A few lines, sometimes several pages lying on paper now yellowed by time.
Their names were Maurice, André, Paul, Albert and even Gustave.
“In case something bad happens to me,” wrote one of them on November 25, 1916 in beautiful, loose handwriting.
This Wednesday, January 17, the Val-d'Oise departmental archives looked into Poilus' wills during a conference.
Terry Ozanne, doctoral student in contemporary history at the University of Cergy-Pontoise, studied the last wishes of 550 soldiers aged 18 to 57, all of whom fell for France during the First World War, including 51 from Seine-et-Oise. , the old name of Val-d'Oise.
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Work carried out as part of his Master's degree and a broader project by the National Archives, on the occasion of the centenary of the Armistice, in which the departmental archives of Val-d'Oise and Yvelines participated.
Documents full of lessons despite their somewhat austere first appearance.
“Holographic
(handwritten)
and therefore very free, they allow you to learn more and differently about the war and its Poilus.
They talk about their death, the future of their family, religion…”, underlines the researcher.
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