Andre Dewavrin,
the son of a businessman, was born in France
in 1911. He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique as an army engineer.
He taught at St Cyr and fought in Norway before joining General Charles
De Gaulle in England in 1940.
Promoted
to the rank of major, Dewavrin was placed in charge of the French
military intelligence unit. Adopting the code name "Passy",
he helped organize the resistance movement in France.
On 23rd
February 1943, Dewavrin and his deputy Pierre
Brossolette parachuted into France and began the negotiations
that eventually led to Jean Moulin establishing
the Conseil National de la Resistance (CNR)
in May 1943.
Later that
year Dewavrin's organization was merged with the French army's conventional
secret services to form the DGSS operating under Jacques
Soustelle. For the next six months Dewavrin worked as Soustelle's
technical adviser until becoming head of the organization in October
1944.
In 1946
Dewavrin was accused of corruptly using money intended for the French
Resistance. He was arrested and jailed for four months before
the charges were dropped. Dewavrin published three volumes of memoirs
in 1947, 1949 and 1951 and went into business. Andre Dewavrin died
on 22nd December, 1998.
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