Le prisonnier politique
Encyclopedia
Le prisonnier politique (French: the political prisoner
) is the name of a bronze sculpture
created in 1949 by Luxembourgish
sculptor Lucien Wercollier
. It exists in three different versions.
concentration camp, where he witnessed other prisoners being tortured. SS
officers took two of them, roped their hands together and then tied their backs together. After this, they had to stay outside for days, in winter.
It was in the Hinzert concentration camp that Wercollier met Jean Daligault, a French Resistance
fighter, priest and artist, who was kidnapped and brought to Hinzert after the Nacht und Nebel
directive.
In December 1942, Wercollier shared food out of his Christmas package with Daligault, who wasn't allowed to get anything from his family.
As a thank-you gift, Daligault gave Wercollier a little sculpture that he had made out of old pieces of wood. It represented two prisoners with their hands tied together and roped together back to back.
Wercollier hid this sculpture under his things, to bring it home to Luxembourg
in November 1943.
After the war, Wercollier made his own sculpture, Le prisonnier politique, using one of Daligault's prisoners as model.
Today, Daligault's original sculpture is still owned by the Wercollier Family.
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
) is the name of a bronze sculpture
Bronze sculpture
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...
created in 1949 by Luxembourgish
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
sculptor Lucien Wercollier
Lucien Wercollier
Lucien Wercollier was a sculptor from Luxembourg.While he worked primarily in bronze and marble, some of his work is sculpted in wood, alabaster, stone and onyx. His public monuments in bronze and marble are of particular importance...
. It exists in three different versions.
History
During the Second World War, from September 1942 to November 1943, Lucien Wercollier was a prisoner in the Nazi HinzertHinzert concentration camp
Hinzert was a Nazi concentration camp located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, 30 km from the Luxembourg border....
concentration camp, where he witnessed other prisoners being tortured. SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officers took two of them, roped their hands together and then tied their backs together. After this, they had to stay outside for days, in winter.
It was in the Hinzert concentration camp that Wercollier met Jean Daligault, a French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
fighter, priest and artist, who was kidnapped and brought to Hinzert after the Nacht und Nebel
Nacht und Nebel
Nacht und Nebel was a directive of Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 signed and implemented by Armed Forces High Command Chief Wilhelm Keitel, resulting in the kidnapping and forced disappearance of many political activists and resistance 'helpers' throughout Nazi Germany's occupied...
directive.
In December 1942, Wercollier shared food out of his Christmas package with Daligault, who wasn't allowed to get anything from his family.
As a thank-you gift, Daligault gave Wercollier a little sculpture that he had made out of old pieces of wood. It represented two prisoners with their hands tied together and roped together back to back.
Wercollier hid this sculpture under his things, to bring it home to Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
in November 1943.
After the war, Wercollier made his own sculpture, Le prisonnier politique, using one of Daligault's prisoners as model.
Today, Daligault's original sculpture is still owned by the Wercollier Family.
Versions
Today, three versions of Lucien Wercollier's Le prisonnier politique exist. All three of them are made of bronze.- A first version was put up in 1956 in the Musée national de la résistance (National Resistance MuseumNational Resistance Museum, LuxembourgThe National Resistance Museum of Luxembourg is located in the centre of Esch-sur-Alzette in the south-east of the country. The specially designed building traces the history of Luxembourg from 1940 to 1945...
) in Esch-sur-AlzetteEsch-sur-AlzetteEsch-sur-Alzette is a commune with city status, in south-western Luxembourg. It is the country's second city, and its second-most populous commune, with a population of 29,853 people...
. - In 1969, a second version, made in 1954, was erected at the cemetery Cimetière Notre-Dame in LimpertsbergLimpertsbergLimpertsberg is a quarter in north-western Luxembourg City, in the centre of Luxembourg.In the south, on the border with the main city is the Glacis, a large open air parking lot which hosts the annual Schueberfouer fair, the largest fair in the country...
, as a part of the Monument national de la résistance et de la déportation (Monument of the national resistance and deportation). - After the death of Wercollier, the state of Luxembourg ordered a third version of the sculpture, cast from the artist's original gypsumGypsumGypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
model. This version is exhibited with a part of the artist's private collection in Neumünster AbbeyNeumünster AbbeyNeumünster Abbey is a public meeting place and cultural centre, located in the Grund district of Luxembourg City in southern Luxembourg. After the original Benedictine Abbey on the Altmünster Plateau had been destroyed in 1542, the monks built a new abbey or Neumünster in 1606 in the Grund...
.
Gallery
Further reading
- Joseph-Émile Muller, 1976: Lucien Wercollier, Collection: Les Maîtres de la Sculpture Contemporaine. Arted, Éditions d'Art, Paris. 49 pages. ISBN 2-85067-038-3.
- Christian Dorrière, 2001: L’abbé Jean Daligault. Un peintre dans les camps de la mort, Les Editions du Cerf, Paris. 164 pages. ISBN 2-204-06631-1.