The declassification of the Confidential Defense file
After receiving the letter written by Hervé FAUVE, who, on behalf of the families, presented arguments to benefit from a general declassification of the Minerve file, the services of the Presidency of the French Republic are studying the possibility of acting on this request.
Five months after the fiftieth anniversary, on June 16, 2018, the Official Journal announced that what the families had been waiting for was officially authorized: the Minerve file was declassified and everyone could now consult it.
Family representatives will go to the archives immediately.
Declassification
On June 16, 2019, the official journal published the Order of June 4, 2018 establishing une general derogation for the consultation of public archives relating to the disappearance of the submarine "Minerve" on January 27, 1968.
Families can finally freely consult this long-awaited file.
This decision was taken in advance by a joint committee of parliamentarians and military personnel. The Chief of the Naval Staff (CMS) was consulted. This will make him aware of the navy's disregard for the expectations of families over the past 50 years.
This declassification is little mentioned in the press which is not interested in it:
Ouest France online edition 18-06-2018
A file of disparate documents without new information
In the following days, on July 12, 2018, a delegation of families composed of Mrs. Martine COUSTAL, widow of Marcel COUSTAL , Mr. Jean-Michel CAILLIAU, brother of Patrice CAILLIAU , Hervé and André FAUVE, son of André FAUVE , went to the Historical Service of the Defense in Vincennes to learn about this long-awaited file.
They find no truly new information there that has not been known since 1968.
Alongside the archives of the work of the commission of inquiry or the research operations, there are documents in bulk, sometimes duplicated, sometimes poorly classified and partly without the slightest interest, such as train ticket purchase slips or exchanges between the Elysée and the municipality of Toulon concerning the costs linked to the visit of the head of state during the ceremony of February 9, 1968.
André Fauve-Piot and Jean-Michel Cailliau (Photo Hervé Fauve)
Hervé Fauve, Martine Coustal, Jean-Michel Cailliau and André Fauve-Piot in the courtyard of the Vincennes archives (Photo Jean-Michel Cailliau)