{{short description|French photographer in occupied France during WWII}} {{use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox person | name = Raoul Minot | image = {{Css Image Crop|Image=Photo de Raoul Minot.png |bSize=350 |cWidth=250 |cHeight=350 |oTop=40 |oLeft=0 |Location=center}} | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|09|28|df=y}} | birth_place = Montluçon, France | death_date = {{Death date and age|1945|04|28|1893|09|28|df=y}} | death_place = Cham, Germany | occupation = Salesman, amateur photographer | years_active = 1911–1942 | known_for = Forbidden photography }}
'''Raoul Minot''' (28 September 1893 – 28 April 1945) was a French amateur photographer who was imprisoned in France and deported to Nazi concentration camps for his clandestine photography in occupied Paris in World War II. He survived internment but died in Germany soon after his liberation.
Minot emerged from obscurity in the summer of 2024 as a result of a four-year investigation by ''Le Monde'' journalist Philippe Broussard around the discovery of Minot's anonymous prints.
== Early life == Raoul Minot was born on 28 September 1893, in Montluçon, France.<ref name="asso-buchenwald">{{cite news |title=MINOT Raoul KLB 22626 |trans-title=Raoul Minot BCC 22626 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816155837/https://asso-buchenwald-dora.com/minot-raoul-klb-22626/ |archivedate=August 16, 2024 |url=https://asso-buchenwald-dora.com/minot-raoul-klb-22626/ |publisher=Association Française Buchenwald Dora et Kommandos |language=French |accessdate=2024-10-31 |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 1911, he was hired as a scarf vendor in the Parisian department store Printemps.<ref name="le-monde-16-08">{{cite news |first=Philippe |last=Broussard |title=Sur les traces du photographe inconnu du Paris de l’Occupation : le destin tragique de Raoul Minot, un héros oublié |trans-title=On the trail of the unknown photographer of occupied Paris: the tragic destiny of Raoul Minot, a forgotten hero |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816155843/https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2024/08/16/sur-les-traces-du-photographe-inconnu-du-paris-de-l-occupation-l-affaire-minot-juven-une-histoire-de-heros-et-de-collabos_6283667_3451060.html |archivedate=August 16, 2024 |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2024/08/16/sur-les-traces-du-photographe-inconnu-du-paris-de-l-occupation-l-affaire-minot-juven-une-histoire-de-heros-et-de-collabos_6283667_3451060.html |publisher=Le Monde |language=French |date=2024-08-16 |accessdate=2024-10-31 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1914, he was mobilized for World War I, during which he earned the ''Croix de guerre'' with bronze star.<ref name="asso-buchenwald"/>
After the First World War, he returned to the Printemps department store, where he met Marthe Bedos, whom he married. The couple moved from Paris to nearby Courbevoie in the 1920s. They had a daughter, Jacqueline. Minot was a passionate amateur photographer and regularly photographed vacations and war veteran events that he attended in Courbevoie.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/>
== Photography and internment ==
Starting in 1940, Minot secretly took more than a thousand photos of daily life in Paris in World War II, which was prohibited under the Nazi occupation. He used a Kodak Brownie and developed negatives at the photo laboratory within his workplace at Printemps. He sold some photos to Louis Juven, an occasional agent of the French Resistance.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/><ref name="F24-01">{{cite news|title=Seconde guerre mondiale : Raoul Minot, le photographe du Paris occupé |language=French | trans-title=Second World War: Raoul Minot, the photographer of occupied Paris |publisher=France 24 |url=https://www.france24.com/fr/vidéo/20241030-seconde-guerre-mondiale-raoul-minot-le-photographe-du-paris-occupé |date=2024-10-30 |accessdate=2024-11-10}}</ref>
thumb|350px|Raoul Minot's file from the Historical Defense Service. In November 1942, an unnamed informant denounced Minot's activities to the Nazi occupation.<ref name="F24-01"/> After an investigation by the collaborationist Special Brigades, Minot was imprisoned in early 1943 at Fresnes Prison and then transferred to the Royallieu-Compiègne internment camp.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/><ref name="Le Monde 09-24">{{cite news|first=Philippe |last=Broussard |title=La photo retrouvée de Raoul Minot, le " photographe fantôme " du Paris occupé |trans-title=The photo of Raoul Minot, the "ghost photographer" of occupied Paris, found |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2024/09/14/la-photo-retrouvee-de-raoul-minot-le-photographe-fantome-du-paris-occupe_6317227_3451060.html |publisher=Le Monde |language=French |date=2024-09-14 |accessdate=2024-10-31}}</ref>
When Minot was arrested, many of his photos and materials were seized by the French police, and the photographic works of his unique genre went unknown for several decades.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/>
On 20 April 1943, Minot was deported from France to Mauthausen concentration camp in Germany.<ref name="mauthausen">{{cite news|title=MINOT Raoul. Matricule : 28343 |trans-title=Raoul Minot, registration number 28343 |url=https://monument-mauthausen.org/28343.html |publisher=Amicale of the deportees, families and friends of Mauthausen |language=French |accessdate=2024-10-31}}</ref> On 17 October 1943, he was transferred to Buchenwald, where he was used as forced labor.<ref name="asso-buchenwald"/>
In 1945, he was evacuated with other prisoners from Buchenwald and arrived at Flossenbürg before being forced onto a death march for about two weeks.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/> He was liberated by the Americans on 23 April 1945, but died on 28 April in a hospital in Cham, Germany.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/> His body has never been recovered.<ref name="F24-01"/>
== Legacy == Before the discovery of his wartime photography, a single photo attributed to an "M. Minot" was published by Printemps in a booklet in 1965, commemorating the department store's centenary.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/>
Since 1999, Museum of National Resistance has hosted a collection of Minot's photos, unattributed until 2024. They have been traced back to a donation by Daniel Leduc, son of ''résistant'' Paul Leduc who had apparently saved the photos from his work in 1945.<ref name="le-monde-13-08">{{cite news |first=Philippe |last=Broussard |title=Sur les traces du photographe inconnu du Paris de l’Occupation : à la recherche du commandant Leduc |trans-title=On the trail of the unknown photographer of occupied Paris: in search of Commander Leduc |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240813063552/https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2024/08/13/vous-avez-essaye-de-me-joindre-le-commandant-daniel-leduc-genereux-donateur-du-musee-de-la-resistance-nationale_6278997_3451060.html |archivedate=August 13, 2024 |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2024/08/13/vous-avez-essaye-de-me-joindre-le-commandant-daniel-leduc-genereux-donateur-du-musee-de-la-resistance-nationale_6278997_3451060.html |publisher=Le Monde |language=French |date=2024-08-13 |accessdate=2024-10-31 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2020, another batch of 117 photos saved by Renée Damien, a colleague of Minot, were published in a book by Albert Hude titled ''Paris humilié, 1940–1941, Chronique photographique inédite en 101 clichés''.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Looking for the unknown photographer of occupied Paris: The department store employee who hated the Germans|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2024/09/11/looking-for-the-unknown-photographer-of-occupied-paris-the-department-store-employee-who-hated-the-germans_6725631_183.html|date=2024-09-11|access-date=2025-11-30|language=en|last=Broussard|first=Philippe|publisher=Le Monde}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Philippe |last=Broussard |title=Sur les traces du photographe inconnu du Paris de l’Occupation : Renée Damien, la vendeuse du Printemps qui détestait les " Fritz " |trans-title=On the trail of the unknown photographer of occupied Paris: Renée Damien, the Printemps saleswoman who hated the “Fritzes” |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240814040814/https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2024/08/14/sur-les-traces-du-photographe-inconnu-du-paris-de-l-occupation-renee-damien-une-vendeuse-du-printemps-face-aux-fritz_6280245_3451060.html |archivedate=August 14, 2024 |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2024/08/14/sur-les-traces-du-photographe-inconnu-du-paris-de-l-occupation-renee-damien-une-vendeuse-du-printemps-face-aux-fritz_6280245_3451060.html |publisher=Le Monde |language=French |date=2024-08-14 |accessdate=2024-10-31 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Paris humilié, 1940–1941 : chronique photographique inédite en 101 clichés |trans-title=Paris humiliated, 1940–1941: unpublished photo chronicle in 101 shots |language=French |first=Albert |last=Hude |publisher=Éditions du Petit Pavé |year=2020 |ISBN=2847126589 |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Paris_humili%C3%A9_1940_1941.html?id=ZnQWzgEACAAJ |accessdate=2024-11-01}}</ref>
Also in 2020, photo album collector Stéphanie Colaux found in a flea market in Barjac, Gard, an album with photos from the Nazi occupation of Paris between 1940 and 1942. Aware of their historical importance, she reached out to ''Le Monde'' newspaper about her find, and the newspaper proceeded to investigate the source of the photos. In August 2024, the newspaper published a series of five articles by Philippe Broussard detailing the results of the investigation, identifying Minot as the photographer, and surmising that he may have had accomplices. Otherwise, the provenance of the album found at the flea market remains a mystery.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/>
All of Minot's known photos were numbered, and many were embellished with his caustic comments about the German occupiers, some of which were erased. These photos show Paris and her closest suburbs between 1940 and 1942, particularly German soldiers in the capital, military equipment, buildings, deserted streets, civilians queuing for rations, propaganda leaflets, and anti-German inscriptions.<ref name="le-monde-16-08"/><ref name="F24-01"/>
On 11 September 2024, the National Office for Veterans and Victims of War declared Minot a ''Mort pour la France'', a title reserved for honored war dead.<ref name="F24-01"/><ref name="Le Monde 09-24"/>
== See also == * Paris in World War II * ''The Unknown Photographer'', from the First World War
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite news|title=The recovered picture of Raoul Minot, the mysterious photographer of occupied Paris |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2024/09/14/the-recovered-picture-of-raoul-minot-the-mysterious-photographer-of-occupied-paris_6726001_183.html |first=Philippe |last=Broussard |publisher=Le Monde |date=2024-09-14 |accessdate=2024-11-01}} * {{cite news|title=How France uncovered the mystery of the forbidden photos of Nazi-occupied Paris|url=https://www.npr.org/2024/10/28/nx-s1-5157701/france-wwii-war-photos-mystery|work=NPR|date=2024-11-09|access-date=2025-11-30|language=en|authorlink=Eleanor Beardsley|first=Eleanor|last=Beardsley}} * {{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/arts/earthling-raoul-minot-nazi-paris.html |title=An Earthling Reflects on a Wartime Salesman's Bold Act of Resistance |first=Haruka |last=Aoki |publisher=The New York Times |date=2025-01-18 |accessdate=2025-12-21}} * {{cite book|first=Philippe |last=Broussard |title=Le Photographe inconnu de l'Occupation |trans-title=The unknown photographer of the occupation |lang=French |publisher=Stock |date=2025-09-12 |isbn=978-2021596021}} * {{cite web|url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/qui-etait-le-photographe-fantome-de-l-occupation-l-incroyable-enquete-de-philippe-broussard-7995061 |publisher=Radio France |title=Qui était le photographe fantôme de l'Occupation ? L'incroyable enquête de Philippe Broussard |trans-title=Who was the phantom photographer of the occupation? Philippe Broussard's incredible inquest |lang=French |first=Anne |last=Douhaire-Kerdoncuff |date=2025-11-28 |accessdate=2025-12-23}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minot, Raoul}} Category:1893 births Category:1945 deaths Category:20th-century French photographers Category:Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Category:Flossenbürg concentration camp survivors Category:French civilians killed in World War II Category:Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Category:People from Montluçon Category:French recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)