René Hardy (31 October 1911 – 12 April 1987) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II. Hardy was born in
Mortrée
Mortrée () is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, the former commune Saint-Hilaire-la-Gérard was merged into Mortrée.Orne. In spite of having rendered dedicated and valuable service as a member of the resistance group, Combat (French Resistance), he was still suspected of being instrumental in the arrest of Jean Moulin, General Charles Delestraint and other members of the resistance. Despite later being acquitted in 2 separate trials, those suspicions never went away.
Treason
In January 1943 Hardy was seduced by the 20-year-old Lydie Bastien, described by one journalist as a great "French beauty" whose true loyalty was to her German lover, Gestapo officer Harry Stengritt. Hardy was arrested on 7 June 1943 when he walked into a trap laid by Bastien. Bastien, a devotee of the occult and the philosophy of
Frederich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his care ...
, had taken Stengritt as her lover and was paid for her work for the Gestapo in the form of gems that Stengritt had confiscated from French Jews before deporting them to Auschwitz. In turn, Stengritt worked for Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon". Bastien recalled: "I was already working for the Germans and they told me how to find and get to know Hardy, who I met and seduced at their request". Hardy fell madly in love with her, and Bastien later mentioned: "He was soon obsessed with me. Very quickly he was telling me all his secrets and I had complete access to his secret files." Bastien loathed Hardy and slept with him only out of her loyalty to Strengritt and the gems he paid her. On 7 June 1943, Hardy bought a train ticket; as Bastien recalled: "The fool even thought I was coming with him. I warned the Germans he was on his way. Then Barbie called me to Lyon where they had taken Hardy and I told him that he had no choice. He had to collaborate with Barbie, or my parents and myself would be arrested as well."" Faced with the prospect of losing Bastien forever, and unaware of her true loyalties or the fact that she secretly hated him, Hardy agreed to start working for Barbie.
When, in 1943, Gestapo officers under the orders of Klaus Barbie stormed the house in Caluire where the French Resistance leadership was secretly meeting, only Hardy was not put in handcuffs. As the seven other men were led away, Hardy successfully made a break for it. The incident seemed suspicious to Raymond Aubrac, who, based on the ease with which the SS had let him go, always remained convinced that Hardy had alerted the Gestapo of their meeting. "From all the Germans with their submachine guns, there were only a couple of scattered shots," Aubrac later stated.
After the war
After the war, he was tried twice for collaboration for a number of reasons but was found not guilty, despite committing perjury at the first trial. Shortly before his death, he was accused again by Barbie himself, but died before any new charges could be brought.
After his trials, Hardy became a novelist and wrote the book ''
Bitter Victory
''Bitter Victory'' (French title ''Amère victoire'') is a 1957 Franco-American international co-production film, shot in CinemaScope and directed by Nicholas Ray. Set in World War II, it stars Richard Burton and Curt Jürgens as two British A ...
'' (French title ''Amère victoire'') which was adapted for the cinema in a Franco-US co-production starring Richard Burton and directed by Nicholas Ray. Shortly before his death, a destitute, broken-down Hardy — dressed in pajamas and apparently living in somebody's attic — was interviewed by film-maker Marcel Ophüls for '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie''. Hardy denied having betrayed Moulin.