Georges Suarez
Encyclopedia
Georges Suarez was a French writer, essayist and journalist. Initially a pacifist
, then a collaborator
(he had been editor of Aujourd'hui
, a French newspaper controlled by the Third Reich after the resignation of the writer Henri Jeanson
), he was also the biographer of Pétain
and other figures of the Troisième République
. He was the first journalist sentenced to death during the Épuration légale
.
. He fought in World War I, and afterwards became a correspondent for the agence Havas news agency in Vienna
. During this period, he worked with several newspapers including Le Temps
and L'Écho de Paris
.
In the 1920s, Suarez started writing several works in collaboration with Joseph Kessel
, who remained loyal to Suarez until his death. Suarez, who was then a member of Action Française
, joined with Kessel in producing an interview with Charles Maurras
.
Up until the 1930s, Suarez displayed a lively interest in the politics
of the Troisième République; he was particularly interested in Georges Clemenceau
and Aristide Briand
, to whom he devoted long monographs of anecdotes.
Like many of his contemporaries, Suarez adopted an ambiguous political stance over the course of time. Switching back and forth between the left (he was interested in the Cartel des gauches
left-wing alliance) and the right (he followed the Stavisky Affair
and the riot at the Palais Bourbon
in 1934), Suarez preserved a centrist, pacifist and germanophile
stance.
Suarez often met with journalists close to Jean Luchaire
's daily newspaper Notre temps, which supported Briand's politics of peace with Germany. He was also close to Bertrand de Jouvenel
and the Cercle du grand pavois, and to Fernand de Brinon
of the Association France-Allemagne. His written work became gradually more hostile to the Troisième République, which he blamed for France's socio-economic ills of the 1930s.
In 1935, along with Drieu La Rochelle, Paul Marion and Pierre Pucheu
, he strongly criticised the republican government, publicly lamenting their inability to solve the economic crisis, and calling for a new technocracy (they used the term "synarchy") which would be capable, according to them, of dispensing with the problems posed by capitalism. Like many of his associates, Suarez became close to the Parti populaire français
(PPF) of Jacques Doriot
, and, after the French defeat of 1940, collaborationist circles.
He published articles in favour of "synarchism" and "technocratism" such as had been theorised by Georges Lefranc, Georges Albertini and Bertrand de Jouvenel
, and under the occupation he condemned the "corruption" and the "conspiracies" of the Troisième République, writing in newspapers like Libération
and Aujourd'hui. Suarez' radical positions led him to support the Riom trials of the Vichy regime, trials set up in order to bring to justice those political figures of the Troisième République allegedly responsible for France's defeat of 1940.
From 1940, Suarez became one of the first biographers of Marshal Philippe Pétain; In 1941 Suarez devoted a further work to him with the provocative title Pétain ou la démocratie? Il faut choisir (Pétain or democracy? You have to choose).
In 1944, despite his collaborationist involvement, Suarez wrote in vain to Doctor Illers, the superintendent of the Compiègne
camp, to ask for the freedom of his friend Robert Desnos
, a supporter of the résistance
.
Suarez was sentenced to death in 1945; he was shot on the 9th of November.
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, then a collaborator
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
(he had been editor of Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui (French newspaper)
Aujourd'hui was a daily newspaper which styled itself as "independent" and which was created in August 1940 by Henri Jeanson, to replace le Canard enchaîné under agreement with the Germans....
, a French newspaper controlled by the Third Reich after the resignation of the writer Henri Jeanson
Henri Jeanson
Henri Jeanson, was a French writer and journalist. He was a "satrap" in the "College of Pataphysics".- As a journalist before World War II :...
), he was also the biographer of Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
and other figures of the Troisième République
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
. He was the first journalist sentenced to death during the Épuration légale
Épuration légale
The Épuration légale was the wave of official trials that followed the Liberation of France and the fall of the Vichy Regime...
.
Biography
Suarez was trained as a juristJurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
. He fought in World War I, and afterwards became a correspondent for the agence Havas news agency in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. During this period, he worked with several newspapers including Le Temps
Le Temps (Paris)
Le Temps was one of Paris's most important daily newspapers from April 25, 1861 to November 30, 1942.Founded in 1861 by Edmund Chojecki and Auguste Nefftzer, Le Temps was under Nefftzer's direction for ten years, when Adrien Hébrard took his place...
and L'Écho de Paris
L'Écho de Paris
L'Écho de Paris was a daily newspaper in Paris from 1884 to 1944.The paper's editorial stance was initially conservative and nationalistic, although it did later become close to the French Socialist Party. Its writers included Octave Mirbeau, Georges Clemenceau, Henry Bordeaux, François Mitterrand,...
.
In the 1920s, Suarez started writing several works in collaboration with Joseph Kessel
Joseph Kessel
Joseph Kessel was a French journalist and novelist.He was born in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Lithuanian doctor of Jewish origin. Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France...
, who remained loyal to Suarez until his death. Suarez, who was then a member of Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, joined with Kessel in producing an interview with Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
.
Up until the 1930s, Suarez displayed a lively interest in the politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
of the Troisième République; he was particularly interested in Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
and Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
, to whom he devoted long monographs of anecdotes.
Like many of his contemporaries, Suarez adopted an ambiguous political stance over the course of time. Switching back and forth between the left (he was interested in the Cartel des gauches
Cartel des Gauches
The Cartel des gauches was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party and the socialist French Section of the Workers' International after World War I , which lasted until the end of the Popular Front . The Cartel des gauches twice won general elections, in 1924 and...
left-wing alliance) and the right (he followed the Stavisky Affair
Stavisky Affair
The Stavisky Affair was a 1934 financial scandal generated by the actions of embezzler Alexandre Stavisky. It had political ramifications for the French Radical Socialist moderate government of the day...
and the riot at the Palais Bourbon
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon, , a palace located on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde, Paris , is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government.-History:...
in 1934), Suarez preserved a centrist, pacifist and germanophile
Germanophile
A Germanophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people, and Germany in general, exhibiting as it were German nationalism in spite of not being an ethnic German or a German citizen. Its opposite is Germanophobia...
stance.
Suarez often met with journalists close to Jean Luchaire
Jean Luchaire
Jean Luchaire was a French journalist and politician who founded the weekly Notre Temps in 1927 and the Collaborationist evening daily Les Nouveaux Temps in 1940. Luchaire supported the Vichy regime's Révolution nationale.Born in Siena, Italy, he was a grand nephew of historian Achille Luchaire...
's daily newspaper Notre temps, which supported Briand's politics of peace with Germany. He was also close to Bertrand de Jouvenel
Bertrand de Jouvenel
Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins, usually known only as Bertrand de Jouvenel was a French philosopher, political economist, and futurist.-Life:...
and the Cercle du grand pavois, and to Fernand de Brinon
Fernand de Brinon
Fernand de Brinon, Marquis de Brinon was a French lawyer and journalist who was one of the architects of French collaboration with the Nazis during World War II...
of the Association France-Allemagne. His written work became gradually more hostile to the Troisième République, which he blamed for France's socio-economic ills of the 1930s.
In 1935, along with Drieu La Rochelle, Paul Marion and Pierre Pucheu
Pierre Pucheu
Pierre Firmin Pucheu was a French industrialist, fascist and member of the Vichy government.-Early years:...
, he strongly criticised the republican government, publicly lamenting their inability to solve the economic crisis, and calling for a new technocracy (they used the term "synarchy") which would be capable, according to them, of dispensing with the problems posed by capitalism. Like many of his associates, Suarez became close to the Parti populaire français
Parti Populaire Français
The Parti Populaire Français was a fascist political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II...
(PPF) of Jacques Doriot
Jacques Doriot
Jacques Doriot was a French politician prior to and during World War II. He began as a Communist but then turned Fascist.-Early life and politics:...
, and, after the French defeat of 1940, collaborationist circles.
He published articles in favour of "synarchism" and "technocratism" such as had been theorised by Georges Lefranc, Georges Albertini and Bertrand de Jouvenel
Bertrand de Jouvenel
Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins, usually known only as Bertrand de Jouvenel was a French philosopher, political economist, and futurist.-Life:...
, and under the occupation he condemned the "corruption" and the "conspiracies" of the Troisième République, writing in newspapers like Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
and Aujourd'hui. Suarez' radical positions led him to support the Riom trials of the Vichy regime, trials set up in order to bring to justice those political figures of the Troisième République allegedly responsible for France's defeat of 1940.
From 1940, Suarez became one of the first biographers of Marshal Philippe Pétain; In 1941 Suarez devoted a further work to him with the provocative title Pétain ou la démocratie? Il faut choisir (Pétain or democracy? You have to choose).
In 1944, despite his collaborationist involvement, Suarez wrote in vain to Doctor Illers, the superintendent of the Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
camp, to ask for the freedom of his friend Robert Desnos
Robert Desnos
Robert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day.- Biography :...
, a supporter of the résistance
Resistance
- Physics :* Electrical resistance, a measure of the degree to which an object opposes an electric current through it* Friction, the force that opposes motion** Drag , fluid or gas forces opposing motion and flow...
.
Suarez was sentenced to death in 1945; he was shot on the 9th of November.
Works
- (with Joseph Kessel), Le Onze mai, Paris, Éditions NRF, 1924.
- (with Joseph Kessel), Au camp des vaincus, ou la Critique du 11 mai, Paris, Éd. NRF, 1924.
- (with Joseph Kessel), Chez M. Paul Faure et M. Charles Maurras, [?], 1926.
- De Poincaré à Poincaré, Paris, [?], 1928.
- Peu d'hommes, trop d'idées ! Et Un entretien avec Charles Maurras par J. Kessel, Paris, De France, 1928 [rééd. Déterna, 2000].
- Une nuit chez Cromwell. Précédé d'un important récit historique de Raymond Poincaré, Paris, Éditions de France, 1930
- La Belgique Vivante, préf. André Tardieu, [?], Éditions Rex, [1932].
- La vie orgueilleuse de Clémenceau. t. 1 Clémenceau. Dans la mêlée, Paris, J. Tallandier, 1932.
- La vie orgueilleuse de Clémenceau. t. 2 Clémenceau. Dans l'action, Paris, J. Tallandier, 1932.
- Les Hommes malades de la paix, Paris, Grasset, 1933.
- Profils de rechange, Paris, Excelsior, 1933.
- La Grande peur du 6 février au Palais-Bourbon, Paris, Grasset, 1934.
- Les Heures héroïques du Cartel, Paris, Grasset, 1934.
- Soixante années d'histoire française. Clemenceau, Paris, Éditions de France, 1934.
- Pour un parti central, Paris, Denoël et Steele, 1936.
- Nos seigneurs et maîtres, Paris, Éditions de France, 1937.
- Briand : sa vie, son œuvre, avec son journal et de nombreux documents inédits, 6. vol. Paris, PlonPlon (publisher)Plon is a French book publishing company, founded in 1852 by Henri Plon and his two brothers.The Plon family were Walloons coming from Nivelle, France. One of their ancestors is probably the Danish typographer Jehan Plon who lived at the end of the 16th century.-History:The Editions Plon were...
, 1938-1952. - Les Accords franco-britanniques économiques et financiers. L’Empire français et la guerre, Paris, Odef, 1940.
- « Préface » à Pierre Dehillotte, Gestapo : l'organisation, les chefs, les agents, l'action de la Gestapo à l'étranger, Paris, Payot, 1940.
- Le maréchal Pétain, Paris, Plon, 1940 [rééd. Déterna, 1999].
- Pétain ou la démocratie ? Il faut choisir, Paris, Grasset, 1941.
- (et Guy Laborde), Agonie de la paix (1935-1939), Paris, Plon, 1942.
- Espagne, pont de l'Europe, Paris, Éditions France-Empire, 1944.