Paul Magès' bicycle circulation certificate issued by Citroën (1940)

In this document

This document is a bilingual certificate (German/French), drawn up on the letterhead of the Société Anonyme André Citroën, 117 to 167 quai de Javel, Paris XVe, dated 16/9/1940 p. 1.

The certificate

The German text (Bescheinigung) and the French text ("Certificat") both attest that "Mr MAGES Paul, 35 Av. Edouard Branly, CHAVILLE" is employed in the Citroën factories and has declared that he owns a bicycle which he uses to travel to his work p. 1.

The document is signed on the German side by "Der kommissarische Leiter" (the provisional administrator imposed by the occupier, referred to in the text as "CITROEN WERKE") and on the French side by "Le Chef du Personnel, pour l'Administrateur" p. 1.

Material elements

The page bears a stamp "Sce du Personnel / AR/JV" as a reference to be recalled, a barely legible handwritten annotation at the top right, as well as two distinct handwritten signatures, one in purple ink under the "CITROEN WERKE" stamp, the other in black ink under "Le Chef du Personnel" p. 1.

Context

Under the German Occupation, from 1940 onwards, French companies that were requisitioned or placed under German control, such as the Citroën factories, were frequently assigned a "kommissarischer Leiter", i.e., a provisional administrator appointed or validated by the occupying authorities. This type of bilingual attestation allowed employees to justify, during checks, the use of a means of transport — in this case the bicycle, at a time when automobile traffic and access to petrol were very restricted for the civilian population. This document, however, provides no additional information on the general organization of Citroën during this period; this reminder pertains to the general historical context, external to the document itself.

Archivist's perspective

This item directly concerns Paul Magès, then an employee at the Citroën factories on the quai de Javel, several years before he became the engineer associated with the hydropneumatic suspension. This is a strictly administrative and personal document, with no link to his technical work, but which testifies to the material and bureaucratic constraints imposed on the company's staff under the Occupation p. 1.

Its interest is primarily biographical: it situates Paul Magès, as early as 1940, as an employee of the Citroën firm, traveling to his work by bicycle from Chaville — a concrete and human detail, rare in a collection otherwise dominated by technical and industrial documents.