An exceptional auction is taking place on Monday in Paris at the Artcurial auction house, featuring writings and personal memorabilia of General de Gaulle. With over 370 lots on offer, the sale will primarily showcase manuscripts, making it a must-see event for history enthusiasts.
Ahead of the Paris’s Arcurial auction house an exhibition showcased a remarkable collection of historical documents, including private correspondences with Charles de Gaulle and figures like Winston Churchill and Josephine Baker.
"This is the most historic collection I’ve ever handled," Stéphane Aubert, an auctioneer at Artcurial, told public broadcaster franceinfo.
"These documents offer a rare glimpse into the life of General de Gaulle, from his childhood through to his death in Collombey-les-Deux-Eglises."
Among the items is a notebook filled with visionary stories from de Gaulle’s youth, including the manuscript of his first book from 1924, La Discorde chez l'ennemi (The Enemy's House Divided).
"What’s extraordinary is that he already saw himself as a general. He refers to himself as General de Gaulle, commanding an army of 300,000 men, ready to fight the Germans,"explains Aubert.
Other items up for sale include a tiny lead soldier, a collection of youth poems, and de Gaulle’s high school diploma.
Also featured is an electric train with Cyrillic inscriptions, a gift from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to de Gaulle’s grandchildren in 1960.
"We were born just after the war!" says Jacques, a collector. "These items really take us back to our childhood. We lived through that whole era."
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Manuscript
The auction was organised by De Gaulle's descendants who inherited a trove of personal items from his brother, Philippe, who died at the age of 103 in March.
However, not everything is being sold. One key piece - a document from 1940 - remains off-limits.
It was de Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June was broadcast by the BBC from London in which De Gaulle urged French people to fight on, laying the foundation for the underground resistance movement.
"Has the last word been said? Should hope disappear? Is defeat final? No! Believe me... nothing is lost for France," De Gaulle said.
For Aubert, this is "the most important manuscript in French history".
"It’s the 18 June manuscript, with dense, fine handwriting, full of crossings-out and corrections. That’s how de Gaulle wrote," Aubert says.
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Modern French state
Many visitors have expressed surprise that the family is parting with such significant items.
"I feel like a whole part of history is going to be scattered among private collectors," says a visitor. "Perhaps all these documents should have been preserved in a single place of memory."
Actually, much of Charles de Gaulle's archive has already been donated to the French National Library (BNF).
A portion of the revenue from this sale will go to the Anne de Gaulle Foundation, a place founded in 1945 to take in young mentally handicapped women.
The French state and private institutions are expected to be among the buyers of the memorabilia from a man considered the father of the modern French state.
