The place where the bodies were found on the Diablerets Glacier.
On August 15, 1942, a young couple, the Dumoulins, disappeared on the glacier of Diablerets in Switzerland. Their bodies were not found. The popularity of the young teacher and the shoemaker, the seven orphans they leave behind, the mobilization of residents to find them. The trajedy of their loss has made an indelible mark in the history of Swiss Valais.
On July 13, 2017, Jan Theiler, an employee of the local ski resort that appeared on the slopes of the glacier after the war, spots an umbrella sticking out of the ice. He approaches, sees a leather backpack, an Opinel, a bottle, a flashlight and finally three shoes.. Jan Theiler explains “There I was like, if there are three shoes, then there are two people. And I immediately thought of the Dumoulin couple." Like most of the Valais inhabitants, he knew their story. And having worked on the glacier for over 20 years, he had witnessed the melting of the glacier. It shranks 45 meters thick (a 15-story building) and retreated 200 meters because of the climate changes. The idea that the bodies of the couple could reappear crossed his mind.
This is how, seventy-five years after his disappearance, the couple was found. Side by side. The two bodies were then hoisted in their block of ice, mummified. In the photos taken this July 13, we can see black hair, as if combed and braided that very morning. Jan Theiler still can't believe it: “The faces were bronze colored but otherwise nothing had changed. The clothes, the wristwatch on Francine's wrist, the pocket watch still in Marcelin's jacket pocket, not even rusty. Rye bread, edible ... For three quarters of a century, cold, ice and snow have shaped a mausoleum. "The glacier took them and returned them to us after preserving them," said Father Udry, 87, the last person still alive to have seen them on the day of their disappearance.
This story tells us about the second half of the 20iest century in Switzerland. From the way of life of the Dumoulins who disappeared while heading by foot to check their cows in the summer pastures on the slopes of Diablerets. The way the Dumoulins orphans were split between family members. The reappearance of the couple because of the global warming.
This visual essay was shot in the last two weeks of October 2017 and was published in M Le Magazine du Monde in November 2017 with a text by Alexandre Duyck. Thank you to Jean-Baptiste Talbourdet and Lucy Conticello.
The portrait of Francine and Marcelin Dumoulin on the wall of their daughter Marceline. Around it, we can see pictures of her beloved ones, a werstling cup of her son and a bible.
Collage of the Diablerets glacier. It shranks 45 meters thick (a 15-story building) and retreated 200 meters because of the climate changes.
Police photography from the couple when found in the glacier. Marceline, one of the daughters, keeps them with a souvenirs and articles file.
On the path from Chandolin to the glacier.
View on the Valais from the edge of the Diablerets. The climb to the Diablerets glacier from the village of Chandolin is very steep with a positive elevation of more than 2000 meters. On August 15, 1942, the Dumoulins hoped to make the return trip during the day.
The Hérens cow is native to the Valais, where, as a short-legged mountain dweller, it easily climbs up to 3,000 meters above sea level. The Dumoulins shared, with other Chandolin inhabitants, a small herd of a dozen animals. In the summer, they were taken to summer pastures and looked after by a young farm boy. On August 15, 1942, the Dumoulins went to check that the animals were doing well in the summer pastures in the other side of the Tsanfleuron glacier and that the cheese production was good.
Father Udry, 87, is the last person to see the Dumoulins alive on the day they disappeared. He poses in front of the chapel from where they greeted them that day. "The glacier took them and returned them to us after preserving them."
The Tsanfleuron glacier around 1940.
The Tsanfleuron glacier in October 2017. The cross shows the place where the Dumoulins bodies were found.
The Sanetsch pass which leads to the Tsanfleuon glacier at dusk on October 16, 2017
Ernest and Albert Reber, emblematic guides of Les Diablerets. They both participated in the research of the Dumoulin couple. Both will testify on several occasions to the pain represented in the valley by the disappearance of the couple and the failure of the relief column.
Extract from Ernest Reber's mountain guide book dated August 17, 1942. "We congratulate Mr. Reber on the way he sees his job. His guts are magnificent! Indeed after having returned us, led to the bottom of the scree, below the Maures ledge, did he not go back up to participate in the research undertaken in order to find a lost couple?"
A hiker on Tsanfleuron glacier in October 2017.
Object found with the couple : women watch, men watch.
Object found with the couple : a bible.
Object found with the couple : wallet and coins.
Object found with the couple : backpack.
Object found with the couple : umbrella.
Object found with the couple : plants for infusion.
Object found with the couple : bottle.
Object found with the couple : Opinel.
Object found with the couple : barrel.
Object found with the couple : flashlight.
A mass in 1957, commemorating the disappearance of the couple in front of the plaques fixed on a rock overlooking the Tsanfleuron glacier.
The plaques fixed on a rock overlooking the Tsanfleuron glacier with the one added in 2017 for the discovery of the couple.
The village of Chandolin where the Dumoulin couple was from.
The dumoulin family home, now divided into apartments.
Marceline is one of the 7 children of the Dumoulins.