80 YEARS OF MIDI LIBRE. “Here we are among the winners”, on August 27, 1944, the first Midi Libre was published

At the end of spring 1945, a photo taken in the courtyard of the newspaper, rue d’Alger, on the occasion of the return from the Nazi camps of Georges Campredon, former linotypist at L’éclair and resistance fighter (in the foreground with a cane). To his left is Albert Marsal and in the second row, we recognize Jacques Bellon and Maurice Bujon. Midi Libre Archives – SYLVIE CAMBON

Created by a group of resistance fighters at the Liberation, the regional daily was born in the offices of L’Eclair, at 12 rue d’Ager in Montpellier. On August 27, 1944, the first newspaper was published in more than 50,000 copies.

The story of Midi Libre begins at the beginning of the summer of 1944 in Limoux, in the Aude, in the dining room of the Café Négrail. Five discreet customers are chatting in low voices. A few days after the Normandy landings, while the Germans were getting restless and the resistance was becoming more pressing, Jean Graille, Madeleine Rochette, her brother Georges Morguleff, François Vals and Jacques Bellon, all members of the Resistance, were already imagining the outlines of a new newspaper in Montpellier.

The first front page of a long series…
France will soon be liberated from the Occupier and the five discreet clients already have a name in mind that they whisper: Midi Libre. A small editorial team is created, which was appointed by the regional committee of Liberation, around Jacques Bellon. He is a Parisian journalist, a philosopher by training that the hazards of the resistance have brought to Languedoc.

Before the war, he was a correspondent in Berlin and witnessed the rise of Nazism. It was a former member of L'éclair, Albert Marsal, who welcomed Jacques Bellon upon his arrival on rue d'Alger, in the newspaper's offices. Marsal suffered the trials of the war. A prisoner, then an escapee, he joined the fight against the Occupier in Montpellier and was responsible for the liaison and transmission office of the Resistance.

From the ashes of L'Éclair, Midi Libre was born

During the Occupation, two regional newspapers appeared: L’Éclair, from the traditionalist right, and Le Petit Méridional, from the republican left. These publications were closely monitored by the Occupier and the Vichy authorities.

On Monday, August 21, the two titles published their last issues, sanctioned by the application of the decision taken on May 6, 1944, in Algiers, by the committee of National Liberation, which had become the provisional government of the Republic, to punish “the press of treason” and replace it with a new press from the Resistance.

As a transition, L’information du Languedoc was launched, which disappeared after four issues. On August 21, around 8 a.m., three young men entered the offices of L’Eclair at 12 rue d’Alger. The Germans evacuate the city…

Albert Marsal, leader of a small group of resistance fighters, with Francisque Bordonnat and Ernest de Varenne, declared: “I am taking possession of the newspaper in the name of the Resistance. I ask you to leave the newspaper, lock your offices and safes and place yourselves at the disposal of the new authorities.”   The entire team complies. A new editorial team arrives immediately. That of a new newspaper, which will appear on August 27, Midi Libre.
 

It was he who, on August 21, showed up at the offices of L’Éclair where he was received by Mr. Azaïs, chairman of the board of directors. He explained his mission to him straightforwardly: to take possession of the newspaper and the premises. That day, no newspaper was published in the region. L’Éclair and Le Petit méridional had printed their last copies the day before.

A few days later, a small committee took possession of the premises and the printing press of L’éclair without violence but with weapons in hand. Jacques Bellon, Lucien Roubaud and Madeleine Rochette, who had made their mission official the day before at the prefecture, took over the premises. L’Éclair has no choice but to give up its premises and its printing works anyway.

"Devoting oneself to the search for truth"

The French National Liberation Committee, which had in the meantime become the provisional government of the Republic, passed a law on May 6, 1944 in Algiers punishing “the press of treason” and allowing it to be replaced by a new press from the Resistance. It was Maurice Bujon, a former journalist at the Petit Méridional, deputy departmental head of the united Resistance movements, who had been forced to hide in the Loire, before being arrested by the Gestapo, who became editor-in-chief.

Maurice Bujon.

In this editorial team, Madeleine Rochette, who has a scientific background, and who will create the Paris office. Ernest de Varenne formerly of L’Éclair who had run-ins with the Gestapo, Jean Connillière formerly of the Petit Méridional. Young editors are added: Jules Veran, Francis Vals, Pierre Pansanel, Jacques André, Émile Bessières, Marcel Cassagne.

On August 25, De Gaulle enters Paris in triumph. On Sunday, August 27, the first issue of Midi Libre is published with the headline of General De Gaulle's sentence pronounced in Paris to cheers: "We are among the winners" Thus was born, printed on double-sided paper – due to shortages – the first regional daily newspaper in the Languedoc region. More than 35,000 copies were printed with the title Midi Libre, "Organ of the regional committee of the national liberation movement".

Jacques Bellon. Midi Libre – ML

Jacques Bellon signs a first editorial in which he promises to "dedicate himself to the search for the truth: freedom of the press is restored and we will use it in the general interest".