Arcadia Discussion Zone

Mairie of Annemasse
Haute-Savoie


8 June 1956



Re: Declaration by the association known as the 'Priory of Sion'

Further to your telephone communication, I have pleasure in returning to you the Declaration Receipt that you asked me to send to the president of the association known as the 'Priory of Sion'.

For the time being I shall hang on to the register that you have initialled.

I also enclose three examples of a magazine that seems to originate with the same organisation as that mentioned above.

In issue No. 1 of the magazine the design of the emergency accommodation that the town built last year is criticised.

In issue No. 2 reference is made to a matter that led to a dispute with an administrator of the CIL [Comité Interprofessionnel du Logement = Housing Committee], a Monsieur Maitret, solely in our opinion to give Monsieur Maitret an opportunity to reply (see issue No. 3).

This particular matter, which concerned the use of gas and electricity sub-meters [i.e. to monitor consumption on an individual basis] in blocks of flats, formed the subject of quite a lively polemic last January. The copy of the letter addressed to Monsieur Deffaugt which I enclose will provide you with all the information you need on the subject.

For your personal information, I feel I should add that Monsieur Maitret, the Director of the CIL, is the leader of the opposition group on the town council, that this organisation that is currently being formed [i.e. the Priory] was inspired by this opposition group and - finally - that during the recent Mothers' Day celebrations Monsieur Maitret, taking the floor in the Mayor's presence in his capacity as President of the Large Families Association, delivered a speech that contained a whole host of demands and in which the Town Council was dealt with none too gently.

The outraged tone that he used on that occasion was condemned even by his own friends. An incident was only just avoided. I feel that it is useful for you to know this little aspect of the matter,

Yours,

[Signature]





Original letter written by the Mayor of Annemasse on 8 June 1956

Gino Sandri, Secretary of the
Priory of Sion September 2003



It is during the summer 2003 that we met, for the first time, Mr. Gino Sandri. The idea of this meeting came us following the distributed letter, on several supports, of the thin Priory of Sion of the year 2002. Some months after this decision making, the first contacts were established. Very quickly, Mr. Sandri accepted the idea of one interview destined to be published on the Site" Rennes-Le-Château - The File! ". Mr. Gino Sandri is member of the Priory of Sion since numerous years. Very close to Pierre Plantard, he makes left of the very closed circle of the leaders of the Priory of Sion. As you are going to be able to read it, Mr. Sandri answered the set of our questions as there bringing the elements to their understanding. The set of the answers of Mr. Sandri is returned" In extenso "..

However, the elements, arguments and insinuations of his answers only hire him..

Jean-Patrick Pourtal (JPP) : M. Sandri, how long are you member of the Priory of Sion, and how are there entered you ?

Gino Sandri (GS) : I have been received there in 1977, advisable by Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair.

JPP : You were a long time close to M. Plantard. You knew it when he was the Graet Master of the Priory of Sion. What were the objectives of M. Plantard for the Priory of Sion when he directed it ?

GS : The bottom is constant and unchangeable, bound to the primordial tradition, however, the outside shapes can vary. SION, in this case, mean branch or origin. it belongs to those that received the load to direct to act to best considering the contingencies of the moment. It is necessary to specify also that if the order often counted within the influential characters who make the CIRCUIT of it ideal for some interests, his/her/its objectives are not political nor financial

JPP : Mr. Plantard was the documentaliste of M. De Sède for several works of this author. How organized itself this collaboration ?

GS :Toward 1960, on the occasion of the affair of Gisors, Gérard De Sède, who met Roger Lhomoy casually, publish a resounding article in a weekly to big pull. It is worth him to enter in contact with Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair. This first appointment to Aulnay-under-wood, 116, Avenue Pierre Jouhet, will be followed of good of others.
Gérard De Sède receives then in deposit a file that provides the matter of his two books: "The Templars are among us "and" The gold of Rennes ". According to the contract signed with the Julliard editions, the rights distribute themselves between Gérard De Sède for 35% and Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair for 65%..
Gérard of Sède finishes the writing of his second book and goes to Aude, what gives him the opportunity to take contacts. In particular, he makes the acquaintance of René Descadeillas that also publishes him a work on Rennes-Le-Château. I specify that this last was in relation with Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair since several years.

A long time enthusiastic and passionate, Gérard of Sède puts an end to this association and work with young collaborators like a Parisian professor or Jean - Luc Chaumeil with which he writes a book titled "The key of two enigmas ". I believe to remember that Jean-Luc Chaumeil is the author of the scoop who aims to publish in exclusive rights the photographs of the Rennes-Le-Château treasure kept in Switzerland. But it was about the treasure of Pétroassa exposed some years earlier in Paris. This book won't appear and the two co-authors will leave from it angry!

The DVD "The Code Da Vinci: Investigations on the enigmas of a bestseller"
To discover!


JPP : Thereafter, M. Plantard has been implied very in the work of the authors Anglais of" The Holly Blood and the Holly Grail". His collaboration to duct these authors to orient the set of their works around the history of the Priory of Sion. The objective was it to unveil the Priory of Sion to the general public and if yes in what goal ?

GS : In a general manner, the Priory of Sion doesn't aim the general public but it is necessary to act in the century in a subtle way. There is alternation of periods during which it is therefore much question of the Priory of Sion and others where one speaks to less of them.
To answer your question precisely, in 1955, Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair, facing a tense situation, to the lusts of all sorts, decided to divert the attention while bringing up what we sometimes called a poisoning according to a minutely elaborate plan. I can mention you an anecdote. In 1977, whereas we put the finishing touches to the work appeared under the title: "The treasure of the gold Triangle ", I conversed with him of the booklets distributed coins various pseudonyms (Lobineau, Blancassal...) and assigned to the Alpina. Confiding him my feeling, he answered me tit for tat: "It is precisely it, you understand, in 1956, one tried to attack me, then I riposted while throwing the affair of Rennes-Le-Château! " It is necessary to say that everybody found its account, including Mr. Corbu that there created a hotel with a restaurant, there.
The lobster pot in which everybody had to assemble was put in place. Confess that it is succeeded.

JPP : A big part of the works of Gérard De Sèdes and English was based on the copies of the parchments that Saunière would have found in Rennes-Le-Château. However we know that these parchments have been achieved by M. De Cherisey. Why this track has it summer thrown in pasture to the different authors of Rennes-Le-Château?

GS : Abbot Saunière discovered some parchments well in the church Saint Madeleine of Rennes-Le-Château, their content doesn't have anything to see with the published here and there papers. It is some in the same way for those that it exhumed thereafter. The plot of the novel of Gérard De Sède is astute. All begins in 1888 by the discovery of mysterious parchments encoded and it is the décryptage whose key is engraved on a tomb that gives access to the treasure. Doesn't it recall you anything? As for the famous published documents and analyzed by Gérard De Sède (and by others...), their apparition appears in the context that I have just exposed briefly. They were not destined to the general public, not more that the famous booklets. These papers acted as support to an exchange of coded messages between networks in action, or even in competition. They don't have anything to see with a treasure of some nature that it is. However elsewhere, the authentic texts are made of it engraved in the stone.

JPP : M. De Cherisey and M. Plantard were for a longtime friends. One can believe that the writing of the parchments is a pure product of their imaginations or can think one that they were inspired by existing documents. ?

GS : Forgive me to repeat me, the writing of these parchments answered a precise goal at the time. There again, it was about diverting the attention in order to protect other documents. As you know it, from 1956, a set of publications distributed coins various pseudonyms is put in circulation. We are in presence of a real country that aims a character or a society that act in the domain of the occult. This exchange only concerns a circle restricts. Forty years after, these documents became without interest except that historic. It is at the very least funny to raise that a "pharmacy" installed at the time to Rennes-Le-Château produces quantity of documents of identical invoice as well as papers or correspondence assigned to abbot Boudet or abbot Bigou. These writings are the subject of a juicy trade then that, it decorated, continued. Unfortunately, authors implied in the history of Rennes are victims of this swindle in which the Priory of Sion doesn't have any part and don't pull any profit of it.

JPP : During a long time M. Plantard sustained the fact that he was the descendant of the last Mérovingienses. Why, thereafter, he has sustained the opposite ?

GS : There is there a key that can illuminate a lot of points. This history is not to take to the letter but it seduced Gérard De Sède, spellbound by the nobility and that bases all his novel" The fabulous race" on this theme and on the myth prégnant of the hidden king. He seizes the opportunity to put in stage a mysterious" marquis of B" of which he receives the confidences. The game takes the size then since this marquis of B maintains a correspondence with innumerable "researchers" using for that to make a beautiful paper to letter decorated with an unknown blazon! Who hides behind this enigmatic aristocrat who has multiple relays in the Razès
Our investigation permitted to establish that a tie existed between this "marquis De B" and the author of the booklet titled: "A treasure mérovingien in Rennes the castle ". This last, of Belgian nationality, had custom, at the time of his Parisian stays, to descend, under Antoine L'Hermitte's name, to the hotel Du Mont d'Or, 19 Rue du Mont d'Or, Paris 17th. Of the 13 to May 17, 1966, he occupies the room n°2 there then, of the 8 to June 19 of the same year, the room n°1. He deposits his/its publication then in the National Library, publication that receives the rating 8 Lj 9 9537.
Another publication acts as reference to Gérard De Sède": The secret files of Henri Lobineau" by Philippe Toscan Du Plantier. According to Gérard De Sède, this name is unknown to this address and Philippe Toscan Du Plantier lives in Bodrun in Turkey.
April 11, 1967, the brigade of the narcotics stops this young professor of philosophy for detention of LSD in the domicile of his friend Anne-Marie Rossi, 17 Quai de Montebello in Paris. The police was informed well! "Honest man ", Philippe Toscan Du Plantier doesn't denounce "his" supplier. The big dailies of the time give account of this news item. Gérard De Sède was a faithful reader of these big Parisian newspapers and he could not ignore this news item! !
One half-century ago, lived a curious character who made itself call Henri Lobineau or "Comte De Lénoncourt ". One could meet it in Paris, where he lived, in Gisors or in Rennes the castle where he had established the general district of a strange pharmacy. This discreet character had become famous during World War II. He operated in occupied France and in Switzerland for the count of Selborne, responsible of the SOE. The war finished, it leads front of multiple and discreet activities, looking for the treasures, negotiating old currencies. He was in relation with Leo Schidlof, antiquarian and historian of the resident art in Vienna. Leo Schidlof is the author of the catalog of a big exhibition on the old miniatures in Geneva, in 1956. If the curiosity you there shoot, consult some copies of this trilingual catalog; the English version is far from being the translation of the French text, it is some in the same way for the German version! Mr. N says Henri Lobineau frequented a Parisian engineer inhabitant Foch avenue. Besides, this same year, the superb apartment of the Avenue Foch is destroyed by a fire. There won't be an investigation. This year 1967 is rich in news item. It is necessary to speak of Fakar Ul Islam found death in station of Melun following a fall inauspicious of the night train Paris-Geneva ?
Again a news item if you are it willing. This same year an opuscule "The Red Snake ", is the subject of the legal deposit. However, the three mentioned authors almost committed suicide simultaneously. The delirium is infectious what brought some authors a little overwrought to affirm that Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair and the Priory of Sion murdered three people by hanging!
The content of these small opuscules is certainly raving but it resides there sometimes a bottom interesting. Then, a last coincidence: in this year 1967, several cardboards of archives of the Priory of Sion are stolen, at the time of a burglary, in the apartment of Philippe De Chérisey, situated 37, Rue Saint-Lazare in Paris. Is there a report between all these facts? Five years later a jobless journalist blackmailer at his hours, will tempt to sell these papers to the more bidder! !

JPP : In 2000, Mr. Plantard dies. To the me of June of this same year, I am contacted directly rather by his son, by e-mail that announces his father's death to me, intervening some days. However after verification, I discover that the death of M. Plantard occurred February 3, 2000. Why such an attempt of manipulation around the death of the Great master. of the Priory of Sion ?

GS : These last years, the Priory of Sion in general Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair should have faced a tense situation in particular. We knew an upsurge of draw, of anonymous tracts, threats and pressures of all orders, but it is not the most serious. Pierre Plantard De Saint-Clair doesn't wish to finish like Péladan or Georges Monti victims of a poisoning. A strategy has been elaborated and arrangements have been taken. I won't tell more of them.

JPP : For some, the death of M. Plantard would be false. For others, M. Plantard would be... resuscitated ! That think yourselves of all it ?

GS : To your opinion ?

JPP : Let's come back to the Priory of Sion. That represents Rennes-Le-Château for the Priory of Sion ?

GS :Other places exist according to the times. Why one speaks never of Millau, of Annemasse of Montrevel or Brazil. All this fits in the space and the time. With regard to Rennes-Le-Château, the Priory of Sion establishes its seat there in 1681. The Company of the Saint-sacrament, founded by Henri DeLévis, is dissolved in 1665. Some chandeliers later some adepts always exist in the region, adepts who join the Priory of Sion.
To the origin of this choice we find Jean-Timoléon De Négri d'Ables of assisted of Blaise De Hautpoul. Also raise the names of abbots André-Hercule De Fleury and Jean-Pierre Cabanié. New arrangements are taken September 19, 1730 by François De Hautpoul and Jean-Paul De Nègre himself bound to a survival of the Company of the Saint-Sacrement.
If we come back to the archives of the Priory of Sion this designates deposits of various natures of the documents or objects of which some are very old I think about engraved some stones. The situation is very complex. During the French revolution enters 1789 and 1792 of the "clandestine" deposits are constituted in order to put the precious files and the authentic acts safe from the vandals. For most all subsisted. With regard to the Priory of Son, some of these acts have been confided to Maximilian DeLorraine, archbishop of Cologne. In the beginning of the XIXème century, some pieces remain between the hands of the Hapsburg that, some decades later, establish contacts with abbots Boudet and Saunières. Why? It is question of exchanges of documents.
Another deposit is constituted to the castle Du Lys close to Lille. In 1938, Gabriel Trarieux D'Egmont is invited there by the Comte De Saint-Hilier, great-uncle of Philippe De Chérisey. In forecast of the war that announces itself, the archives, confided to Gabriel Trarieux D'Egmont, are displaced to Go up-Carlo.
Let's speak, if you are it willing, of a similar affair. At the end the French revolution, the Priory of Sion tempts to get by Angélique Lenoir the restitution of some acts. She pretends to have burnt all papers then under Terror. It is improper because we know that she confided a part of it to the Comte D'Antraigues.
Why these precautions? What was the secret of Angelique Lenoir? Why does she pretend to have destroyed all papers, titles and handwritten that she received? André Chénier and abbot Delille speak of documents of the Temple. But,... about what Temple is it? The order of the Temple or the secret of the Temple in Paris? Only this last could have the interest to the eyes of the Hapsburg.
Angelique Lenoir was married to Jean-Marie Alexandre De Hautpoul. In 1799, so-called Elisabeth De hautpoul Miss Rennes receives its family in the castle of Montferrand to the Bains de Rennes. Is notably present the general of Hautpoul. This meeting has for goal to confide the documents of Angélique Lenoir to the last damsel of Rennes. This one dies in Paris May 20, 1820.
The royalists didn't hesitate to believe that the parchments of Angélique Lenoir touched the enigma of the survival of Louis XVII. On this day, no one recovered the documents of Angélique Lenoir, of the less... in Rennes !

JPP : There were some relations between Bérenger Saunière and the Priory of Sion ?

GS : What do you hear by relations? If you ask me if he belonged there, the answer is negative. Bérenger Saunière was in the place and he was used and was manipulated by different networks to look for some deposits. I specify you that the research of the abbot Saunière treasure is not interested. For my part, I never dug any holes in the region and don't count to make it !

JPP : It is considerable that Rennes-Le-Château attracts many groupings. Of numerous "Secret" Societies, "Discreet" seem to be passionately fond for this place. That thinks the Priory of Sion of it and he is also present in these places ?

GS : The Priory of Sion is some delighted. It occupies them. More has madmen, more one has fun. As Pierre Plantard De Saint Clair says it with his customary humor, all takes place according to the foreseen plan, forty years after! Still on the humorous fashion, I believe that there is a Priory of Sion well in activity in Rennes or maybe several, but it is about the counterfeitings that we identified. To your opinion, why one doesn't speak of places just as important ?

JPP : For some, the Priory of Zion would be bound to Freemasonry. That he is some ?

GS : The question often comes back. I am going to try to dissipate confusion therefore. I know that some see the Priory of Sion like a masonic obedience or more precisely a structure of high ranks. It is not anything of it. It is a system of representation that is familiar to them but that doesn't have any report with the reality. From where does this confusion come? I already evoked the opuscules deposited to the National Library mentioning the Big Stall Switzerland Alpina as if one wanted to direct on this track. In what goal? But, It arrives that some masonic structures are either caused oriented by the Priory of Sion to act as outside circle or relay as in Lyons in 1828 with the ritual of Memphis. Later, these structures are delivered to their own destiny. Finally, of the freemasonry members and no the least were part of the Priory of Sion. I think about doctor Savoire or Georges Monti, very bound to the Duke De Conaught, Great Master of the Great Loge United of England but, the franc - masonry was not their priority

JPP : In the beginning of this year, an "official" document of the Priory of Sion has been brought to the general public attention. This document carried your signature as well as another with the mention G CHYREN. It is announced that 2003 are a fateful year and that the apogee of the Priory of Sion will be reached. What are the particularities of 2003 for the Priory of Sion ? To what moment should reach him its apogee, knowing that we are in the month of October 2003 ?

GS : The cycles that determine of the privileged moments, what one calls in some surroundings of the circuits, exist. These remarkable instants are auspicious to the revelations. With regard to the Priory of Sion, all is in order and we go circa a necessary clarification. The false Priories are going to appear in full light what will encourage their implosion.

JPP : Still in the same document, it is clearly specified that the Woman's place is important for the Priory of Sion. Some what consists her ?

GS : On a fundamental plan, it is an essential point, overlooked unfortunately well. The pluspart of the societies initiatiques is often only caricatures and the latent misogyny is a sign of it. Without can spread me on the topic, I want to submit this to your reflection. In a lot of rituals, impetrating it is put in presence of the death and the rebirth. Dead and transfiguration! However, in the Egyptian mythology, it is Isis that is able alone to gather the scattered pieces of the body of Osiris. Although one makes, it is inescapable. .

JPP : Can describe us to you and explain us the structure of the Priory of present Sion ?

GS : Several circles, at least two, exist traditionally three to be exact, what sometimes gives the impression that several structures exist, one being traced him of the other.

JPP : In this end of year 2003, the Priory of Sion of 2003 seems very different from the one that directed M. Plantard. Can speak yourselves us of the its objectives ?

GS : It is evidently an impression and I gave you the explanation previously of it. There is not any difference, no rupture and be persuaded that the influence of Pierre Plantard is well real. As for its objectives, they are not political nor financial some are the members. The affairisme doesn't have its place there. The world of the arts and letters occupies a major place there always.

JPP : The Priory of Sion is directed by a Great master. Can speak yourselves us of the Great master present and can reveal us to you his name ?

GS : I won't tell you more of them today.

JPP : For a lot of people, the Priory of Sion seems inexistent. Do you recruit ? And what are the necessary qualities to enter to the Priory of Sion ?

GS : One doesn't apply for. One is chosen carefully after have been studied for a long time and tried in particular, the moral integrity is essential. One doesn't attach any value to the titles and to the diplomas. Generally, impetrating it is a noble and pure heart belonging to no structure. Péladan organized the lounges of the Rose-cross, Georges Monti was an artist-painter; the setting in circulation of work of art is a signal of recognition intended to unite the individuals having an identical sensitivity.

JPP : A latest question: What is the tie between the discreet Priory of Sion that we have just evoked whole and the association created in Annemasse in 1956 ?

GS : The association created in Annemasse answered in its time, in this place, to a precise goal. It was also, if you prefer, a sort of outside circle. A similar function was devolved to the order of the alpha-Gallates created in 1934 in Paris. We could also evoke other creations...

Thank you for your answers

6 Mishpocha _
FRANCE: MEMOIR OF HELEN KOENIG STEIN
Member of Marianne Cohn’s Convoy, arrested Annemasse, France, May 31, 1944
I was a little girl of six in 1936. I lived in Strasbourg,
France, near the German border. We had a pleasant family
life, but were aware of the oppression suffered by the
German Jews. In 1939, war broke out in Europe. My
father was in the French army and my mother, alone with
three small children, settled in the center of France near
Limoges. All our relatives were dispersed. Once France
was occupied, the government issued anti-Semitic laws.
We lived in fear of being taken away. Many friends had
been arrested, and never heard of again. Sometimes a
friendly police officer would warn a Jewish friend of a raid
and we would hide in a convent or on a farm for a few
days. When we were living in our apartment, I was
frightened of the doorbell ringing and daydreamed of
running away. We had so much stress that often we
couldn’t eat. We listened secretly to the BBC from London,
which gave us the news of Jews being murdered.
By the end of 1943, Jewish organizations knew about our
fate and set up networks to hide children in farms and with
families. They also organized illegal passages to
Switzerland and Spain. In May, 1944, my parents made the
heartbreaking decision to send my 10-year old sister, our 8-
year old brother, and me to Switzerland. We were given
false papers. We went to Limoges, where a convoy of 28
children was formed. As we left Limoges, the station was
full of Germans. They looked mighty; I was terrified and
shaking. In Lyon, we were given hospitality in a convent.
After two days, we left Lyon to go to Annecy, which is
near the Swiss border. We were 28 kids, waiting on the
shore of a lake in a cheerful mood, so near freedom. Our
group leader arrived at last. Her name was Marianne. She
told us not to be frightened and explained the difference
between the Swiss and German guards. We went in the van
and traveled to the border. The van stopped and we had to
walk a short distance through fields to reach Switzerland. I
saw a black car appear and four men with dogs stepped out.
Germans. Marianne had self-confidence. She had a Red
Cross armband and showed them our false papers. She
explained we were from the bombarded city of Marseille
and were on our way to a children’s home. Somehow it
worked, but at three o’clock in the morning, the Germans
came back. Marianne was questioned and slapped, the
boys beaten up. At dawn, we were taken away in a van. I
told my sister and brother “we are going to die.”
They took us to a prison in Annemasse. Partisans were
being tortured, and we heard their screams. We were put in
cells; we sat and slept on straw mattresses. The youngest
child was three years old and we all tried to mother her.
Marianne gave us warmth and cheered us up. When the
mayor, Jean Deffaugt, heard about us, he came to the
prison. He arranged for us to get soup every day. He was
very kind, and he gave us hope. We were traumatized. He
gave us a drink; I think it was egg yolk with alcohol.
Marianne was taken away every day for questioning and
tortured. She came back, her face red and swollen. She
was subjected to hot and cold baths. She was courageous
and did not betray her contacts. She told the Gestapo that
she had saved 200 children and would do it again.
We were told that we would each be interrogated by the
Gestapo. My turn came; my heart was pounding. I saw
two Nazis, one sitting on a desk with a revolver pointed
towards me and the other in front of a typewriter with a
whip. He asked my name, my parents’ address, who
organized the journey, who provided the false papers.
After each question, he said, “Are you Jewish?” I was in
turmoil and undecided of what to say or not say.
Afterwards I was drained by the sadism of that man
terrorizing me. I was only 13 years old.
The boys had been beaten up. Marianne asked the
mayor to plead with the Nazis to free us. They let the
younger ones under 14 years old go to a Catholic children’s
orphanage under German supervision. We had to promise
not to escape, as we as well as the mayor would be shot.
The older children who stayed in prison had to work
cleaning the cells, etc.
Marianne knew she was a lost woman. She tried to
sustain the morale of the youngsters. She was offered a
chance to escape, planned by her two Jewish friends; but
she refused. She could not leave the children; they would
be shot. During the night of July 7–8, 1944, she was taken
away with three other partisans, to a clearing outside of the
town. Marianne was beaten with a shovel and killed. She
was not recognizable when her friends found her.
Two weeks later, the chief Nazi told Monsieur Deffaugt,
“These children must disappear. I need the space.” The
mayor pleaded, “These children are innocent. They don’t
stop you from winning the war. I’ll look after them.” The
Jewish organization had sent two Resistance fighters to
Annemasse to rescue the children. They met Monsieur
Deffaugt in a secret place and asked him to negotiate with
the chief Nazi. Their message to the Nazi was this: The
German Occupation is coming to an end. If you kill the
children you’ll pay with your life, as we have your address
in Germany. But, if you don’t touch them, we will let you
escape to Switzerland.
At the same time, fierce battles were raging between the
Germans and the French Resistance, which was very strong
in that part of France.
On August 18, 1944, the Germans in Annemasse
capitulated. That day, our two partisans came and took us
28 children to Geneva because they were worried that the
Germans might recapture Annemasse. The mayor told us
we had been in great danger of being shot.
Helen Stein (née Koenig) lives in Manchester, England,
with her husband. The Steins have two children, 5
grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren !.

Presentation of Annemasse
Annemasse is a city of c. 30,000 inhabitants, located close to Geneva (Switzerland)

In the Gallo-Roman times, Annemasse was a small city known as Namasce. Its population probably never exceded 1,000. The geographical location of Annemasse explains its very slow development in ancient history. Annemasse is located in an open area, without any natural defense. Moreover, it lies on the border of the former possessions of the Republic of Geneva and the Duchy of Savoy, which were in constant struggle until the disaster of l'Escalade (1601).

In 1801, the official census yielded only 800 inhabitants and Annemasse was mostly providing agricultural products to the neighbouring city of Geneva.
The modern development of Annemasse started in 1880 with the building of the railway line between Bellegarde-sur-Valserine and Evian-les-Bains and its branch towards Annecy and Saint-Gervais. Industrialization of the area started, although it was not favoured by the specific system of the Greater Tax-free Zone (Grande Zone Franche) set up in 1860 after the incorporation of Savoy to France. This system made of Geneva the economical capital city of the north of Savoy, and was imposed because of the pro-Swiss feelings of the inhabitants of that area.

In 1911, Annemasse had only 3,000 inhabitants but the urban area was increased and structured. The Greater Tax-free Zone was suppressed at the end of the Second World War. Annemasse attracted then a lot of people of various origins. The Genevans set up shops and factories in Annemasse in order to keep their French customers. Cutting and mechanical engineering industries flourished.

During the Second World War, the Italian and then German occupation caused the definitive separation with Geneva and Genevans withdrew from the city. War refugees came to Annemasse, as well as clockmakers from the French Jura.

From 1950, the development of Annemasse was completely linked with Geneva. There were 8,800 inhabitants in 1946 and 29,000 in 1990. The neigbouring cities followed the same pattern of increase. Until 1962-1965, Geneva massively attracted French workers, who were replaced in Annemasse by immigrant workers. Economical crisis in Switzerland caused a massive come-back of people to Annemasse in 1974-1978. In 1982, economical activity resumed in Geneva and the flow was inverted, with a pause in the 1990s. However, real-estate speculation and attraction by Geneva made it difficult to maintain industrial activity in Annemasse. This loss is more than compensated by an increased activity in commerce and service industries.

Annemasse and the neighbouring municipalities (including Etrembières) have now more than 60,000 inhabitants and consitutes the second largest urban area in the department of Haute-Savoie.

Ivan Sache, 30 August 2003



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Description of the flag
The flag of Annemasse, as it can be seen on the bridge of Etrembières, is vertically divided blue-yellow.

The colours of the flag are those of the municipal coat of arms, which is:

D'azur à la bande d'or accostée de deux cotices du même, au chef de Savoie

In English:

Azure a bend cotised or a chief gules a cross argent

These arms were officially adopted by the Municipal Council on 5 July 1933, upon proposal by Mayor Montessuy. They can be seen on the facade of the main entrance of the city hall.

Presentation of Etrembières
Geography
Etrembières is a village of 1,430 inhabitants (1999) located on the left bank of the river Arve. Etrembières is only 7 kms from Geneva (Switzerland). The municipality is made of the village of Etrembières and the hamlet of Pas-de-l'Echelle, built on the first slopes of mount Salève.

Most of the activity of Etrembières is linked to Switerland. A sizeable proportion of the inhabitants of the village work in Switzerland (and are locally called frontaliers). In 1994, the Swiss chain Migros opened a huge supermarket in Etrembières, which is also famous for its crowdy highway interchange.

The river Arve (100 km) has its source in the massif of Mont-Blanc. It has several mountain streams as tributaries, as well as the rivers Diosaz, Giffre, Borne and Menoge. The Arve flows into the Rhône near Geneva. In Etrembières, the Arve is a big river with a high flow, which explained the strategic importance of the bridge of Etrembières.

Mount Salève (highest point, le Grand Piton, 1875 m) stretches over 20 kms between Etrembières and Cruseilles. This so-called 'Genevan mountain' attracted tourists and naturalists as soon as in the XVIIIth century. Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who climbed on the Mont-Blanc in 1786, had his first rock-climbing experience on the Salève. In the XIXth century, the Salève was visited by Alphonse de Lamartine, John Ruskin, Richard Wagner and Guiseppe Verdi, who married in Collonges-sous-Salève in 1859.
In 1854, the Swiss Alpine Club designed the Grande-Gorge hiking trail between Collonges and the top of the Salève. There are now more than 50 hiking trails crossing the Salève.
In 1875, a few rock-climbers gathered in a narrow gorge of the mountain called Varappe. Those people were nicknamed varappeux. Around 1925, the word varappe was coined to design rock-climbing and is now comonly used in French.
Since the Salève attracted more and more tourists, a rack railway was built in 1892. The line was Y-shaped, with two branches starting from Etrembières and Veyrier, respectively, joining in the village of Monnetier, and reaching the crest of the mountain at the place named les Treize-Arbres (1,142 m). The railway was the first in Europe to use a third rail as the power supply. To produce the required electricity, a barrage was built on the river Arve near Arthaz. Electricity was brought to the station of Monnetier-Mairie by an overhead cable. Each train was made of 12 cars of 36 seats each, divided into one first class compartment and two second class compartments. The trip lasted one hour at a speed of 5.4 - 10.8 km per h, offering a wonderful panoramic view over Geneva, Lake Léman and the massif of Mont-Blanc.
In 1925, a 33-km road called Route des Crêtes was built between Etrembières and Cruseilles. In the 1930s, the railway was considered obsolete and too expensive, and a cableway was built between Pas-de-l'Echelle and the crest of Salève. The cableway was renovated in 1984, whereas the railway was suppressed after the Second World War.

Ivan Sache, 23 August 2003



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History
Magdalenian remains, a Celtic dolmen (destroyed in 1836), a Roman milliary column and a Germanic belt buckle are evidence of early populations in Etrembières. The name of the village might have been derived from ès Tremblières, a place were aspens (trembles) grew.

The knights of Etrembières were vassals of the count of Geneva and lived in the castle of Etrembières, also called the castle of Rozey, mentioned for the first time in 1206. The castle was later bequeathed to the hospital of Annecy, which still owns it. The bridge over the Arve is probably older than the castle but was mentioned for the first time in 1304. This bridge links Etrembières to the bigger border city of Annemasse.

In 1536, duke of Savoy Charles III allied with German emperor Charles V. As a consequence, king of France François I invaded Savoy. Charles lost all of his states, which were shared between France, Valais and Bern. Etrembières was incorporated to the bailliwick of Gaillard, allocated to the Republic of Bern.
In 1559, duke Emmanuel-Philibert was nominally given back his states by the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis. Etrembières and the bailliwick of Gaillard were formally reincorporated to Savoy in 1567.

In the very beginning of the XVIIth century, duke Charles-Emmanuel I had great political ambitions. He planned to restore the Roman Catholic religion all over Savoy and to reincorporate Geneva to Savoy. The duke also challenged king of France Henri IV. As a consequence, France invaded Savoy in 1600. The Duke had to 'swap' the lands located west of the river Rhône (pays de Gex, Bresse, Valromey and Bugey, which were never reincorporated to Savoy) against the tiny Marquisate of Saluces.
After his defeat against Henri IV, Charles-Emmanuel decided to attack an apparently much less dangerous game, the Republic of Geneva. During the night of the 11 to 12 December 1602, hundreds of soldiers gathered in Etrembières, crossed the bridge over the Arve and put up scales specifically manufactured for that purpose against the walls of Geneva. Unfortunately, the defenders of the city had been warned and had specifically designed tools to cut the scales in small pieces. One of the surviving leaders of the expedition could come back to the castle of Etrembières and relate the failed attempt to Charles-Emmanuel. Historians do not agree on the word used by the duke to qualify the attempt (cagade or coglionade). The attempt is known as l'Escalade (the Scaling) or la Miraculeuse Délivrance (the Miraculous Deliverance) and is celebrated each year in Geneva by a popular festival.
The disaster of l'Escalade sounded the knell of the Savoyard international ambitions. In 1603, Savoy recognized the independence of Geneva by the treaty of Saint-Julien.

Etrembières was incorporated to the French Republic along with the rest of Savoy in 1792, and allocated to the department of Léman, whose capital city was Geneva. In 1816, the Prefet of the department merged the neighbouring municipalities of Etrembières and Veyrier into a single one.
In 1816, the treaty of Turin created the canton of Geneva by merging 24 cities and villages. Veyrier was (and still is) one of them, whereas Etrembières was incorporated to Sardinia. Etrembières was reallocated to France with the rest of Savoy in 1860.

Ivan Sache, 23 August 2003

[edit] Priory of Sion
For more details on this topic, see Priory of Sion.
On May 7, 1956, Plantard and others legally registered in the town of St Julien-en-Genevois a new group called the Priory of Sion based in Annemasse close to the French border near Geneva. The group was devoted to the support of politicians working to build low-cost housing in Annemasse.[5][6] and published a magazine named Circuit.[5][7] The "Sion" in the name did not refer to the Land of Israel and its capital Jerusalem, but rather to a local mountain, Montagne de Sion, where the order intended to establish a retreat center.

Annemasse Captured

By DANIEL T. BRIGHAMBy Telephone to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

August 19, 1944, Saturday

Page 5, 630 words

MOLLESULAZ French - Swiss Frontier, Aug. 18 -- The frontier town of Annemasse fell this morning to the French Forces of the Interior after more than three hours of fighting. The Maquis casualties were five wounded. Only half the German garrison escaped.

1934 Oct 12, 1934 - They were taken to the nearby bor- der town of Annemasse for question- ing. i. In the middle of the examination one of the prisoners heard the word ... The dead foreign minister placed in the clock room of the Qual d'OrsaY where so much diplomatic history has been made In recent Years. ...
From French Police Jail Two as Plotters in King's Murder; Prisoners Admit They … - Related web pages
pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access ...

Conference made by Dom Marcel Pierrot, monk of Ligugé

January 16, 1951


J.K. HUYSMANS HAS LIGUGÉ



On June 17, 1899, the inhabitants of the village of Ligugé transfer to arrive the owners of a house located at a few minutes of the station and monastery, and from which one came to finish construction. This house rather large, was built out of white stones, and had the effect of comprising, at the ground floor, in front of the garden, a small gallery of Romance arcades with carved capitals.

Of the three owners, the two first, Mr. and Mrs. Leon Leclaire, were withdrawn Parisian tradesmen of the businesses, which came to settle in Ligugé to finish there their days in the vicinity of the monastery. The third was a man of about fifty years, of intermediate size, bald person, and wearing a beard pepper and salt carefully cut at a peak. It had a glance inquisitor, and its eyes, per moments, seemed to ignite like the pupils of a cat. On its cases, one could read the name of “Huysmans”, preceded by enigmatic initial the J.K. Which was?

As one had seen the previous year with the monastery, the young workmen who worked with the printing works of the abbey questioned the Bolted Father, who directed their workshop; one questioned the Prior, dom Chamard, the Master of the beginners, dom Besse, and one knew soon that this Mr. Huysmans, although of Dutch origin, was actually French, that it was called Georges-Charles, or rather Charles-Georges, - as everyone -, but which it had found good of modifiier his first names in those of Joris-Karl, in remembering a Dutch uncle.

He also, it had just taken its retirement, after having worked during thirty years with the ministry for the Interior, which it had left the previous year, with the rank of Head clerk, and the ribbon of the L3egion d'Honneur.

But it was not all. This man who arrived with so many cases of books was itself a writer, and quite informed people made it clear that it had composed a good part of its work on the corner of his office, with the ministry, between the two more or less urgent file examination…

As of its youth, it had tested the need to write. In 1874, it then had twenty-six years, it finished the drafting of a succession of genre paintings, small prose poems where one feels the influence of Baudelaire, and that it entitled Drageoir with Epices. It carried its book to the Hetzel editor, whom his family knew. The old man was terrified by the audacities of the young author, and by freedoms which it took with the French language; - it was however only one beginning. It exclaimed that Huysmans was a “revolutionist, who wanted to start again in the literature the commune of 1871”, and it returned its manuscript to him. Huysmans made print the work with its expenses, and one sold… four specimens of them!

Encouraged by this relative success, it went back to work, and the following years see following one another Romance and criticisms of Article Because, it should not be forgotten, Huysmans, as much as a novelist, is a critic, and the official Living rooms of 1879,1880,1881, the exposures of Independent of 1880 and 1881, give the opportunity to him to improve, make its style more precise and to give free course to its liveliness.

It is wild, its liveliness, and it fustigates without indulgence “the mediocrity of the people raised in the smallholding of the Art schools”, while the preferences of the critic go to the Independent ones. And it should well be recognized, seventy away years, that Huysmans, as a whole, saw just, and that only works and the names count still today which it announced for submission to the public.

And like if these aggressive articles, these expressions cocasses, these truculent descriptions, were not enough to disconcert the readers, Huysmans completes to scandalize them by its novels.

The first of those, Marthe, history of a girl, appeared in Brussels into 1876,1 ' author having fears to attract itself troubles if it published it in France. One shows oneself today more accommodating, and it should be acknowledged remainder that the book of Huysmans is not quite malicious. Only, instead of throwing a veil on miseries of its characters, and to be satisfied with discrete allusions, it shows the things such as they are, and calls them by their name.

It is what did then, and not without din, the young school naturalist, in the field of the novel; and, in fact, here Huysmans at the sides of Zola: it publishes in the collective volume of the Evenings of Médan, “Bag with the back,” believed enough account of its contribution very little glorious to the war of 1870; he writes an eulogistic and very interesting article on the Pole-axe; he makes appear several novels naturalists.

The first, the Vatard Sisters, is the history of two workers broaching machines (the family of Huysmans was owner of a workshop of stitching); come then Spares some, whose title indicates enough the topic; - Vau the water has, which one could entitle “the tribulations of an unhappy single person in search of a restaurant,” - Wrong way has, where one finds the description of expensive and extravagant imaginations of the Jean neurasthenic of Esseintes, - In roads, account of misfortunes and the mishaps of two Parisian in the countryside.

transforming Notre Dame de Sion in stronghold of the sect vintrassienne.

In fact, the first public hint of an alternative motive did not come for another 38 years. Robin Mackness a freelance investment manager was stopped by French Customs officials outside Lyon in 1982 and arrested for being in possession of 20 gold bars, some stamped with the Nazi initials RB - Reichsbank.

When questioned, Mackness said he had been asked by a Swiss bank to contact 'Raoul', a client in Toulouse whose identity he will not reveal who wanted him to deliver the gold to another agent, who would take it into safekeeping in the bank.

Where had the gold come from? Raoul told Mackness he'd found it when he and six other Resistance fighters unexpectedly ran into a small convoy near Oradour on the night before the massacre. All but he and a German, who ran away, were killed in a fierce fight.

Afterwards, claimed Raoul, he found 600kg of gold ingots in the back of a truck and buried them in field. It was that ambush, Raoul claimed, which sparked the massacre - and it was some of those ingots, which were found on Mackness by French Customs.

'What should have been a relatively simple matter, in the heart of France, became a 21 month nightmare of imprisonment and interrogation,' says Mackness.

For, wknowing its significance I said I was heading for Annemasse near Geneva - the place that the Priory of Sion, the secret society at the heart of the whole mystery, lodge their statutes.

In fact, I was delivering it to a contact in Evian, on the French shore of Lake Geneva, but I realised that to have admitted this would have disagreeable consequences for my contact there.

I therefore invented the destination of Annemasse, which prompted a run of telephone calls and a great deal of excitement.

Mackness was charged with attempting to smuggle gold bars from France to Switzerland, and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

'As my sentence progressed, I was subjected to mounting demands that I reveal who had given me the gold and why I was taking it to Annemasse,' he says.

I was eventually released after 21 months, but only after a French journalist threatened to bring down considerable embarrassment on the authorities.

I haven't yet looked at Masters of Deception. Still hasn't come to a bookstore near me. And you know how I am with books. I especially like to look over them before I buy them *especially* if they're reissues of things I already read. Then the decision comes down to whether there's any significant new material.

So if there's any new material in there, I'd love a heads up. I know what Guy Patton says he took out. I just don't know what he added.

Maybe the most interesting thing in the book, from a geopolitical point of view, is that Guy re-evaluates the life and Vichy career of Francois Mitterrand, interesting in itself, but then shows possible connections between Plantard & him.

Definitely the most interesting part of the book; that's something he really focuses on.

Although, would have liked more on his interest in the esoteric, and there's little or no mention that I recall of some of the intriguing structures built while he was President.

A couple of Mitterand pieces that did catch my eye on first reading:

P.121 - GP discusses Mitterand's time as a POW in WWII and the people he was with who shaped his later political consciousness, and refers to a young French composer called Olivier Messiaen, who apparently wrote complex rhythmical works influenced by religious mysticism.

P.152 - Talking about the well known visit of Mitterand to Rennes le Chateau during the presidential election campaign, it seems to be implied that there was more than one visit. Talking about Mitterand's association with Pelat, the relevant piece of text reads:

"He was later to accompany Mitterand on his election campaign visits to the village, where on one occasion in March 1981, they were photographed on top of Sauniere's Tour Magdala."

So "visits", plural, and I don't think it's a typo, because the next clause says "on one occasion", implying there were others. Really didn't know there was more than one campaign stop there. And why on earth would a presidential candidate go there more than once? Once, fair enough, if he was campaigning in the Aude, it's a well known spot, etc. But more than once? That seems very odd. Maybe some error in the transcription.

I have Web of Gold. We could review some of the material in it.

Seeker1 wrote:
Maybe the most interesting thing in the book, from a geopolitical point of view, is that Guy re-evaluates the life and Vichy career of Francois Mitterrand, interesting in itself, but then shows possible connections between Plantard & him.

Mitterand was the one who imposed the no digging directive. The speculation is that this forestalled a private Catholic Church dig there.

Don"t know if this is any use guys as i can't remember where the quote is from or the year they are discussing but here are two photos of Mitterand on the visit.

"President Mitterand had visited the church in person a few years previously, before returning to Paris to enable a law that made the use of metal detectors and ultra-sound equipment illegal in the area, thus forestalling an alleged bid by the Vatican to conduct a scan of the plateau, as well as slowing the efforts of the various human moles and Indiana Jones-wannabes who continued to tunnel incessantly through the crumbling bedrock."

I felt by introducing the post in opposition to the rest of information, I may be able to sense whether there is a geographical importance in Annemesse as the first letters' tone suggests.

I need to identify whether this importance in geographical location is time dependant or not and if it still exists.