Jean-Marie Perrot
Encyclopedia
The abbé
Jean-Marie Perrot, in Breton
Yann Vari Perrot (September 3, 1877, Plouarzel
, Finistère
– December 12, 1943, Scrignac
), was a French
priest, Breton independentist and collaborator
assassinated by the communist resistance
. He was the founder of the Breton Catholic movement Bleun-Brug
.
in 1889, he expressed a desire to become a priest. He left to study humanities at the Pont-Croix
Youth Seminary. He spent one year in Brest
with the 19th infantry regiment, then enrolled in the Quimper Seminary. He became vicar
of Saint-Vougay
in 1904, where he undertook the patronage of Paotred Sant-Nouga, where he formed study circles, a choir, and a theatre troupe for the local youth. He is the uncle of Louis Lalouer.
(Heather Flower) in 1905, which soon absorbed the magazine Feiz ha Breiz
(Faith and Brittany), which he edited after 1911. The aims of the organisation were:
He was named vicar of Saint-Thégonnec in March 1914. On the outbreak of war he was called up at Lesneven
on August 5, but he asked to leave to volunteer for the Groupe des Brancardiers Divisionnaires. He was decorated after World War I
. After 1910, he played an important role in the Emsav, the Breton nationalist movement.
In 1920, he was named vicar of Plouguerneau
. In 1922 Yves Floc'h, the future painter worked as his parson
. Perrot patronised Michel Le Noblez and organised theatrical performances. Yves Floc'h painted the scenery for a play, and his gifts were noticed by the vicar. From 1932, Perrot's secretary was Herry Caouissin.
Perrot wrote countless articles and plays expressing his ideology, most notably in Feiz ha Breiz.
He was initially stationed in a conservative Saint-Vougay
parish, but was transferred to the more leftist area of Scrignac
in 1930 by the episcopal hierarchy, who disliked his political activities. On July 8, 1941, he became part of the group of writers who adopted a unified orthography of the Breton language
.
On October 16, 1939, telegraphic lines in the region of Huelgoat
were cut. Perrot was accused by authorities of sabotage. The gendarme
s searched his estate twice and interrogated him, but he was released as he had an alibi. However, one gendarme publicly accused him of cutting the wires, and Perrot accused the gendarme of defamation. Afterwards, an enquiry established that a military prisoner was responsible for cutting the wires. At the request of the colonel of the Gendarmie of Quimper, the abbé dropped his accusation of defamation.
During the war, he continued to produce Feiz ha Breiz. Braving the ban by Adolphe Duparc on celebrating nationalist anniversaries during the occupation, he organised the members of Bleun-Brug in Tréguier
on the 29 and 30 August to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Duke Jean V of Brittany. In October 1942, he was named a member of the Comité Consultatif de Bretagne (CCB), a non-elected council put in place by Regional Prefect Jean Quénette to put forward proposals relating to Breton language and culture.
In July 1941, Perrot took part in the German-sponsored effort to unify the writing of Breton.
Perrot sympathised strongly with the collaborationist Breton National Party
. When his parsonage was partly requisitioned by the Germans, Perrot was accused of assisting them. According to Henri Fréville
, on August 7, 1943 Perrot was questioned about the movements of members of Bagadou Stourm, Breton nationalist stormtroopers allied to the Nazis, who had stopped at Scrignac. He was hospitable toward the Bagadou Stourm Youth, who were most active around Finistère
, where leaders such as Yann Goulet
and L’Haridon had been arrested by the French police but released by the Germans.
following a series of denunciations of Perrot for alleged collaborationist activity.
recruited about sixty men who he organised under the name Bezen Kadoudal. Ael Péresse, second-in-command to Laîné, suggested naming the group after Perrot, so it became Bezen Perrot
instead.
. The role of abbé Perrot has been the source of much controversy about "the Breton cause", notably between Ronan Caouissin and the director of the theatre troupe Ar Vro Bagan
Unvaniez Koad Kev was a law association created to maintain the legacy of abbé Perrot. Since 1957, the association has been administered principally by Youenn Craff. Tepod Gwilhmod was president from 2001 to 2003. In 2005, a crisis arose over an attempted takeover by Gérard Hirel (French police officer, ex-member of the French far right party "National Front"), Roland de la Morinière, and Loig Kervoaz, all members of Adsav
. The current president and chaplain are Yann Sanseau and abbot Blanchard
.
Abbot Henri Poisson said in his book :
Francis Gourvil in 1990 :
Abbé
Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....
Jean-Marie Perrot, in Breton
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
Yann Vari Perrot (September 3, 1877, Plouarzel
Plouarzel
Plouarzel is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.The westernmost point of continental France, the Pointe de Corsen, lies within the commune.-Population:Inhabitants of Plouarzel are called in French Plouarzélistes....
, Finistère
Finistère
Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...
– December 12, 1943, Scrignac
Scrignac
Scrignac is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-Population:Inhabitants of Scrignac are called in French Scrignacois.-References:** -External links:*...
), was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
priest, Breton independentist and 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,...
assassinated by the communist resistance
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...
. He was the founder of the Breton Catholic movement Bleun-Brug
Bleun-Brug
Bleun-Brug is a Catholic association oriented towards Breton nationalism.-Origins:The group was created in 1905 by abbé Jean-Marie Perrot, with a name devised at the 1905 conference of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne at Kerjean Castle. The heather symbolizes Breton tenacity...
.
Early life
Perrot was raised in a provincial Breton-speaking family. After studying at the Institut des Frères des Écoles in GuingampGuingamp
Guingamp is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France.-Population:Inhabitants of Guingamp are called guingampais.-Breton language:...
in 1889, he expressed a desire to become a priest. He left to study humanities at the Pont-Croix
Pont-Croix
Pont-Croix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.The town lies about from Audierne on the road to Douarnenez and is connected to Plouhinec by a small, scenic road that passes through the Goyen valley....
Youth Seminary. He spent one year in Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
with the 19th infantry regiment, then enrolled in the Quimper Seminary. He became vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of Saint-Vougay
Saint-Vougay
Saint-Vougay is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretagne in northwestern France.-References:** -External links:*...
in 1904, where he undertook the patronage of Paotred Sant-Nouga, where he formed study circles, a choir, and a theatre troupe for the local youth. He is the uncle of Louis Lalouer.
Activism for the Breton language
Perrot founded Bleun-BrugBleun-Brug
Bleun-Brug is a Catholic association oriented towards Breton nationalism.-Origins:The group was created in 1905 by abbé Jean-Marie Perrot, with a name devised at the 1905 conference of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne at Kerjean Castle. The heather symbolizes Breton tenacity...
(Heather Flower) in 1905, which soon absorbed the magazine Feiz ha Breiz
Feiz ha Breiz
Feiz ha Breiz is the principal weekly journal in the Breton language. It originally appeared from 1865 to 1884, then was revived from 1899 to 1944, and then again from 1945 onwards.-Original journal:...
(Faith and Brittany), which he edited after 1911. The aims of the organisation were:
- to promote the Breton ideal in all three intellectual, political and economic arenas.
- to contribute, as Catholics, to the return of Brittany the full exercise of its traditional faith.
He was named vicar of Saint-Thégonnec in March 1914. On the outbreak of war he was called up at Lesneven
Lesneven
Lesneven is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.It lies northeast of Brest, about from the English Channel in the middle of the Leon plateau.-History:...
on August 5, but he asked to leave to volunteer for the Groupe des Brancardiers Divisionnaires. He was decorated after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. After 1910, he played an important role in the Emsav, the Breton nationalist movement.
In 1920, he was named vicar of Plouguerneau
Plouguerneau
Plouguerneau is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretagne in northwestern France.-International relations:It is twinned with a number of villages in South East Cornwall, England, including:* St Germans* Tideford-Population:...
. In 1922 Yves Floc'h, the future painter worked as his parson
Parson
In the pre-Reformation church, a parson was the priest of an independent parish church, that is, a parish church not under the control of a larger ecclesiastical or monastic organization...
. Perrot patronised Michel Le Noblez and organised theatrical performances. Yves Floc'h painted the scenery for a play, and his gifts were noticed by the vicar. From 1932, Perrot's secretary was Herry Caouissin.
Perrot wrote countless articles and plays expressing his ideology, most notably in Feiz ha Breiz.
He was initially stationed in a conservative Saint-Vougay
Saint-Vougay
Saint-Vougay is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretagne in northwestern France.-References:** -External links:*...
parish, but was transferred to the more leftist area of Scrignac
Scrignac
Scrignac is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-Population:Inhabitants of Scrignac are called in French Scrignacois.-References:** -External links:*...
in 1930 by the episcopal hierarchy, who disliked his political activities. On July 8, 1941, he became part of the group of writers who adopted a unified orthography of the Breton language
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
.
World War II
With the outbreak of war, hostility towards Perrot in Scrignac grew, as he was suspected of pro-German sympathies.On October 16, 1939, telegraphic lines in the region of Huelgoat
Huelgoat
Huelgoat is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.-Population:Inhabitants of Huelgoat are called in French Huelgoatains.-Geography:...
were cut. Perrot was accused by authorities of sabotage. The gendarme
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
s searched his estate twice and interrogated him, but he was released as he had an alibi. However, one gendarme publicly accused him of cutting the wires, and Perrot accused the gendarme of defamation. Afterwards, an enquiry established that a military prisoner was responsible for cutting the wires. At the request of the colonel of the Gendarmie of Quimper, the abbé dropped his accusation of defamation.
During the war, he continued to produce Feiz ha Breiz. Braving the ban by Adolphe Duparc on celebrating nationalist anniversaries during the occupation, he organised the members of Bleun-Brug in Tréguier
Tréguier
Tréguier is a port town in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is the capital of the province of Trégor.-Geography:Tréguier is located 36 m. N.W. of Saint-Brieuc by road. The port is situated about 5½ m...
on the 29 and 30 August to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Duke Jean V of Brittany. In October 1942, he was named a member of the Comité Consultatif de Bretagne (CCB), a non-elected council put in place by Regional Prefect Jean Quénette to put forward proposals relating to Breton language and culture.
In July 1941, Perrot took part in the German-sponsored effort to unify the writing of Breton.
Perrot sympathised strongly with the collaborationist Breton National Party
Breton National Party
The Breton National Party was a nationalist party in Brittany that existed from 1931 to 1944. The party was disbanded after the liberation of France in World War II, because of ties to the Nazi party....
. When his parsonage was partly requisitioned by the Germans, Perrot was accused of assisting them. According to Henri Fréville
Henri Fréville
Henri Fréville was a French history professor, resistor, writer and politician.-Life:...
, on August 7, 1943 Perrot was questioned about the movements of members of Bagadou Stourm, Breton nationalist stormtroopers allied to the Nazis, who had stopped at Scrignac. He was hospitable toward the Bagadou Stourm Youth, who were most active around Finistère
Finistère
Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...
, where leaders such as Yann Goulet
Yann Goulet
Yann Goulet was a sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany who headed the Breton Bagadou Stourm militia. He later took Irish citizenship and became professor of sculpture at the Royal Hibernian Academy.-Early career:Goulet was born in Saint-Nazaire...
and L’Haridon had been arrested by the French police but released by the Germans.
Assassination
On December 12, 1943, the abbé was killed by Jean Thépaut, a member of the French Communist PartyFrench Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
following a series of denunciations of Perrot for alleged collaborationist activity.
Exploitation of his Memory
After his death, the collaborator Célestin LainéCélestin Lainé
Célestin Lainé was a Breton nationalist and collaborator during the Second World War who led the SS affiliated Bezen Perrot militia. His Breton language name is Neven Hénaff. He was a chemical engineer by training. After the war he lived in Ireland.- Breton terrorism :He was born in 1908 in Nantes...
recruited about sixty men who he organised under the name Bezen Kadoudal. Ael Péresse, second-in-command to Laîné, suggested naming the group after Perrot, so it became Bezen Perrot
Bezen Perrot
The Bezen Perrot was a Breton collaborationist force during the Nazi occupation of France that grew from the earlier Lu Brezhon militia. Led by Célestin Lainé and Alan Heusaff, as many as 70 to 80 people joined the ranks of the Bezen Perrot, or "Perrot Unit", at one point or another...
instead.
Legacy
Abbé Perrot was laid to rest at the chapel of Coat-Quéau, in Scrignac. His memory is often celebrated on Easter MondayEaster Monday
Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is celebrated as a holiday in some largely Christian cultures, especially Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox cultures...
. The role of abbé Perrot has been the source of much controversy about "the Breton cause", notably between Ronan Caouissin and the director of the theatre troupe Ar Vro Bagan
Unvaniez Koad Kev was a law association created to maintain the legacy of abbé Perrot. Since 1957, the association has been administered principally by Youenn Craff. Tepod Gwilhmod was president from 2001 to 2003. In 2005, a crisis arose over an attempted takeover by Gérard Hirel (French police officer, ex-member of the French far right party "National Front"), Roland de la Morinière, and Loig Kervoaz, all members of Adsav
Adsav
Adsav is a Breton nationalist secessionist party active in Britanny, which claims to be neither right-wing or left-wing, although its roots are on the right and it is widely considered to be a far right party....
. The current president and chaplain are Yann Sanseau and abbot Blanchard
Blanchard
Blanchard is a French family name. It is also used as a given name.It derives from the Old French word blanchart which meant “whitish, bordering upon white”...
.
Citations
Yvon Tranvouez, in Bretagne et identités régionales pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale asserts thatAbbot Henri Poisson said in his book :
Francis Gourvil in 1990 :
Publications
- Alanik al Louarn. Pe "n'euz den fin n'en deuz e goulz". Pez c'hoari plijadurus rimet e daou Arvest, Brest, Moullerez "Ar c'hourrier", 1905
- Buez ar zent, Ar Gwaziou, Morlaix, 1911
See also
- Bleimor (Scouting)