L’EXÉCUTION ET LA VICTOIRE DE PIERRE SEMARD par ANDRÉ MARTY – “The Execution and Triumph of Pierre Semard” by André Marty. France, January 1942. An extremely rare publication issued in memory of Semard shortly after his assassination by the German Gestapo in France.
“Unforeseen circumstances allow me to send you a final message, for in a few seconds I will be shot. I await death calmly and will show my executioners that Communists die as patriots, as revolutionaries… Tell my comrades, the railway workers, that I beg them not to do anything that could help the Hitlerites. They will understand me and listen to me; they will act, I am sure of it…”.
A rare publication issued shortly after the execution of Pierre Semard. Pierre Semard served as Secretary-General of the French Railway Workers’ Union (CGT) as early as the 1920s and was a member of the French Communist Party during the 1930s. He was arrested by the Vichy regime for his anti-Nazi activities and executed by the Nazis on March 7, 1942 (see below regarding the exact date of his murder) in Évreux prison. This booklet recounts his contribution to the railway workers’ union, his decades-long struggle on behalf of the working class—thirty years of “struggle and sacrifice”—his involvement with the French section of the Workers’ International (SFIO), and his work as a trade unionist in the Confédération Générale du Travail Unitaire (CGTU) and later the CGT. The publication documents how he was captured by the Nazis, charged for his membership in the Communist Party, and sentenced to three years in prison. While incarcerated, he was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture, yet never renounced his beliefs and refused to betray his fellow railway workers. Before his execution, he wrote a final message to his comrades: “Unforeseen circumstances allow me to send you a final message, for in a few seconds I will be shot…”. Moments before his assassination, he assured them of France’s eventual victory over fascism and its liberation from the Nazi occupier—this unknown testament was published for the first time in the booklet presented here. Following his death, Pierre Semard became a model figure and symbol of resistance in the eyes of the French left, especially among communists and labor movements.
According to commonly accepted accounts, Pierre Semard was executed on March 7, 1942, but the date printed on the final page of this publication is “January 1942.” At the opening of the booklet, it is written: “A few months ago, Pierre Semard, Secretary-General of the Railway Workers’ Union, member of the Administrative Committee of the General Confederation of Labor, and member of the Political Bureau of the French Communist Party, was executed.” Given that these words were written just a few months after his death, it is plausible that André Marty, the author, believed Semard was executed in January of that year—a detail that casts some doubt on the officially accepted date of execution.
The author of the booklet, André Marty, was a prominent French communist, commander in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, and a leading figure in the French Communist Party. Marty chose to commemorate the memory of his close friend in this rare publication, in which he publishes Semard’s final words for the first time. The booklet honors Semard’s legacy, his struggle, and portrays him as a heroic martyr—his fall symbolizing not a defeat, but a moral and political victory. Throughout the text, Marty expresses profound admiration for Semard’s life and work: “Pierre Semard, a true workers’ leader, declared noble principles. He waged an unrelenting struggle against the traitors and defectors of the federal leadership and succeeded in defeating them…”.
Extremely rare. Only one known copy is listed in the WorldCat global library catalog, held at the National Library of France.
12 pages. Very good condition.
