My First time, 211e RR

Thank you for some clarification.
It seems he was not the only relative of mine who had many discipline problems.
The one was "condamné au bagne de Cayenne".

Bonjour,

La condamnation au bagne n'est pas lisible sur le feuillet matricule.

Pour résumer l'histoire qui apparaît, l'homme manque l'appel de sa classe parce qu'il est en prison. Il est d'abord déclaré insoumis, puis une fois identifié, son séjour en prison est compté comme "interruption de service". A la sortie de prison, il est incorporé au 3e Bataillon d'infanterie légère d'Afrique puis passe au 4e zouaves et sort avec un certificat de bonne conduite. Visiblement, ce n'est donc pas la discipline militaire qui lui pose problème.

Il semble qu'il y ait par contre plusieurs autres condamnations inscrites sous la partie "volante" du feuillet.

Cordialement,
DH

I think I will need to travel to France to find more information. maybe a cemetery where my grandfather, uncle's, great grandfather etc might be. My mother refuses to ever go back to France. I can't imagine the horror she lived through. It hurts my heart to see a 77 yr old lady who still hides under the table and cries. Finding information about this is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and it's just the beginning. I can imagine how many more people are trying to do the same as I am.

Hello Jocelyne,

If you have an idea of the towns your relatives are buried in, you can perhaps start the search online. But only a few them have an official online listing of their cemeteries. Sometimes, the information can fe found on private websites.
If some of your other ancestors died as soldiers in WW1 or WW2 (or even other conflicts), there is a high probability that they appear on a local monument which is listed here : http://www.memorialgenweb.org/memorial3/html/fr/index.php

Loïc

dhouliez a écrit:

La condamnation au bagne n'est pas lisible sur le feuillet matricule.

Je dois corriger. La condamnation au bagne apparaît en fait sous la forme : condamné à la relégation, mis à disposition du ministre des colonies.

Cordialement,
DH

Thank you for confirming that dhouliez. For many many years, I wondered how did Jean Albert Catoir,
end up marrying a girl from Paramaribo, If he was from France. I was recently told a story the he escaped from that horrible place. He could not stay in French Guyanna, because it was a french colony.
Somehow he ended up in Dutch Guyana. Which today is Surinam.

Merci

Jocelyne

Escaping from a prison in French Guyana? This could make a nice movie!
Note that this prison would not be necessarily the (in)famous "bagne de Cayenne", there were lots of prisons and camps there : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagne_de_la_Guyane_fran%C3%A7aise

It would be!! However he ended up in Dutch Guyana, Today Surinam I haven't got a clue. That was my great grandfather, on my mother's side. "Catoir". I knew nothing at all about them, until recently. When I was a little girl about 2 or 3 years old. There was an older gentlemen that my father used to always visit at a small cafe kiosk, and bring me with him. I think we lived in Venezuela. I would have to ask my father. Much later in life when I wanted to research my mother's family, my father asked if I remembered the older
gentleman, showed me a picture. Yes I vaguely remember him. My father said " well he escaped from the prison off shore of French Guyana and he wrote a book called Papillon.

Bonsoir,

La peine de relégation consistait en une exclusion définitive du territoire national, et l'assignation à un territoire des colonies, en l'occurrence la Guyane pour les "relégués collectifs".

Plutôt qu'une évasion du bagne proprement dit, il est peut être parti en Guyane hollandaise après avoir exécuté sa peine de prison.

"Papillon", c'est un roman d'inspiration autobiographique d'Henri Charrière, ancien bagnard en Guyane.

Cordialement,
DH

This book was written by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Charri%C3%A8re and adapted to cinema. His story is quite controversial, but he lived in Venezuela from 1945 on.

Hello,

It has been a very long time since I received alot of help from the members of this forum.
I was unable to find this forum and much more for a long time. Finally yesterday when I mentioned this
forum to someone, he knew exaclty what I was talking about and sent me the link. 

I had once mention a story that I was sure was exaggerated, just as the story of Henri Charrier in my opinion is very exaggerated, 
about a prison in french guyana. I still do not know which prison it is. 
That Jean Albert Catoir escaped from on June 25th, 1910. Only to be captured again July 1st, 1919. 
The document I was recently given does not specify.