Montluc prison () is a former prison located on rue Jeanne Hachette in the 3rd arrondissement of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It was known for being an internment, torture and killing place by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

during the

occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

History

Built in 1921 for use as a military prison, after the invasion of the unoccupied zone of

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

in November 1942, the

used it as a prison, interrogation centre and internment camp for those waiting for transfer to

concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

. It is estimated that over 15,000 people were imprisoned in Montluc, and over 900 of them were executed within it. In mid-August 1944, prisoners from Montluc were taken to Bron Airfield where 109 of them, including 72 Jews, were killed in what would become known as ''Le Charnier de Bron'' ("The

Charnel house A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves. The term can also be used more generally as a description of a pla ...

of Bron"). On 20 August about 120 prisoners were taken to Fort de Côte-Lorette in

Saint-Genis-Laval Saint-Genis-Laval () is a commune in the metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The Lyon Observatory is located in this commune. History Saint-Genis-Laval draws its name from Saint Genis or Genest, a Roman act ...

and shot. This event is known as the

Saint-Genis-Laval massacre The Saint-Genis-Laval Massacre or Fort de Côte-Lorette Massacre was the execution of about 120 prisoners of war at Fort de Côte-Lorette, Saint-Genis-Laval, on 20 August 1944. Context After the Normandy landings The Normandy landings we ...

. Montluc was liberated on 24 August 1944 by FFI troops, when resistance leader Colonel Köenig, profiting from the chaos reigning in Lyon at the time, entered the prison in a stolen German Army car disguised as a Gestapo officer and persuaded the Commandant to free the prisoners, saying that the order had come from the Gestapo Commander in Lyon,

Klaus Barbie Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primari ...

. In 1947, Montluc became a civil prison once again, finally closing in 1997, though the female

maison d'arrêt Maison d'arrêt are a category of prisons in France, in Belgium and other French-speaking countries, which hold prisoners awaiting trial or sentencing, or those being held for less than one year, similar to county jails in the United States. In t ...

was not closed until May 2009.

Current status

In 2009, most of the prison, including the walls, the stairs and the courtyard, were classified as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

''. Since September 2010 the prison has been open to the public for guided tours organized by the National Office of Veterans and War Victims (''l’Office national des Anciens combattants et Victimes de guerre'').

Notable prisoners

Raymond Aubrac Raymond Aubrac (31 July 1914 – 10 April 2012) was a leader of the French Resistance during the Second World War and a civil engineer after the Second World War. Early life Aubrac was born Raymond Samuel into a middle-class Jewish family in Ves ...

, resistance leader (1943) *

Antoine Avinin Antoine Louis Avinin (b. 26 January 1902 d.29 October 1962) liases Albert Arnaud, Albert Anceau, Albert Audin, Talbertwas a French businessman, resistance fighter and politician. Biography He was born in Lyon. His parents owned a food trading bu ...

, French businessman, army officer and resistance leader, later a deputy and senator (1942) *

Francis Basin Francis Basin LdH CdeG MBE (1903–1975), code named Olive, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive in France during the Second World War. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and rec ...

, French SOE organiser of URCHIN network (1942) *

Anthony Brooks Anthony Morris "Tony" Brooks (4 April 1922 – 19 April 2007), code name Alphonse, was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to con ...

, British SOE officer (1944) *

Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch (; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on Medieval France ov ...

, historian and resister (1944) *

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...

, Tunisian nationalist, later 1st President of Tunisia (1943) *

André Devigny André Devigny (25 May 1916 – 12 February 1999) was a French soldier and member of the Résistance. Biography Devigny was a schoolteacher who joined the French Army just before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. He was part of the fighting ...

, soldier and resister who escaped (1943) *

Salomon Gluck Abraham Salomon Glück (5 November 1914 – c. 20 May 1944) was a French physician and a member of the French Resistance. Biography His ancestors His father was a direct descendant of Hasidic Masters, going back to the Magid Dov Ber of M ...

, physician and resister (1944) *

Maurice Joyeux Maurice Joyeux (January 29, 1910 – December 9, 1991) was a French writer and anarchist. He first was a mechanic then a bookseller, he is a remarkable figure in the French Libertarianism Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertaria ...

, anarchist (1940–44) *

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny (2 February 1889 – 11 January 1952) was a French général d'armée during World War II and the First Indochina War. He was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1952. As ...

, later commander of 1st French Army during the invasion of Southern France (1942–43) *

Jean Moulin Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months l ...

, soldier and resistance leader (1943) *

Roland de Pury Baron Roland de Pury (15 November 1907 – 24 January 1979) was a Swiss Protestant theologian, pastor, and writer. Living in France during World War II, he was a staunch opponent of Nazism and the Holocaust and publicly criticized and preached aga ...

, Calvinist minister and resistance leader (1943) *

Élise Rivet Élise Rivet, also known as Mère Marie Élisabeth de l'Eucharistie (January 19, 1890, Draria, Algeria – March 30, 1945, Ravensbrück concentration camp, Germany) was a Roman Catholic nun and World War II heroine. Rivet volunteered to go to th ...

, nun and resister (1944) * Andre Frossard, French journalist and essayist, interned in the "Jew Booths" of Fort Montluc; one of seven survivors of Bron Massacre (1943–44) *

Alice Vansteenberghe Alice Vansteenberghe (née Joly; 18 February 1908 - 9 February 1991) was a medical practitioner and a member of the French Resistance in World War II. In 1944, she was captured and tortured by the so-called "Butcher of Lyon", Klaus Barbie. She ...

, physician and resister (1944)

References

External links

{{Authority control Defunct prisons in France Prisons in Lyon 3rd arrondissement of Lyon Buildings and structures completed in 1921 Monuments historiques of Lyon

History

Current status

Notable prisoners

See also

References

External links