay de Villemessant (22 April 1810, Rouen – 12 April 1879, Monte-Carlo) was a conservative French journalist.
Life
The son of colonel Pierre Cartier and of Augustine Louise Renée Françoise de Launay de Vill ...
, the patron of ''
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...
''. On May 26, 1877, the first known version of the "legend of Dodu" appeared in that journal.
Now cast as a symbol of the French resistance, Juliette Dodu was the first woman to receive the Military Medal and the Cross of the Legion of Honor.
Patrice de Mac-Mahon
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893) was a French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1 ...
,
Marshal of France
Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1 ...
and
president of the Third Republic
The President of the French Republic was elected on an indirect basis during the Third Republic and Fourth Republic, as well as at the start of the Fifth Republic.
During the Third Republic and Fourth Republic, the officeholder was elected b ...
, signed the decree of July 30, 1878, where it is stipulated " for intercepting dispatches at the peril of her life in 1870, for being condemned to death by the enemy and saved by the cessation of hostilities."
Later life
Around 1875, she began a relationship with the baron Félix Hippolyte Larrey, medical chief of the army and son of the celebrated
Larrey, and inherited his fortune (including his small château at
Bièvres, Essonne
Bièvres () is a commune in the Essonne department and Île-de-France region of north-central France.
The commune derives its name from that of the River Bièvre which flows through the village. ''Bièvre'' is the old French word for a beaver ...
). In 1880, she became inspector of schools and asylums and took up residence in Switzerland.
Under the pseudonym of Lipp, she published a work in 1891 dedicated to
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...
, ''l'Eternel Roman''.
She died in 1909 at the
Clarens, Switzerland
Clarens-Montreux or Clarens is a neighborhood in the municipality of Montreux, in the canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. This neighborhood is the biggest and most populated of the city of Montreux.
Clarens was made famous throughout Europe by the i ...
home of her brother-in-law, the painter
Odilon Redon
Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolism (arts), symbolist painter, printmaker, Drawing, draughtsman and pastellist.
Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he ...
.
The Controversy Surrounding the Legend
The ''Courrier du Loiret'' (Pithiviers newspaper) devoted a series of articles to Juliette Dodu in 1984 (one may find a copy at the Bièvres library). According to its author, "Élisabeth de Mac-Mahon, wife of
Patrice de Mac-Mahon
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893) was a French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1 ...
,
Marshal of France
Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1 ...
and
president of the Third Republic
The President of the French Republic was elected on an indirect basis during the Third Republic and Fourth Republic, as well as at the start of the Fifth Republic.
During the Third Republic and Fourth Republic, the officeholder was elected b ...
, was an earnest feminist. It is not unthinkable that the text of the nomination of Juliette Dodu for the order of the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
had been through her intervention.".
[« Juliette Dodu, héroïne ou catin ? », a series of articles by Georges Durand, published in May and June 1984 in the ''Courrier du Loiret.'']
This thesis was taken up again by the French author Guy Breton in his publication ''Les Beaux mensonges de l'histoire (The Beautiful Falsehoods of History)''. Breton alleges that the entire story of Juliette Dodu was not in fact anything but a fable gotten up by the journalist of the ''
Figaro'' who signed himself Jean de Paris in an article of May 26, 1877, acting on behalf of M.
de Villemessant, his director. In fact, it was not until seven years after the fact that one first heard of Mlle. Dodu. Guy Breton cites as reference general Aurelle de Paladines, commander in chief of the army of the Loire, who nowhere mentions that heroic salvation of his army. Lieutenant-colonel Rousset, author of a ''Histoire de la guerre Franco Allemande 1870–1871 (History of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871)'', never makes any reference to it, while he swarms with lively details up to and including the depth of the snow and the state of the sky. Neither the report of M. Steenackens, director of the posts and telegrams of the period, who described all the acts of resistance of his employees during that war.
![Tombedodu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Tombedodu.JPG)
Guy Breton also lays out the inconsistencies of this eventful narrative; among others, that the Prussians had already quit
Pithiviers
Pithiviers () is a communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department, north central France. It is one of the Subprefectures in France, subprefectures of Loiret. It is twinned with Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, Eng ...
three weeks before the related deeds, and the impossibility of collecting by sound a cipher message in German and passing the retransmission in Morse afterwards without error. This supposes a great familiarity, not only with the language, but also with the Prussian military codes. Furthermore, no one in Pithiviers possessed the Prussian codes.
There is also no trace of the condemnation to death of Juliette Dodu, nor of her pardon. Which, according to Breton, leads one to the question of a possible hoax by M. de Villemessant, who obtained the Legion of Honor for a false heroine in a period when, just after the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
of 1871, France had just lost
Alsace-Lorraine and defamed itself at the time of the Commune of Paris, had so much need for positive heroes.
Homages
![Juliette-Dodu-en-1870](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Juliette-Dodu-en-1870.jpg)
*A street bears her name in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Havre,
Montreuil, and
Saint-Denis de
la Réunion
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
, where one likewise counts a public high school named in her honor. In Bièvres, the town where she lived, she is represented by a statue.
*The tomb of Juliette Dodu can be found in the
Père-Lachaise Cemetery, 28th division.
*A 0,56 € postage stamp, issued in 2009 on the one hundredth anniversary of her death. See
References
External links
* «
Juliette Dodu : 15 juin 1848 - 28 octobre 1909' », ''
Journal de l'île de La Réunion
''Journal de l'île de La Réunion'' is a daily, French-language newspaper published in Réunion, a French overseas department. The newspaper, which was founded in 1951 is headquartered in Saint-Denis, Réunion
Saint-Denis (, , unofficia ...
'', January 1, 2005.
Photographof the statue at
Bièvres, Essonne
Bièvres () is a commune in the Essonne department and Île-de-France region of north-central France.
The commune derives its name from that of the River Bièvre which flows through the village. ''Bièvre'' is the old French word for a beaver ...
.
*
Bibliography
* Les amis de la bibliothèque, ''Bièvres et ses célébrités au XIX° siècle'', 1988.
* « Juliette Dodu, héroïne ou catin ? », a series of articles by Georges Durand, published in May and June 1984 in the ''Courrier du Loiret.''
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodu, Juliette
1848 births
1909 deaths
People from Saint-Denis, Réunion
Female wartime spies
19th-century spies
Telegraphy
People of French descent from Réunion
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Women in 19th-century warfare
People of the Franco-Prussian War
Women in European warfare