Pierre Henrionnet 1924 - 1945

Born 17.2.1924 in Mainz
Died 9.2.1945 in Melk

Biography

Pierre Jean Émile Henrionnet was born on 17 February 1924 in Mainz, which was then under occupation by the French army following the First World War. He lived with his family in Koblenz until 1928, when his father gave up his military career. The family, originally from Maas, moved back to Lorraine, this time to Nancy. He was the only son among six siblings. His mother died when he was 11 and, at 13, he became an ‘army child’ and trained in the Épinal military academy. During the period of mobilisation, the school moved to Niort and in summer 1940 to Montélimar in the unoccupied zone.

On the day before the Allied landings he returned to his family. He worked for several months in the steelworks in Pompey. Later, when he learned that he was on the STO (‘Service du travail obligatoire’ or ‘Obligatory labour service’) list, he moved in, now a deserter, with his sister and brother-in-law, Armand Perrin, who were farmers in Fenneviller (department of Meurthe-et-Moselle), a village near Pexonne. Because Henrionnet had undergone military training, he and his brother-in-law Armand, along with the partisan groups in the area, took up armed resistance.

Late August 1944 was harvest time. On Sunday 27 August 1944, the family went to Mass in Pexonne, because the service started earlier there than in Fenneviller. They wanted to continue with the harvest while the weather conditions were favourable. During the Mass the SS surrounded the church, carrying out a raid followed by deportations. After a stay in the Natzweiler concentration camp he was taken to Dachau, then to Mauthausen, before he and his brother-in-law Armand were transferred to the Melk Kommando (labour detachment) with 39 other hostages captured in Pexonne. In order to avoid being separated, the two men kept silent about their family ties.

On 15 December 1944 Armand Perrin saw his watch being worn by an SS member. He asked for it back. The SS member became angry and killed him by hitting him with the butt of his rifle. Pierre Henrionnet could only look on helplessly. Completely shocked by the murder of his brother-in-law, he suffered an immediate onset of the skin infection erysipelas, which caused him to lose his sight. On 9 February 1945 he died from this illness in the Melk subcamp, eight weeks after his brother-in-law and a few days before his 21st birthday.

 

Guillaume Maisse

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