Hubert Rochereau's preserved room

Common card · No. 428558

Hubert Rochereau's preserved room, also known by locals as the Soldier's Room (French: La chambre du poilu), is the bedroom of the French Army officer Hubert Rochereau, who was killed in 1918 during the First World War. After he left for the war, Rochereau's parents in Bélâbre left the room largely untouched. When he died on 26 April 1918, his parents sealed the entrance to the room with bricks in order to sustain his memory, though not before adding a vial of soil and various belongings of his, including a posthumously awarded Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre as well as a portrait. Before selling the house in 1935, his parents requested in the sale that the room should be preserved for 500 years, though this condition carried no legal weight. From 1935, the room, and the house, were in the possession of French General Eugène Bridoux. Bridoux became a governmental figure within the Vichy Regime of France, and was later captured by the Allies during the liberation of France. The house...

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