Pierre Semard, Bragny-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire (71)

Pierre Semard (1887-1942) was born in Bragny, so it is fitting that he should have this memorial in the place where he was born. Many other places, too, honour him. He became a revolutionary trade union railway worker, and a national figure. In 1921 he was elected general secretary of La Féderation des cheminots, and left Valence for Paris.

After being arrested in World War II, Semard was sent to several prisons before being executed in Évreux prison. He is buried in Père-Lachaise, along with his wife Juliette (1895-1979). His daughter Yvette was imprisoned, and her partner André Berthelot was killed by the Nazis in Mont-Valérian in 1943.