Encrypted Letters of Charles de Gaulle to Be Auctioned in France

Previously unknown artefacts belonging to former French President Charles de Gaulle will be sold at an auction in Paris. They were found in a bank vault earlier this year, The Guardian reports.

The list includes encrypted messages that the soldier wrote to his mother from German captivity, as well as letters from American singer Josephine Baker.

During the historic sale, Artcurial will exhibit the general's famous handwritten address broadcast by the BBC. In it, de Gaulle called on the French to resist Nazi rule. The manuscript was also in the recovered safe, but it is not currently for sale.

According to auctioneer Stéphane Aubert, the family of the former French president asked to inspect the safe after the death of de Gaulle's son Philippe in March 2024. None of the family members had any idea of the number or importance of the letters, documents and personal belongings that were inside.

‘It was a complete surprise. Only Admiral Philippe de Gaulle had access to the safe, so when we opened it, we had no idea what we were going to find. It was a fabulous treasure trove. The life story of General de Gaulle, the saviour of France,’ says the Artcurial auction house.

The safe also contained letters written to de Gaulle by Josephine Baker, a singer, dancer and actress of American descent who was a member of the French resistance.

The 350 lots to be auctioned on 16 December include short stories written in 1908 by the young Charles de Gaulle, previously unpublished notebooks containing his thoughts, political analysis and literary assessments, a LIP watch worn by de Gaulle in the 1960s, and a watch given to him by the sister of US President John F. Kennedy, Eunice.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale will go to the Anne de Gaulle Foundation, an organisation for people with disabilities founded in 1945 in honour of de Gaulle's youngest daughter, who was born in 1928 with Down syndrome.