Euzenat, Henri
Item
Name
Euzenat, Henri
Given name
Henri
Family name
Euzenat
Relation
French YCW leader
One-line bio
French YCW leader sent to Germany under the Compulsory Work Service system. He continued to organise young workers and was arrested and sent to Dachau and Mauthausen where he died on 25 April 1945. He was beatified on 13 December 2025.
Biography
Born on 6 September, 1920, in Blesme (Marne), he was a boilermaker and joined the Young Christian Workers (JOC) in November 1940. The Vichy law of 4 September, 1942, ordered French services to provide skilled labor to work in Germany. He was thus designated by his employer, the SNCF (French National Railway Company). He left for Germany on 13 October of that year, with his brother and 26 others from the Railway Workshops.
In Germany, he was assigned to Karlsruhe to work in an "Excelsior" sewing machine factory.
The forbidden activities revolved around religious practice and mutual support, including mutual aid and visits to the sick. They organized masses in French with the help of German priests and established clandestine study groups in the homes of local nuns. They even welcomed a clandestine French priest, Father Laugeois, who celebrated forbidden masses in French with them.
In accordance with the Nazi decree of 3 December, 1943, against French Catholic Action among French workers in Nazi Germany, they were arrested on 29 January, 1944, in Karlsruhe by the Gestapo. The questions during the interrogations were very specific due to a written statement from an informant who had infiltrated the Catholic activists. H. Euzénat was imprisoned in Bruchsal.
He was deported to Dachau (no. 76389), to Mauthausen (no. 89394), then transferred to various commandos.
He died on 25 April, 1945. On that day, he was taken to the crematorium, completely worn out, tubercular, dead or alive?
In Germany, he was assigned to Karlsruhe to work in an "Excelsior" sewing machine factory.
The forbidden activities revolved around religious practice and mutual support, including mutual aid and visits to the sick. They organized masses in French with the help of German priests and established clandestine study groups in the homes of local nuns. They even welcomed a clandestine French priest, Father Laugeois, who celebrated forbidden masses in French with them.
In accordance with the Nazi decree of 3 December, 1943, against French Catholic Action among French workers in Nazi Germany, they were arrested on 29 January, 1944, in Karlsruhe by the Gestapo. The questions during the interrogations were very specific due to a written statement from an informant who had infiltrated the Catholic activists. H. Euzénat was imprisoned in Bruchsal.
He was deported to Dachau (no. 76389), to Mauthausen (no. 89394), then transferred to various commandos.
He died on 25 April, 1945. On that day, he was taken to the crematorium, completely worn out, tubercular, dead or alive?
Country of origin
English
France
Geographic area
Marne
Birth date
September 6, 1920
Birth place
Blesme
Death date
April 25, 1945
Death place
Mauthausen Concentration Camp
Movement
French JOC
Affiliation
French JOC