Olier Mordrel
Encyclopedia
Olier Mordrel is the Breton language
version of Olivier Mordrelle, a Breton nationalist and wartime collaborator with the Third Reich who founded the separatist Breton National Party
. Before the war he worked as an architect. His architectural work was influenced by Art Deco
and the International style
of Le Corbusier
. He was also an essayist, short story writer, and translator. Mordrel wrote some of his works under the pen name
s Jean de La Bénelais, J. La B, Er Gédour, A. Calvez, Otto Mohr, Brython, and Olivier Launay.
The son of a Corsica
n woman who had married General Joseph Mordrelle (died in 1942), Olier Mordrel was born in Paris and spent most of his childhood there (paradoxically, the place where he also learned Breton). After studies at the École des Beaux-Arts
, he became an architect in Quimper for ten years.
He joined Breiz Atao
in 1919, and became president of Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz ("Youth Union of Brittany") in 1922. Together with Roparz Hemon
, he created the literary magazine
Gwalarn
(1925), and was included in the Breton delegation to the First Pan-Celtic Congress
in Dublin (alongside François Jaffrennou
, Morvan Marchal
, and Yves Le Drézen). Subsequently, Mordrel became co-president of the Breton Autonomist Party
(Parti Autonomiste Breton, or PAB), and then its secretary for propaganda
. During the same year, he started mixing his political and aesthetical ideals, adapting Art Deco
to Breton themes, and aligning himself with the Breton art movement Seiz Breur
.
In 1932, he created the Breton National Party
(PNB), a nationalist and separatist Breton movement that would be outlawed by Prime Minister
Édouard Daladier
in October 1939, for its connections with Nazi Germany
. In an article he contributed to the December 11, 1932 Breiz Atao, Mordrel launched an anti-semitic attack, one aiming to add National-socialist
rhetoric to his discourse against French centralism
: "Jacobin rime avec Youppin" - translatable as "Jacobin
rhymes with Yid
". The same year, he conceived the Strollad Ar Gelted Adsavet (SAGA, Party of Risen Celt
s) and its Nazi-like platform - which included Bretons in the Nordic "master race
".
Mordrel also launched Stur
, a magazine which displayed the swastika in its title, and the 1936 Peuples et Frontières (initially titled Bulletin des minorités nationales de France), which served as the voice for separatist
minority
ethnic group
s throughout Europe
. A noted contributor was the Alsatian
Hermann Bickler, who later became a Gestapo
commander. On December 14, 1938, Mordrel and François Debeauvais
were each sentenced to a one-year suspended imprisonment for "attack on the nation's unity".
Throughout this period Mordrel was working as an architect. He created a number of buildings in Quimper which were the most advanced examples of modern architecture in the city, adopting the Streamline Moderne
style. The most important of these is the Ty-Kodak building at the new-town area of cité Kerguelen. It has been described as "the most original and much the most beautiful" of modern buildings in the city. It was constructed in 1933. The building has a wrap-around structure comparable to work by Le Corbusier, and alternates smooth white surface with blue tiling. According to the architectural critic Daniel Le Couedic, the "gentle sweep" of the broad white bands around the corner is contrasted dramatically with the strong angular and stabilising vertical structures of the windows. It is signed with the architect's name on the boulevard facade.
Several other Mordrel buildings are no longer extant, including his Garage d’Odet, a garage/factory designed to use modernist style to achieve a space for maximum efficiency of manufacturing and repair.
erupted in 1939, Mordrel, Debeauvais, and their families (including Debeauvais's wife, Anna Youenou, who has since published an account of the travel) left for Berlin, via Belgium
and the Netherlands
. While in Amsterdam
, the two leaders issued a Manifesto
calling for the Bretons not to back the French forces. A Lizer Brezel ("Letter of War") they wrote to PNB members in January 1940 stated that "a real Breton does not have the right to die for France" and "our enemies are first and foremost the French, it is them who have not ceased causing misfortune to Brittany
".
A military tribunal
in Rennes
tried Debeauvais and Mordrel in absentia
and sentenced them to death for separatist activities, treason
, maintaining active a banned group, and instigation to desertion
or treason. In early May, the Germans awarded Mordrel the leadership of a self-designated government in exile
, the Bretonische Regierung; nonetheless, the two Bretons were not given the status of "leaders of Brittany", and the German passport
s they carried read stateless (Statenlos). They were allowed to travel only because of their connections with influential German army officers. With the start of the German occupation of France
, the activists returned to Brittany on July 1, re-founded the PNB, and Mordrel started printing L'Heure Bretonne
(edited by Morvan Lebesque
).
founded the Breton National Committee
, Mordrel took charge of the PNB in late October, and subsequently led a campaign against Vichy France
that was tacitly encouraged by the Germans. His relation with Célestin Lainé
became tense after Lainé's paramilitary
Lu Brezhon started competing with the National Committee in October. Mordrel's actions against Vichy did not have the intended effect, and the PNB's appeal was minimal; at the same time, Germany had started placing its trust with Vichy leader Philippe Pétain
, and in the end supported Mordrel's ousting from the Committee in December. He seems to have been disappointed with the PNB's position himself. In November, he stated: "Our force is within ourselves. Neither Vichy nor Berlin will render the Breton people the necessary status for self-determination
, regrouping, and giving itself a path. Our fate is being decided in our fibres... Let us not expect anything that is not from ourselves". He resigned his positions with the PNB and its journal, being replaced by Raymond Delaporte.
Mordrel was assigned residence in Germany: first in Stuttgart
, then, from January 1941, in Berlin. However, he was barred from Brittany and from separatist activism. Leo Weisgerber
offered him the position of Celtic languages
professor at the University of Bonn
, and orchestrated his return to Paris in May. He was allowed to settle in
Mayenne
, where he was frequently visited and consulted by his Breton friends - including Jean Merrien, Rafig Tullou
, Jean Trécan, and René-Yves Creston
; throughout 1943, he kept contacts with his fellow writer and Occupation regime figure Louis-Ferdinand Céline
. In September Mordrel was allowed ro return to Rennes, where, while both the PNB leadership and Vichy agents called on the Germans to expel him, he was kept as an alternative by the Nazi authorities. After 1942, he was again even allowed to edit Stur .
invasion during the battle of Normandy
, Brittany was taken on August 13, 1944, and Mordrel was forced to flee to Germany. In February 1945 the PNB began talks with French fascist leader Jacques Doriot
and his Parti Populaire Français
, Mordrel acting as representative of the Bretons (with the backing of Roparz Hemon
). The two sides agreed on a programme of Breton independence within a "Swiss
-like" federation
. After being briefly active in the umbrella group created by Doriot, he had to flee the defeated country, taking refuge in Brazil
, then Argentina
, and finally in Francoist Spain. He was again sentenced to death in absentia
, in June 1946, but continued to contribute material to the magazine Ar Vro as Brython.
Mordrel returned to France incognito in 1972, and continued writing for La Bretagne Réelle as Otto Mohr (a name he had used in 1940), as well as editing several books - including a history of the Waffen-SS
(Waffen SS d'Occident). In the 1980s, he was among the founders of Kelc'h Maksen Wledig ("Emperor
Maxentius
' Circle"), together with such figures of the far right
as Yann Ber Tillenon and Georges Pinault; later, he was active in the GRECE, an organization associated with extremist politics, led by Alain de Benoist
. Nonetheless, in the 1981 presidential race
, Mordrel backed Socialist candidate François Mitterrand
.
Mordrel's son Tristan Mordrelle (pen name André Chelain) is a far-right historical revisionist who runs the Association bretonne de recherche historique (ABRH) and edits its journal L'Autre Histoire.
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...
version of Olivier Mordrelle, a Breton nationalist and wartime collaborator with the Third Reich who founded the separatist 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....
. Before the war he worked as an architect. His architectural work was influenced by Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
and the International style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
of Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
. He was also an essayist, short story writer, and translator. Mordrel wrote some of his works under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
s Jean de La Bénelais, J. La B, Er Gédour, A. Calvez, Otto Mohr, Brython, and Olivier Launay.
Early life
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
n woman who had married General Joseph Mordrelle (died in 1942), Olier Mordrel was born in Paris and spent most of his childhood there (paradoxically, the place where he also learned Breton). After studies at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
, he became an architect in Quimper for ten years.
He joined Breiz Atao
Breiz Atao
Breiz Atao , was a Breton nationalist journal in the mid-twentieth century. The term is also used for the broader movement associated with the journal's political position....
in 1919, and became president of Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz ("Youth Union of Brittany") in 1922. Together with Roparz Hemon
Roparz Hemon
Roparz Hemon , officially named Louis-Paul Némo, was a Breton author and scholar of Breton expression.He was the author of numerous dictionaries, grammars, poems and short stories...
, he created the literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
Gwalarn
Gwalarn
Gwalarn was a Breton language literary journal. By extension, the term refers to the style of literature that it encouraged. 166 issues appeared between 1925 and May 1944....
(1925), and was included in the Breton delegation to the First Pan-Celtic Congress
Pan-Celticism
Pan-Celticism is the name given to various political and cultural movements and organisations that promote greater contact between the Celtic nations.-Types of Pan-Celticism:Pan-Celticism can operate on one or all of the following levels listed below:...
in Dublin (alongside François Jaffrennou
François Jaffrennou
François-Joseph-Claude Jaffrennou was a Breton language writer and editor. He was a Breton nationalist and a neo-druid bard. He is also known as François Taldir-Jaffrennou, since he also used the Druidic name Taldir...
, Morvan Marchal
Morvan Marchal
Morvan Marchal , is the Breton name of Maurice Marchal, an architect and a militant Breton nationalist. He is best known for having designed the national flag of Brittany.-Biography:...
, and Yves Le Drézen). Subsequently, Mordrel became co-president of the Breton Autonomist Party
Breton Autonomist Party
The Breton Autonomist Party was a political party which existed in Brittany from 1927 to 1931-Origin:The party was created at the first congress of the nationalist journal Breiz Atao in Rosporden on September 1927. It followed from establishment of the Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz...
(Parti Autonomiste Breton, or PAB), and then its secretary for propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. During the same year, he started mixing his political and aesthetical ideals, adapting Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
to Breton themes, and aligning himself with the Breton art movement Seiz Breur
Seiz Breur
Seiz Breur was an artistic movement founded in 1923 in Brittany. Although it adopted the symbolic name seiz breur, meaning seven brothers in the Breton language, this did not refer to the number of members, but to the title of a folk-story...
.
In 1932, he created the 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....
(PNB), a nationalist and separatist Breton movement that would be outlawed by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
in October 1939, for its connections with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. In an article he contributed to the December 11, 1932 Breiz Atao, Mordrel launched an anti-semitic attack, one aiming to add National-socialist
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
rhetoric to his discourse against French centralism
Centralized government
A centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
: "Jacobin rime avec Youppin" - translatable as "Jacobin
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
rhymes with Yid
Yid
The word Yid is a slang Jewish ethnonym. Its usage may be controversial in modern English language. It is not usually considered offensive when pronounced , the way Yiddish speakers say it, though some may deem the word offensive nonetheless...
". The same year, he conceived the Strollad Ar Gelted Adsavet (SAGA, Party of Risen Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s) and its Nazi-like platform - which included Bretons in the Nordic "master race
Master race
Master race was a phrase and concept originating in the slave-holding Southern US. The later phrase Herrenvolk , interpreted as 'master race', was a concept in Nazi ideology in which the Nordic peoples, one of the branches of what in the late-19th and early-20th century was called the Aryan race,...
".
Mordrel also launched Stur
Štúr
Štúr is surname of: * Ľudovít Velislav Štúr, * 3393 Štúr, a main belt asteroid* Štúrovo* , née Kazárová - References :...
, a magazine which displayed the swastika in its title, and the 1936 Peuples et Frontières (initially titled Bulletin des minorités nationales de France), which served as the voice for separatist
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
s throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. A noted contributor was the Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
Hermann Bickler, who later became a Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
commander. On December 14, 1938, Mordrel and François Debeauvais
François Debeauvais
François Debeauvais was a Breton nationalist and wartime collaborator with Nazi Germany. His name is also spelled in many "Breton" variants: François Debauvais, Fransez Debeauvais, Fransez Debauvais, Fañch Debeauvais, Fañch Debauvais, Fañch deb.-Breiz Atao:Debeauvais was the son of a gardener from...
were each sentenced to a one-year suspended imprisonment for "attack on the nation's unity".
Architecture
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
style. The most important of these is the Ty-Kodak building at the new-town area of cité Kerguelen. It has been described as "the most original and much the most beautiful" of modern buildings in the city. It was constructed in 1933. The building has a wrap-around structure comparable to work by Le Corbusier, and alternates smooth white surface with blue tiling. According to the architectural critic Daniel Le Couedic, the "gentle sweep" of the broad white bands around the corner is contrasted dramatically with the strong angular and stabilising vertical structures of the windows. It is signed with the architect's name on the boulevard facade.
Several other Mordrel buildings are no longer extant, including his Garage d’Odet, a garage/factory designed to use modernist style to achieve a space for maximum efficiency of manufacturing and repair.
Bretonische Regierung
Just before the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
erupted in 1939, Mordrel, Debeauvais, and their families (including Debeauvais's wife, Anna Youenou, who has since published an account of the travel) left for Berlin, via Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. While in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, the two leaders issued a Manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
calling for the Bretons not to back the French forces. A Lizer Brezel ("Letter of War") they wrote to PNB members in January 1940 stated that "a real Breton does not have the right to die for France" and "our enemies are first and foremost the French, it is them who have not ceased causing misfortune to Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
".
A military tribunal
Military tribunal
A military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors...
in Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
tried Debeauvais and Mordrel in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
and sentenced them to death for separatist activities, treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, maintaining active a banned group, and instigation to desertion
Desertion
In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...
or treason. In early May, the Germans awarded Mordrel the leadership of a self-designated government in exile
Government in exile
A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usually operate under the assumption that they will one day return to their...
, the Bretonische Regierung; nonetheless, the two Bretons were not given the status of "leaders of Brittany", and the German passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
s they carried read stateless (Statenlos). They were allowed to travel only because of their connections with influential German army officers. With the start of the German occupation of France
Military history of France during World War II
The military history of France during World War II covers the period from 1939 until 1940, which witnessed French military participation under the French Third Republic , and the period from 1940 until 1945, which was marked by mainland and overseas military administration and influence struggles...
, the activists returned to Brittany on July 1, re-founded the PNB, and Mordrel started printing L'Heure Bretonne
L'Heure Bretonne
L'Heure Bretonne was a Breton nationalist weekly newspaper which was published from June 1940 to June 1944. It was the organ of the Breton National Party and was strongly associated with collaborationist politics during World War II....
(edited by Morvan Lebesque
Morvan Lebesque
Morvan Lebesque , was the Breton language name of Maurice Lebesque, a Breton nationalist activist and French journalist....
).
In the Occupation
By the end of June and early July Breton independantists could take it for granted that Brittany could be independent when a military governor was appointed to rule over the five départements of ancient Brittany. After a self-designated Congress in PontivyPontivy
Pontivy is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It lies at the confluence of the river Blavet and the Canal de Nantes à Brest.-History:...
founded the Breton National Committee
Breton National Committee
The Breton National Committee was a Breton nationalist body founded on July 3, 1940 at the so-called "Congress of Pontivy", headed by François Debeauvais and Olier Mordrel. It was designed to promote Breton independence from France by collaboration with the occupying German forces. They drew up a...
, Mordrel took charge of the PNB in late October, and subsequently led a campaign against Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
that was tacitly encouraged by the Germans. His relation with Célestin Lainé
Célestin 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...
became tense after Lainé's paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
Lu Brezhon started competing with the National Committee in October. Mordrel's actions against Vichy did not have the intended effect, and the PNB's appeal was minimal; at the same time, Germany had started placing its trust with Vichy leader Philippe 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 in the end supported Mordrel's ousting from the Committee in December. He seems to have been disappointed with the PNB's position himself. In November, he stated: "Our force is within ourselves. Neither Vichy nor Berlin will render the Breton people the necessary status for self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
, regrouping, and giving itself a path. Our fate is being decided in our fibres... Let us not expect anything that is not from ourselves". He resigned his positions with the PNB and its journal, being replaced by Raymond Delaporte.
Mordrel was assigned residence in Germany: first in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, then, from January 1941, in Berlin. However, he was barred from Brittany and from separatist activism. Leo Weisgerber
Leo Weisgerber
Leo Weisgerber was a Lorraine-born German linguist specializing in Celtic linguistics. He developed the "organicist" theory that different languages produce different experiences...
offered him the position of Celtic languages
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
professor at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
, and orchestrated his return to Paris in May. He was allowed to settle in
Mayenne
Mayenne
Mayenne is a department in northwest France named after the Mayenne River.-History:Mayenne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. The northern two thirds correspond to the western part of the former province of Maine...
, where he was frequently visited and consulted by his Breton friends - including Jean Merrien, Rafig Tullou
Rafig Tullou
Raffig Tullou , alias Neven Lewarc’h was a Breton sculptor and set designer...
, Jean Trécan, and René-Yves Creston
René-Yves Creston
René-Yves Creston , born René Pierre Joseph Creston, was a Breton artist, designer and ethnographer who founded the Breton nationalist art movement Seiz Breur...
; throughout 1943, he kept contacts with his fellow writer and Occupation regime figure Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...
. In September Mordrel was allowed ro return to Rennes, where, while both the PNB leadership and Vichy agents called on the Germans to expel him, he was kept as an alternative by the Nazi authorities. After 1942, he was again even allowed to edit Stur .
1945, exile, and return
After the AlliedAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
invasion during the battle of Normandy
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
, Brittany was taken on August 13, 1944, and Mordrel was forced to flee to Germany. In February 1945 the PNB began talks with French fascist leader 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 his 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...
, Mordrel acting as representative of the Bretons (with the backing of Roparz Hemon
Roparz Hemon
Roparz Hemon , officially named Louis-Paul Némo, was a Breton author and scholar of Breton expression.He was the author of numerous dictionaries, grammars, poems and short stories...
). The two sides agreed on a programme of Breton independence within a "Swiss
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
-like" federation
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
. After being briefly active in the umbrella group created by Doriot, he had to flee the defeated country, taking refuge in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, then Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and finally in Francoist Spain. He was again sentenced to death in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
, in June 1946, but continued to contribute material to the magazine Ar Vro as Brython.
Mordrel returned to France incognito in 1972, and continued writing for La Bretagne Réelle as Otto Mohr (a name he had used in 1940), as well as editing several books - including a history of the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
(Waffen SS d'Occident). In the 1980s, he was among the founders of Kelc'h Maksen Wledig ("Emperor
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
Maxentius
Maxentius
Maxentius was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 312. He was the son of former Emperor Maximian, and the son-in-law of Emperor Galerius.-Birth and early life:Maxentius' exact date of birth is unknown; it was probably around 278...
' Circle"), together with such figures of the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
as Yann Ber Tillenon and Georges Pinault; later, he was active in the GRECE, an organization associated with extremist politics, led by Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
. Nonetheless, in the 1981 presidential race
French presidential election, 1981
The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....
, Mordrel backed Socialist candidate François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
.
Mordrel's son Tristan Mordrelle (pen name André Chelain) is a far-right historical revisionist who runs the Association bretonne de recherche historique (ABRH) and edits its journal L'Autre Histoire.
Works
- Pensée d'un nationaliste Breton, (Breiz Atao 1921-1927), Les Nouvelles Éditions Bretonnes, 1933
- La Galerie bretonne
- translation of The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke by Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria RilkeRené Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
- Kanenn hini Langenau, Kenwerzel Breiz, Rennes - Breiz Atao, histoire et actualité du nationalisme Breton, Alain Moreau, 1973.
- La voie Bretonne, Nature et Bretagne, Quimper, 1975.
- L'essence de la Bretagne, essay, Guipavas, Éditions Kelenn, 1977
- Les hommes-dieux, stories in Celtic mythologyCeltic mythologyCeltic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
, Paris, Copernic, 1979 - L'Idée Bretonne, Éditions Albatros, 1981
- Le mythe de l'hexagone, Picollec, 1981.
- La Bretagne, Nathan, 1983.