Jacques Moalic, deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp then journalist at AFP, died at 102 years old – Liberation

He had devoted his life to testifying to Nazi horrors. The journalist of the Agency France-Presse (AFP) Jacques Moalic, who was deported during the Second World War at the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, died Thursday, April 24. He was 102 years old. According to his daughter, who announced his death this Friday, April 25, Jacques Moalic died at his home in Paris.

Deported on December 18, 1943 for resistance, he had retained a precise memory of the opening of the concentration camp with the arrival of American soldiers on April 11, 1945. That day, “There was a lot of excitement in the camp. We had the apprehension of a more or less organized massacre of SS, and the hope of liberation ”he had testified in April, on the occasion of 80 years of opening Nazi camps.

« We started preparing weapons … And all of a sudden, an American unit arrived. The SS did not engage the fight, they preferred to give the camp. A few minutes later, we were outside. ” Previously, he had known forced work, arbitrary executions and the dehumanized climate of violence that reigned in the death camps.

Released, what strikes him, « This is the speed with which we strip our prisoner skin, our concentrational reflexes, as if we all wanted to escape our nightmare. I was a number and I take back my name ”he also wrote in a testimony published by AFP in 1985.

After leaving Buchenwald, Jacques Moalic had resumed studies, especially in law. Then he entered AFP, where he led a career as a great reporter, covering the starts of the world, from Algeria to Vietnam. He was also responsible for following the Elysée for several years and held the functions of head of the general information department.