Francois Cevert's grave

Does anyone know where Francois Cevert is buried and is the grave-stone in the name of FC or his real name Albert Goldenberg?

Best I can come up with quickly is "Paris", according to JYS quoted in Maurice Hamilton's "Ken Tyrrell". You could start with Pere Lachaise, as that's the biggest Paris cemetery, I believe.

Stewart also says he was buried in "the family burial ground", so it might be under his real name.

Perhaps someone should start a "Where are they buried" thread for those drivers no longer with us.

Originally posted by biercemountain
Perhaps someone should start a "Where are they buried" thread for those drivers no longer with us.

I disagree, a gravestone is essentially a memorial so I feel we should simply include graves in the Motorsport Memorials thread

François Cevert is buried in a small town called Vaudelnay, 15 km from Saumur in the department of Maine-et-Loire.
Her mother was from there and can be seen almost every 6th of october on the grave.

Here's a picture from the tomb published in an article on F1 drivers that were killed in the seventies.

Albert Goldenberg?
First time I hear that

Originally posted by bournenville
Albert Goldenberg?
First time I hear that

See:

http://forums.atlasf...5415#post645415

and subsequent posts about Cevert

Originally posted by Mike B
Does anyone know where François Cevert is buried and is the grave-stone in the name of FC or his real name Albert Goldenberg?

May I say that it has not been proven that François Cevert's official name was Albert Goldenberg - quite the opposite . As far as I could research his real name is Albert François Cevert.

Indeed, his father was a Jewish immigrant named Albert Goldenberg, who adopted the French citizenship and worked as a renowned jeweller in Paris. It is also correct that his mother was from a Catholic family named Cevert. Note also that the form Cévert is incorrect - it is simply Cevert, without acute diacritic on the first "e".

François Cevert was born in 1944, and his family - that had been using the name Cevert intermittently after the the German invasion of France - chose to name him Albert François Cevert, using the mother's maiden name as surname for security reasons, aiming to escape from persecution and eventual extradiction to Germany or to one of France's little-known own concentration camps.

Therefore François Cevert was legally named Albert François Cevert, and not Albert François Goldenberg, François Albert Goldenberg or another name. His family could have named him one of these forms, and this was the common path to forming a name - using the father's surname -, but the parents chose to use the mother's maiden name. He was not named Goldenberg.

Note that the fact that the Goldenberg family changed their name did not spare them from all troubles. The family's house was raided by German soldiers looking for them, and ready to take them away immediately. Some people (neighbours, business partners) knew of the original name Goldenberg name and this information leaked - one way or another - to the Nazis. But when the platoon invaded the house the commander said that their were looking for the "Goldenburg" family, and Albert Goldenberg could explain that they were not the Goldenburgs.

In one of these amazing twists that are so common in war stories, it seems that Albert Goldenberg could see the arrest documents in the hands of the commander, and they did spell Goldenberg. However, the Nazi official had a very poor French and was more concern on making himself understood than reading the documents correctly. The commander read the name "Goldenburg", and Albert Goldenberg - not surprisingly - played it along.

Regards,


Muzza

P.S.: I may be wrong, and if I am please correct me, but I spent a good deal of time trying to "find the truth" and these are my conclusions. To me, François Cevert's name was Albert François Cevert. It could have been Goldenberg, but it wasn't.

It would be great to hear from one of our French experts as Jimmy Piget and Jean-Maurice Giglieux on this concern.

Muzza, brilliant!!!

Drivers biographies are not my speciality but I think that Jimmy has the answer.

The sad thing is that apparently, some of the stupid anti-semitism that reigned in the late 1930's is back to be fashionable in beautiful France...
When are people going to learn to take each individual at his own value, regardless of origin, color of skin or even sex?
I remember hearing some demeaning epiteth at Magny Cours when Francois won the Volant Shell. I was younger but it shook me up to find that some people in high circles at the times were making such stupid and unfounded comments. I also remember that Jose Rosinski, himself of jewish origin, then partner with Jean Lucas at Sport Auto, put the guy in his place with a well spelled out reply.

T54

Originally posted by T54
The sad thing is that apparently, some of the stupid anti-semitism that reigned in the late 1930's is back to be fashionable in beautiful France...
T54

I think many of those stories have less basis in French attitudes and more in Bush-administration anti-French propaganda.

Originally posted by biercemountain
Perhaps someone should start a "Where are they buried" thread for those drivers no longer with us.

Perhaps post 15 is correct on Francois.

http://forums.autosp...&threadid=81387

Henry

Exactly thirty four years ago today, Francois Cevert won his only grand prix at Watkins Glen on October 3, 1971.

A few recent photographs of François' grave in this thread

http://forums.autosp...278#post2269278

Thank you Philippe, for posting these pictures.

On the 30th anniversary of his death, I placed flowers at the site of Francois' fatal accident on the track at Watkins Glen. I have wondered for years where Francois was buried, and what his grave looks like.

In my humble opinion, they have provided this glamourous and well-liked Frenchman a suitable final resting place.