Raoul Minot | |
|---|---|
 Raoul Minot | |
| Born | September 28, 1893 |
| Died | April 28, 1945(1945-04-28) (aged 51) |
| Occupation(s) | Salesman, amateur photographer |
| Years active | 1940–1942 |
| Known for | Forbidden photography |
Raoul Minot (September 28, 1893,Montluçon,France – April 28, 1945,Cham, Germany) was a French amateurphotographer who was imprisoned in France and deported toconcentration camps in Germany during theSecond World War for his clandestine photography inNazi-occupied Paris. He survived internment, but died in Germany soon after his liberation.
Minot emerged from obscurity in the summer of 2024 as a result of a four-year investigation byLe Monde journalistPhilippe Broussard around the discovery of Minot's anonymous prints.
Raoul Minot was born on September 28, 1893, inMontluçon, France.[1] In March 1911, he was hired as a scarf vendor in theParisian department storePrintemps.[2] In 1914, he was mobilized for theFirst World War, during which he earned theCroix de guerre with bronze medal.[1]
After the First World War, he returned to the Printemps department store, where he met Marthe Bedos, whom he married. The couple moved from Paris to nearbyCourbevoie in the 1920s. They had a daughter, Jacqueline. Minot was a passionate amateur photographer and regularly photographed vacations and war veteran events that he attended in Courbevoie.[2]
Starting in 1940, under theGerman military administration in occupied France during World War II, Minot took more than a thousand photos of daily life in Paris, which was formally prohibited by theKommandantur authorities. He used aKodak Brownie, and developed negatives thanks to the photo laboratory within his workplace at Printemps. He sold some photos to Louis Juven, an occasional agent of theFrench Resistance.[2][3]
In November 1942, an unnamed informant denounced Minot's activities to the occupation.[3] After an investigation by theSpecial Brigades, Minot was imprisoned in early 1943 atFresnes Prison and then transferred to theRoyallieu-Compiègne internment camp.[2][4]
When Minot was arrested, many of his photos and materials were seized by the French police, and the photographic works of his unique genre went unknown for several decades.[2]
On April 20, 1943, Minot was deported from France toMauthausen concentration camp in Germany.[5] On October 17, 1943, he was transferred toBuchenwald, where he was used as forced labor.[1]
In 1945, he was evacuated with other prisoners from Buchenwald and arrived atFlossenbürg before being forced onto adeath march for about two weeks.[2] He was liberated by the Americans on April 23, 1945, but died on April 28 in a hospital inCham, Germany.[2] His body has never been recovered.[3]
Before the discovery of his wartime photography, a single photo attributed to an "M. Minot" was published by Printemps in a booklet in 1965, commemorating the department store's centenary.[2]
Since 1999,Museum of National Resistance has hosted a collection of Minot's photos, unattributed until 2024. They have been traced back to a donation by Daniel Leduc, son ofrésistant Paul Leduc who had apparently saved the photos from his work in 1945.[6]
In 2020, another batch of 117 photos saved by Renée Damien, a colleague of Minot, were published in a book by Albert Hude titledParis humilié, 1940-1941, Chronique photographique inédite en 101 clichés.[7][8]
Also in 2020, photo album collector Stéphanie Colaux found in a flea market inBarjac, Gard, an album with photos from the Nazi occupation of Paris between 1940 and 1942. Aware of their historical importance, she reached out toLe Monde newspaper about her find, and the newspaper proceeded to investigate the source of the photos. In August 2024, the newspaper published a series of five articles byPhilippe Broussard detailing the results of the investigation and identifying Minot as the photographer, surmising that he may have had accomplices. Otherwise, the provenance of the album found at the flea market remains a mystery.[2]
All of Minot's known photos were numbered, and many were embellished with his caustic comments about the German occupiers, some of which were erased. These photos show Paris and her closest suburbs between 1940 and 1942, particularly German soldiers in the capital, buildings and deserted streets, civilians queuing for rations, military equipment, propaganda leaflets, and anti-German inscriptions.[2][3]
On September 11, 2024, theNational Office for Veterans and Victims of War declared Minot aMort pour la France, a title reserved for honored war dead.[3][4]