Fort Mont-Valérien (French:Forteresse du Mont-Valérien,[fɔʁtəʁɛsdymɔ̃valeʁjɛ̃]) is afortress inSuresnes, a westernParis suburb, built in 1841 as part of the city's ring of modern fortifications. It overlooks theBois de Boulogne across theSeine.
BeforeAdolphe Thiers built the fortress, Mont Valérien was home to hermits. Since the 15th century a community of hermits lived on the slope of Puteaux similar to the one of Chartreux: private cells, communal holy Mass and holy Office, perpetual silence. Manual labor and prayer divided the days equally.[1]
The fortress defended Paris during theFranco-Prussian War, and remained the strongest fortress protecting the city, withstandingartillery bombardments that lasted several months. The surrender of the fortress was one of the main issues of thearmistice signed by theGovernment of National Defense withOtto von Bismarck on 17 January 1871, allowing the Germans to occupy the strongest part of Paris' defences in exchange for shipments of food into the starving city.[2]
Mont-Valèrien played a key role in theParis Commune in 1871. TheNational Guard failed to secure it after the first withdrawal of the regular army from Paris. After their return on March 21, the army used the fort as an important base for the subjugation of the Commune during theSemaine Sanglante, or 'Bloody Week.'[3]
Colonel Henry of army intelligence, a key player in theDreyfus affair, was confined at the prison of Mont Valérien in 1898. The day after being confined, 31 August 1898, he cut his throat with a razor that had been left in his possession, taking to the grave his secret and that of a great part of theaffaire Dreyfus.[4]
During theSecond World War, the fortress was used, from 1940 to 1944, as aprison and place of execution by theNazi occupiers of Paris. The Germans brought prisoners to the prison in trucks from other locations. The prisoners were temporarily confined in a disusedchapel, and later taken to be shot in a clearing 100 metres away. The bodies were then buried in variouscemeteries in the Paris area. Over 1,000 hostages andresistants were executed there by the Nazis.[5]
After the war, the site became a national memorial. The area in front of the "Mémorial de la France combattante", a reminder of theFrench Resistance against theGerman occupation forces, was named SquareAbbé Franz Stock. During the German occupation, Stock took care of condemned prisoners here, and he mentioned 863 executions at Mont Valérien in his diary. On 18 June 1945,Charles de Gaulle consecrated Fort Mont-Valérien in a public ceremony.[6]
Those people executed were all men as a French law, observed by the Germans, prohibited execution of women by firing squad. The 1,008 recorded executions by theWehrmacht at Mont-Valérien between 1941 and 1944.[7] The immense majority were members of theFrench Resistance, including:
The fortress includes the last active militarydovecote in Europe and a small museum dedicated to the history ofmilitary carrier pigeons (Musée de la Colombophilie Militaire). It is open to groups by appointment and to individuals during the annualEuropean Heritage Days.[9][10]
