The 52-franc demob suit
Before demobilization, soldiers were offered a new civilian suit of clothes to be collected from the demobilization depot against payment of an indemnity of 52 francs. This “52-franc suit” also known as the “Abrami suit” after the secretary of state for war, Léon Abrami, or the “Clemenceau”, was made from transformed military clothing. However, the post-war realities of a return to civilian life with a high cost of living meant most soldiers preferred to take the 52 francs compensation or a clothing voucher of same value.. Either way, this was barely sufficient to allow anyone to dress properly.
Image Credits: Sous-secrétariat d’État des effectifs. Ministère de la guerre. M. Abrami, sous-secrétaire d’État (VAL 381/075) (https://argonnaute.parisnanterre.fr/); SPA 78 X 3261 (Établissement de Communication et de Production Audiovisuelle de la Défense. (ECPAD) (http://archives.ecpad.fr/); costume Abrami (Musée de la Grande Guerre Meaux : https://www.museedelagrandeguerre.eu/)
Originally, the Clemenceau government had suggested that every demobilised soldier might be given his helmet to take home as a remembrance of his war experiences, and that one might be given to the families of those killed or missing. But it soon seemed preferable to provide them with work clothing which would protect them against the harsh winter.
In the first phase of demobilization, the indemnity was more welcome than the ‘suit’, which was rushed out of already old stocks, or made with transformed and dyed military effects. Later, some demobilized soldiers, finding that they could not buy anything decent with such a small sum as the 52 francs allocated to them, did take the clothing option.
Testimonies of these “soldiers disguised as civilians” suggest a feeling of humiliation, rather than recognition of the clothing as a means to regain a foothold in civilian life. While, many years later, people would say of a veteran who put on his demob suit for a ceremony or parade: “Today, he wore his Clemenceau.”
Debout les Morts! 