The Legend
Moulin was initially buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His ashes were later transferred to the Panthéon on 19 December 1964. The speech given by André Malraux, writer and minister of the Republic, at the transfer site is one of the most famous speeches in French history.
The current French education curriculum commemorates Jean Moulin as a model of civic virtuousness, moral rectitude and patriotism, and as a symbol of the Resistance. Many schools and a university, as well as innumerable streets, squares and even a Paris tram station have been named after him. The Musée Jean Moulin commemorates his life and the Resistance. Jean Moulin is the third most popular name for a French Ecole primaire, Collège or Lycée.
The Jean Pierre Melville film Army of Shadows (based on a book of the same name) depicts several famous events in Moulin's war experience, such as his visits to London, his reliance on his female assistant, his decoration by Charles de Gaulle and his parachuting back into France during the war. Not all of these events have been specifically confirmed as attributable to Moulin, but the parallels are no doubt intentional given the film's celebration of the resistance and Moulin's iconic status.
Jean Moulin has become the most famous and honored French Resistance fighter. He is known by practically all French people thanks to his famous monochrome photo with the scarf and fedora hat. All the other martyrs of the clandestine fight, such as Pierre Brossolette, Jean Cavaillès or Jacques Bingen, all organizers of the underground army, are overshadowed by his legend.
In 1993, a commemorative French two-franc coin was issued showing a partial image of Moulin against the Croix de Lorraine, drawn from the iconic fedora-and-scarf photograph.
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Famous quotes containing the word legend:
“We should burn all libraries and allow to remain only that which everyone knows by heart. A beautiful age of the legend would then begin.”
—Hugo Ball (1886–1927)
“Newspaperman: That was a magnificent work. There were these mass columns of Apaches in their war paint and feather bonnets. And here was Thursday leading his men in that heroic charge.
Capt. York: Correct in every detail.
Newspaperman: He’s become almost a legend already. He’s the hero of every schoolboy in America.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)