The Dominici Affair: Murder And Mystery In Provence
by Martin Kitchen /
2017 / English / EPUB
1.3 MB Download
The spectacular murders of a distinguished British scientist, his
wife, and their young daughter in the depths of rural France in
1952 prompted one of the most notorious criminal investigations
in postwar Europe. It is still a matter of passionate debate in
France.
The spectacular murders of a distinguished British scientist, his
wife, and their young daughter in the depths of rural France in
1952 prompted one of the most notorious criminal investigations
in postwar Europe. It is still a matter of passionate debate in
France.
Sir Jack Drummond, with his wife, Lady Anne, and their
ten-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, were on holiday on the French
Riviera when they stopped to make camp just off the road near a
farm called La Grand’ Terre in Provence. The family was found
murdered the next morning. More than two years later,
the barely literate, seventy-five-year-old proprietor of La
Grand’ Terre, Gaston Dominici, was brought to trial, convicted,
and condemned to death by guillotine.
Sir Jack Drummond, with his wife, Lady Anne, and their
ten-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, were on holiday on the French
Riviera when they stopped to make camp just off the road near a
farm called La Grand’ Terre in Provence. The family was found
murdered the next morning. More than two years later,
the barely literate, seventy-five-year-old proprietor of La
Grand’ Terre, Gaston Dominici, was brought to trial, convicted,
and condemned to death by guillotine.
When Dominici was convicted, there was general agreement that the
ignorant, pitiless, and depraved old peasant had gotten what he
deserved. At the time, he stood for everything backward and
brutish about a peasantry left behind in the wake of France’s
postwar transformation and burgeoning prosperity. But with time
perspectives changed. Subsequent inquiries coupled with
widespread doubts and misgivings prompted President de Gaulle to
order his release from prison in 1960, and by the 1980s many
in France came to believe—against all evidence—that Gaston
Dominici was innocent. He had become a romanticized symbol of a
simpler, genuine, and somehow more honest life from a bygone
era.
When Dominici was convicted, there was general agreement that the
ignorant, pitiless, and depraved old peasant had gotten what he
deserved. At the time, he stood for everything backward and
brutish about a peasantry left behind in the wake of France’s
postwar transformation and burgeoning prosperity. But with time
perspectives changed. Subsequent inquiries coupled with
widespread doubts and misgivings prompted President de Gaulle to
order his release from prison in 1960, and by the 1980s many
in France came to believe—against all evidence—that Gaston
Dominici was innocent. He had become a romanticized symbol of a
simpler, genuine, and somehow more honest life from a bygone
era.
Reconstructing the facts of the Drummond
murders,
Reconstructing the facts of the Drummond
murders,The Dominici Affair
The Dominici Affair redefines one of
France’s most puzzling crimes and illustrates the profound
changes in French society that took place following the Second
World War.
redefines one of
France’s most puzzling crimes and illustrates the profound
changes in French society that took place following the Second
World War.
