Question: is there a common point between Henri Béhar and Charles De Gaulle?

Answer: Yes. All megalomania aside, they both escaped the firing squad, on August 26, 1944, at the same time. One at Notre-Dame, during the Te Deum, the other while he was playing quietly in the courtyard of his building, rue Henri Ranvier, in the North-east of Paris.

Historians still wonder: where did the shots come from? who fired after the Paris armistice?

As far as I'm concerned, I know, because the scene is one of those that one never forgets, that it was an isolated German, perched on the roof of the opposite building, unable to resolve to lay down his arms. His account was settled within five minutes by the FFI who came to see their parents.

To think that it took me 70 years to realize this coincidence or concordance of times!

Henri Béhar