This monument is a fierce indictment against the war. Imagined in 1918, built in 1922, object of vandalism in the thirties, it was not inaugurated until 1947 when the victims of the war of 39-45 were registered.

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Monument to the pacifist dead

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The town

42620 Saint-Martin-d'Estréaux

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The history of the monument begins as everywhere in France with a deliberation of the municipal council on December 8, 1918. Pierre Monot, the mayor at the time, wants "something good which has its local originality, otherwise he would prefer nothing. do at all ”. We are already talking about the idea of including the enamelled portraits of the sixty-four missing.

The plans of the Roanne sculptor Jean-Baptiste Picaud were presented at a meeting of January 25, 1920, and the financing plan showing the various subsidies on October 30, 1921.

The monument was erected in 1922 on the Place de l'Eglise.

The great originality of the monument is the pacifist text which appears on the back and of which no trace can be found in the deliberations. They were engraved in 1928.

On December 4, 1930, the monument was degraded, its pacifist and anti-militarist character does not seem to please everyone, as evidenced by the anonymous circular circulated shortly before and entitled "The scandal of the monument to the dead". This leaflet called on veterans to "carry out the necessary cleanup and rid their comrades of the intruder and his protest against the war." "
A second act of vandalism was committed on January 31, 1932.

This monument was registered in 1989 by prefectural decree on the supplementary inventory of historical monuments. It is now classified as a “historical monument”
It underwent a major restoration work in 2017.

New 2024
December 10, 2022 was celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the monument. In addition to the population and associations working for pacifism, this event brought together many elected officials: senators, regional and departmental councilors, mayors. On this occasion the municipality installed a plaque in tribute to Pierre Monot, mayor of St Martin d'Estreaux at the origin of the project and the inscriptions.