André Bollier "Vélin" : Artisan Héroïque Des Journaux Clandestins, 1920-1944

Signing on Wednesday 19 April 2023 from 18:30 to 20:30 at Librairie Lardanchet

André Bollier was just 21 years old and finishing his studies at Polytechnique when, in June 1941, Henri Frenay put him in charge of the organisation and distribution of Combat, the newspaper of his movement.

A tireless worker, he brilliantly managed his job as an engineer, his family life and the production of newspapers, leaflets and false papers. He did not hesitate, when necessary, to make the shot, and it was notably he who directed the spectacular escape of Berty Albrecht in December 1942.

After having created a clandestine printing house in rue Viala in Lyon, the man who was henceforth called "Vélin" supplied, at the beginning of 1944, more than one and a half million newspapers and leaflets per month for several Resistance movements in the southern and northern zones (Combat, Franc-Tireur, Défense de la France, La Voix du Nord...).

Arrested and tortured several times, he managed to escape and resume his activity. On 17 June 1944, surrounded in his printing works by more than 150 German soldiers and militiamen, he heroically put up a final fight.

Born a few months after his death, his son Vianney Bollier paints a striking portrait of this still little known hero of the French Resistance.