Paul Dungler

Paul Dungler (Thann, 1902 - Colmar, 1974) was a French industrialist, royalist militant and Resistance worker. Dungler very soon joined the ranks of l’Action française then of La Cagoule, and launched himself into politics during the inter-war period. Upon France's defeat in 1940, he was in Périgord where he decided to return to Alsace to join the Resistance. He returned secretly to Thann in Alsace on 25 August 1940, he founded the 7e Colonne d’Alsace enregistered at London under the name of the Martial network. Général Giraud's escape was one of the network's greatest successes. Dungler was one of the iniators of ORA (Organisation de la Résistance Armée) and involved in the origin of GMA (Groupes Mobiles d'Alsace). Threatened with arrest [On December 9 1940 he was notified that he would be arrested at 7am the following day and so went to bed, woke up at 6am and fled!] , Dungler decided to take refuge in the unoccupied zone of France, all the while planning secret operations through London. In 1943 he negotiated with général de Gaulle and the Americans at Algiers so that Alsace would be present in the next wars of liberation. Dungler's implication in the Resistance now makes him a local hero.

Notes and references

*"Qui était Paul Dungler ?" Bernard Reumaux, in "Saisons d'Alsace" n° 114, Ed. La Nuée bleue, Strasbourg, winter 1991-1992