Rev. Donald Caskie, known as the Tartan Pimpernel, was minister of the Scots Kirk Paris when the Germans invaded France in 1940. He was a man of outstanding courage who "helped to set up a network of safehouses and escape routes which enabled Allied servicemen of all nationalities to return to British shores". He put his own life at risk for others and refused offers of a safe passage home for himself. His remarkable story is told in The Tartan Pimpernel which Scottish newspaper The Scotsman describes as being "more thrilling than any adventure story".
The first edition of The Tartan Pimpernel was written by Donald Caskie to raise funds to rebuild the war-damaged Kirk. In his words "the site is an excellent one in the very heart of the French metropolis, a little bit of Scotland in the great city's centre".
The first edition of The Tartan Pimpernel was written by Donald Caskie to raise funds to rebuild the war-damaged Kirk. In his words "the site is an excellent one in the very heart of the French metropolis, a little bit of Scotland in the great city's centre".
The Scots Kirk Paris is home to a permanent Donald Caskie exhibition. On display are many photographs, personal items and documents relating to his time in Paris. Some examples:
- Rev. Caskie's Gaelic Bible: donated to the Scots Kirk by his nephew, Mr Tom Caskie
- Key to the "old" Scots Kirk: when Rev. Caskie locked up the church on 9th June 1940, he entrusted the key to M. Gaston, owner of the café next door
- Rev. Caskie's preaching bands
- Portable font in alabaster with Celtic motifs: used by Rev. Caskie for home baptisms during his ministry in Paris
- Press photo: taken on the day of the laying of the foundation stone of the "new" Kirk and showing Rev. Caskie in the company of HM the Queen (donated by George P. Mutch)
- Photocopy of a Slow Air and Strathspey entitled 'The Reverend Donald Caskie': the original manuscript forms part of the Caskie Archives preserved in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh (donated by Mme Ginette Dalleré)
A special service was held on 7th April 2019
to mark the unveiling of the display cabinet
The Tartan Pimpernel is on sale at the church and costs 10€. All proceeds go to church funds, helping us to carry on our work in the French capital.
Chapter One
Sombre Dimanche
I prepared for my morning service at the Scots Kirk in the Rue Bayard, Paris, with a heavy heart. The weather was beautiful and a slight haze that seemed to promise heat hung over the bridges. It could have been drifting smoke from the battles that were being fought around the city. German soldiers were driving up the valley of the Seine and the Wehrmacht, two million strong and at the height of its power, was engulfing France. It was June 9th, 1940 - a Sunday...
Chapter One
Sombre Dimanche
I prepared for my morning service at the Scots Kirk in the Rue Bayard, Paris, with a heavy heart. The weather was beautiful and a slight haze that seemed to promise heat hung over the bridges. It could have been drifting smoke from the battles that were being fought around the city. German soldiers were driving up the valley of the Seine and the Wehrmacht, two million strong and at the height of its power, was engulfing France. It was June 9th, 1940 - a Sunday...