Raoul Villain

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Raoul Villain

Raoul Villain (September 19, 1885 – September 17, 1936) was a French

socialist leader Jean Jaurès on July 31, 1914, in Paris. Villain was acquitted by a jury of peers in 1919 and later fled to the Balearic island of Ibiza, where he was killed during the first stages of the Spanish Civil War
.

Early life and background

Villain was born in

Alsace-Lorraine"), a nationalist student group.[1]

After France's defeat in the

pacifist policies of Jean Jaurès. Villain lived for some time in England, at Loughton, where he stayed with Mrs Annie Francis, who described him, according to The Observer on 6 June 1915, as "a gentle and very kind man".[This quote needs a citation
]

Attack on Jaurès and result

The still existing Café du Croissant which was located next to Jaurès's newspaper L'Humanité (photo by Rémi Jouan)

Villain focused on Jaurès, bought a

Rue Montmartre and Rue du Croissant.[2]

The next day, posters went up all over France announcing the

general mobilization, and war was declared three days after Jaurès's death. What would be World War I
began.

Incarcerated for the duration of the war, Villain was brought to trial in 1919. He was acquitted by a jury of peers on March 29, 1919, and Anatole France wrote in L'Humanité: "Workers! ... A monstrous verdict proclaims that the assassination of Jaurès is not a crime...".[3] Jaurès's wife, as plaintiff, was ordered to pay the court costs.

After being acquitted

After having briefly been arrested in 1920 in Paris after trying to pass some false currency, Villain fled to Cala de Sant Vicent,[4] Ibiza in the Balearic Islands off Spain. Receiving some money through an inheritance, he fled France and arrived in Ibiza.[5] Villain thought that, by hiding out in the remote northeastern corner of Ibiza, he could live anonymously and be forgotten. In 1933,[5] the Bay of Cala de San Vicent was a very quiet backwater with no development; there was not even a road into the valley. Villain decided to make his home there. Using local labour and help from Paul René Gauguin,[5] the grandson of Paul Gauguin, he built a house from concrete and had almost finished the building by August, 1936.

On September 13,[5] a small detachment of soldiers arrived on the beach of Cala de San Vicent by rowboat. Eyewitnesses reported that they thought that they may have been anarchists of the FAI.[5] These soldiers were part of a larger detachment. The force had arrived on the island to re-secure it following the mini-coup which had been orchestrated by the Nationalists under the command of Infantry Commander Juli Mestre.[5] Villain had been away visiting a French woman[5] in Santa Eulària des Riu when the soldiers arrived, but quickly returned home when he heard of their arrival. Feeling vulnerable, he feared that the soldiers would steal his valuables, which he had stashed[5] in the unfinished house. Despite being repeatedly warned[5] by his neighbours not to go back down to the cove, he still went home.

Death

The House of Raoul Villain in Bay of Cala de San Vicent as it stands in 2013

The officer and troops who arrived on the beach that day seemed very suspicious of this Frenchman, who also antagonised the officer with his explanation of why he had set a crucifix[5] on the hill behind his house. Apart from this outward show of religious zeal, the officer was also suspicious of where Villain had been that day, and decided to confine him to his house.[5] He was considered to be a fascist and a spy and, as such, a threat to their plans to reoccupy the island.

On the afternoon of September 17, 1936, three bombers from the

Ibiza, which could be heard even that far up the coast.[5] It is thought that the troops, on hearing the sounds of the attack, decided to return to the capital and tried to take Villain and his valuables with them. He reacted violently to this, and as a consequence was shot in the back, with the bullet exiting via his throat.[5] Villain had only been wounded, but the officer in charge warned the villagers that had come down to see what had happened, not to assist or disturb him. Villain lay alone on the sand for two days until he died.[4] The locals then placed his body in a makeshift coffin, draped it in a French Tricolour they found in his house, and buried him in the cemetery at nearby Sant Vicent de sa Cala.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Vilain, Isabelle. Les Vilain célèbres: Raoul Villain, 3 January 2002. It seems the family name can be written either with one or two 'l'.
  2. ^ In the center of Paris, not on the Butte Montmartre (Montmartre Mound)
  3. ^ Vovelle, Michel. "1914: Jaurès est assassiné", L'Humanité (archived at waybackmachine.org), 24 April 2004.
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-552-77189-9
  5. ^
    ISBN 9788461181193

Sources

External links

  • Media related to Raoul Villain at Wikimedia Commons
  • Jean Jaurès School project. Student-created webpages about Jaurès that include a portrait photograph and sketch of Villain, which may not yet be in the public domain
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