Épuration légale
Encyclopedia
The Épuration légale was the wave of official trials that followed the Liberation of France and the fall of the Vichy Regime. The trials were largely conducted from 1944 to 1949, with subsequent legal action continuing for decades afterward.
Unlike the proceedings of the Nuremberg Trials
, for instance, the Épuration légale was conducted as a domestic French affair. Approximately 300,000 cases were investigated, reaching into the highest levels of the collaborationist Vichy government. More than half were closed without any indictment. In 1944-51, official courts in France sentenced 6,763 people to death (3,910 in absentia) for treason and other offenses. Only 791 executions were actually carried out, including those of Pierre Laval
, Joseph Darnand
, and the journalist Robert Brasillach
. Far more common was “National degradation
,” a loss of civil rights, which was meted out to 49,723 people.
(GPRF) led by Charles de Gaulle
was faced with rebuilding the country and removing traitors, criminals and collaborators from office. The Comité Français de Libération Nationale
(CFLN), which became the GPRF on 4 June 1944, issued an ordinance
in Algiers on 18 August 1943, setting the basis for the judicial purge and establishing a Purge Commission (Commission d'Epuration).
The official purge in metropolitan France
began in early 1945, although isolated civil trials, courts martial, and thousands of extra-legal vigilante actions had already been carried out through 1944, as the nation had been freed. Women accused of "horizontal collaboration" were arrested, shaved, exhibited and sometimes mauled by crowds after Liberation, as punishment for their sexual relationships with Germans during the occupation.
In another example of action before the purge, following the landings in North Africa
in November 1942, some important civil servants loyal to Vichy, including Pierre Pucheu
, former Minister of the Interior
, had been detained. Pucheu was indicted for treason by a military court martial at the end of August 1943, and his trial started on 4 March 1944. He was executed 20 days later.
Organized implementation of the official purge was made difficult by the lack of magistrates. With a single exception, all of the Third Republic's judges had taken an oath to the disgraced regime of Marshal Philippe Pétain
.
Three major types of civilian courts were set up:
A fourth category was the military courts martial
. This jurisdiction covered French citizens charged with pro-German military acts, and German nationals charged with war crime
s, such as Pierre Pucheu
, Minister of the Interior of Vichy, and Otto Abetz
, ambassador of Nazi Germany
to Paris .
The High Court judged 108 persons (including 106 Ministers). In total the courts investigated more than 300,000 people, classifying 180,000 of them without any indictment, and finally fewer than 800 executions were enacted . Three successive general amnesties
were enacted, in 1947, 1951 and 1953 .
, the particular nature of events related to the Occupation of France made a number of offenses legally unclear, such as joining the SS or the paramilitary Milice
. Hence, exceptional legal procurements were made. The principles set unanimously by the Conseil National de la Résistance
(National Council of Resistance, CNR) on the 15 March 1944 called for the political elimination of any person guilty of collaboration with the Nazis between the 16 June 1940 and the Liberation. Such offences included, notably:
On the other hand, preventing a civil war meant that competent civil servants should not be taken out of office, and that moderate sentences should be given where possible. More importantly, this prevented local Resistance movements from doing vigilante "justice" themselves, ending the "combative" period of the Liberation and restoring the proper legal institutions of France. These new institutions were set on three principles:
On 26 August 1944, the government published an order defining the offence of indignité nationale
("national unworthiness"), and the corresponding punishment of dégradation nationale
("national stripping of rank"). Indignité nationale was characterised as "harming unity of France and neglecting one's national duty," and the sentence aimed in particular in prohibiting guilty individuals of exercising political functions.
On 18 November, the Haute Cour de Justice ("High Court of Justice") was created, with the aim of judging members of the Vichy government charged of offences of Indignité nationale (Marshal Philippe Pétain
, etc.) Other suspects were judged by the cours de justice ("Court of Justice"). A High Court of Justice already existed under the Third Republic
: the Senate
was then to organise a court to judge state leaders guilty of high treason. But this form of justice had been suppressed by Marshal Pétain's Fifth Constitutional Act of 30 July 1940, establishing the Vichy regime.
The new High Court was not composed anymore of senators, but presided over by the first President of the Court of Cassation
, assisted by the President of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation and by the first President of the Appeal Court of Paris. It was also composed of 24 juries, randomly chosen on two lists of a dozen each. The first list included 40 senators or deputies in function on 1 September 1939, who had not voted the full powers to Pétain on 10 July 1940 (the Vichy 80). The second list was composed of 50 persons chosen by the Consultative Assembly in Resistance movements.
The composition of the High Court was changed again by the 27 December 1945 Act. Thereafter, it was composed of 27 members, three magistrates and 24 juries randomly chosen on a list of 96 deputies of the Constituent Assembly
, elected on 21 October 1945
. Each political party was represented on this list proportionally to its presence in the Assembly.
The High Court was further modified by the 15 September 1947 Act, and then again by the 19 April 1948 Act.
The French concentration camps
used by the Vichy regime to intern Jews, Spanish Republicans, Resistants and others, were now used to detain presumed collaborationists. In Paris, these included the Velodrome d'Hiver
, the Drancy internment camp
(managed by the Resistance until the arrival of the gendarmerie on 15 September 1944) and the Fresnes prison
, which held Tino Rossi
, Pierre Benoit
, Arletty
, and the industrialist Louis Renault
. The 4 October 1944 ordinance authorised prefects to intern dangerous prisoners until the end of hostilities. For some Collaborationists, internment meant protection from popular vengeance.
On 31 October 1944, the Minister of Interior Adrien Tixier
created commissions charged with controlling the internment camps and home confinements. The Red Cross was permitted to visit the camps. Tixier then stated in 30 August 1945 that although the war was not yet officially ended, further internments were prohibited except for cases of spying or major black marketeering. The 10 May 1946 Act fixed the legal date of the end of the war, and at the end of May 1946, all internment camps were cleared.
The trial of Marshal Philippe Pétain
began on 23 July 1945. Pétain's defense lawyer, Jacques Isorni, pointed out that the public prosecutor, André Mornet, had also been in charge of the failed Riom Trial
s organized by Pétain himself under the Vichy regime. This may not have impressed the judge, Pierre Mongibeaux, who had himself sworn allegiance to Petain in 1941. The 89-year-old Marshall was sentenced to death on 15 August, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He lived six more years, banished to the Île d'Yeu
.
Pierre Laval
, the French Prime Minister from July to December 1940 and from April 1942 to August 1944, had fled to Francoist Spain. Franco
, however, sent him back to Innsbruck
in Austria, which was part of the U.S. Occupation Zone. Laval was thereafter handed over to the French authorities, and his trial started on October 1945. In a hasty, rancorous trial, he was sentenced by an openly hostile jury to death on 9 October 1945, and executed a week later.
By 1 July 1949, the High Court had given out 108 sentences (106 of them concerned former ministers ):
Between 1954 and 1960, the High Court judged prisoners who had been sentenced in absentia or had been taken prisoner. More than a decade having passed, the court showed more leniency. For example, the General resident of Morocco, Charles Noguès, had been sentenced in absentia to 20 years of forced labour on 28 November 1947, but his indignité nationale was immediately suspended on 26 October 1956.
Unlike the proceedings of the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
, for instance, the Épuration légale was conducted as a domestic French affair. Approximately 300,000 cases were investigated, reaching into the highest levels of the collaborationist Vichy government. More than half were closed without any indictment. In 1944-51, official courts in France sentenced 6,763 people to death (3,910 in absentia) for treason and other offenses. Only 791 executions were actually carried out, including those of Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of...
, Joseph Darnand
Joseph Darnand
Joseph Darnand was a French soldier and later a leader of the Vichy French collaborators with Nazi Germany....
, and the journalist Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach was a French author and journalist. Brasillach is best known as the editor of Je suis partout, a nationalist newspaper which came to advocate various fascist movements and supported Jacques Doriot...
. Far more common was “National degradation
Dégradation nationale
The dégradation nationale was a sentence introduced in France after the Liberation. It was applied during the épuration légale which followed the fall of the Vichy regime....
,” a loss of civil rights, which was meted out to 49,723 people.
Context
Following the liberation of France, the Provisional Government of the French RepublicProvisional Government of the French Republic
The Provisional Government of the French Republic was an interim government which governed France from 1944 to 1946, following the fall of Vichy France and prior to the Fourth French Republic....
(GPRF) led by Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
was faced with rebuilding the country and removing traitors, criminals and collaborators from office. The Comité Français de Libération Nationale
French Committee of National Liberation
The French Committee of National Liberation was a body formed by the French leaders Gens. Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle to provide united leadership, organize and coordinate the campaign to liberate France from Nazi Germany during World War II. The committee was formed on June 3, 1943 and...
(CFLN), which became the GPRF on 4 June 1944, issued an ordinance
Ordonnance (French constitutional law)
In the Government of France, an ordonnance is a statute passed by the Council of Ministers in an area of law normally reserved for statute law passed by the Parliament of France....
in Algiers on 18 August 1943, setting the basis for the judicial purge and establishing a Purge Commission (Commission d'Epuration).
The official purge in metropolitan France
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...
began in early 1945, although isolated civil trials, courts martial, and thousands of extra-legal vigilante actions had already been carried out through 1944, as the nation had been freed. Women accused of "horizontal collaboration" were arrested, shaved, exhibited and sometimes mauled by crowds after Liberation, as punishment for their sexual relationships with Germans during the occupation.
In another example of action before the purge, following the landings in North Africa
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
in November 1942, some important civil servants loyal to Vichy, including Pierre Pucheu
Pierre Pucheu
Pierre Firmin Pucheu was a French industrialist, fascist and member of the Vichy government.-Early years:...
, former Minister of the Interior
Minister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...
, had been detained. Pucheu was indicted for treason by a military court martial at the end of August 1943, and his trial started on 4 March 1944. He was executed 20 days later.
Organized implementation of the official purge was made difficult by the lack of magistrates. With a single exception, all of the Third Republic's judges had taken an oath to the disgraced regime of Marshal 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...
.
Three major types of civilian courts were set up:
- the High Court of Justice (Haute Cour de justice)
- the Cours de justice, modeled on the Cour d'assisesCour d'assisesA French cour d'assises or Assize Court is a criminal trial court with original and appellate limited jurisdiction to hear cases involving defendants accused of major felonies or indictable offences, or crimes in French, and one of the few to be decided by jury trialUnder French law, a crime is any...
(Assize Court) - and the "Civic Chambers" (Chambres civiques)
A fourth category was the military courts martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
. This jurisdiction covered French citizens charged with pro-German military acts, and German nationals charged with war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s, such as Pierre Pucheu
Pierre Pucheu
Pierre Firmin Pucheu was a French industrialist, fascist and member of the Vichy government.-Early years:...
, Minister of the Interior of Vichy, and Otto Abetz
Otto Abetz
Dr. Heinrich Otto Abetz was the German ambassador to Vichy France during World War II.-Early years:Abetz was born in Schwetzingen on May 26, 1903. He was the son of an estate manager, who died when Otto was only 13...
, ambassador of 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...
to Paris .
The High Court judged 108 persons (including 106 Ministers). In total the courts investigated more than 300,000 people, classifying 180,000 of them without any indictment, and finally fewer than 800 executions were enacted . Three successive general amnesties
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
were enacted, in 1947, 1951 and 1953 .
Legal basis
While the laws of 1939 included provisions against treasonTreason
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...
, the particular nature of events related to the Occupation of France made a number of offenses legally unclear, such as joining the SS or the paramilitary Milice
Milice
The Milice française , generally called simply Milice, was a paramilitary force created on January 30, 1943 by the Vichy Regime, with German aid, to help fight the French Resistance. The Milice's formal leader was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, though its chief of operations, and actual leader, was...
. Hence, exceptional legal procurements were made. The principles set unanimously by the Conseil National de la Résistance
Conseil National de la Résistance
The Conseil National de la Résistance or the National Council of the Resistance is the body that directed and coordinated the different movements of the French Resistance - the press, trade unions, and members of political parties hostile to the Vichy regime, starting from...
(National Council of Resistance, CNR) on the 15 March 1944 called for the political elimination of any person guilty of collaboration with the Nazis between the 16 June 1940 and the Liberation. Such offences included, notably:
- taking part in collaborationist organizations or parties
- taking part in propaganda
- delation (denunciation)
- any form of zeal in favor of the Germans
- black market activities
On the other hand, preventing a civil war meant that competent civil servants should not be taken out of office, and that moderate sentences should be given where possible. More importantly, this prevented local Resistance movements from doing vigilante "justice" themselves, ending the "combative" period of the Liberation and restoring the proper legal institutions of France. These new institutions were set on three principles:
- the illegality of the Vichy regime
- France still being at war with Nazi Germany: the Franco-German armisticeArmistice with France (Second Compiègne)The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 18:50 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany and France...
legally called for a cease fire and an end to military operations, but did not end the state of war, and no peace treaty was signed with Germany. Hence, it remained the duty of any French to resist occupation. - retroactivityRetroactivityRetroactivity in law is the application of a given norm to events that took place or began to produce legal effects, before the law was approved...
of the new texts
On 26 August 1944, the government published an order defining the offence of indignité nationale
Indignité nationale
Indignité nationale was a legally defined offense, created at the Liberation in the context of the “Épuration légale”...
("national unworthiness"), and the corresponding punishment of dégradation nationale
Dégradation nationale
The dégradation nationale was a sentence introduced in France after the Liberation. It was applied during the épuration légale which followed the fall of the Vichy regime....
("national stripping of rank"). Indignité nationale was characterised as "harming unity of France and neglecting one's national duty," and the sentence aimed in particular in prohibiting guilty individuals of exercising political functions.
On 18 November, the Haute Cour de Justice ("High Court of Justice") was created, with the aim of judging members of the Vichy government charged of offences of Indignité nationale (Marshal 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...
, etc.) Other suspects were judged by the cours de justice ("Court of Justice"). A High Court of Justice already existed under the Third Republic
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...
: the Senate
French Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of France, presided over by a president.The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally enjoy less media coverage.-History:France's first...
was then to organise a court to judge state leaders guilty of high treason. But this form of justice had been suppressed by Marshal Pétain's Fifth Constitutional Act of 30 July 1940, establishing the Vichy regime.
The new High Court was not composed anymore of senators, but presided over by the first President of the Court of Cassation
Court of Cassation (France)
The French Supreme Court of Judicature is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream but only scope of review to determine a miscarriage of justice or certify a question of law based solely on points of law...
, assisted by the President of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation and by the first President of the Appeal Court of Paris. It was also composed of 24 juries, randomly chosen on two lists of a dozen each. The first list included 40 senators or deputies in function on 1 September 1939, who had not voted the full powers to Pétain on 10 July 1940 (the Vichy 80). The second list was composed of 50 persons chosen by the Consultative Assembly in Resistance movements.
The composition of the High Court was changed again by the 27 December 1945 Act. Thereafter, it was composed of 27 members, three magistrates and 24 juries randomly chosen on a list of 96 deputies of the Constituent Assembly
Constituent assembly
A constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...
, elected on 21 October 1945
French legislative election, 1945
A legislative election was held in France on 21 October 1945 to elect a constituent assembly to draft a constitution for a Fourth French Republic. 79.83% of voters participated. Women and soldiers were allowed to vote...
. Each political party was represented on this list proportionally to its presence in the Assembly.
The High Court was further modified by the 15 September 1947 Act, and then again by the 19 April 1948 Act.
Internment of accused
Concentration camps in France
There were internment camps and concentration camps in France before, during and after World War II. Beside the camps created during World War I to intern German, Austrian and Ottoman civilian prisoners, the Third Republic opened various internment camps for the Spanish refugees fleeing the...
used by the Vichy regime to intern Jews, Spanish Republicans, Resistants and others, were now used to detain presumed collaborationists. In Paris, these included the Velodrome d'Hiver
Vélodrome d'hiver
The Vélodrome d'Hiver , colloquially Vel' d'Hiv, was an indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. As well as track cycling, it was used for ice hockey, wrestling, boxing, roller-skating, circuses, spectaculars, and demonstrations...
, the Drancy internment camp
Drancy internment camp
The Drancy internment camp of Paris, France, was used to hold Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps. 65,000 Jews were deported from Drancy, of whom 63,000 were murdered including 6,000 children...
(managed by the Resistance until the arrival of the gendarmerie on 15 September 1944) and the Fresnes prison
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris...
, which held Tino Rossi
Tino Rossi
Tino Rossi was a singer and film actor.Born Constantino Rossi in Ajaccio, Corsica, France, he became a tenor of French cabaret and one of the great romantic idols of his time. Gifted with an operatic voice, a "Latin Lover" persona made him a movie star as well...
, Pierre Benoit
Pierre Benoit
Pierre Benoit may refer to:*Pierre Benoit , novelist and member of the Académie française*Pierre Basile Benoit , former member of the Canadian House of Commons...
, Arletty
Arletty
Arletty was a French actress, singer, and fashion model.-Life and career:Arletty was born Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat in Courbevoie , to a working-class family. Her early career was dominated by the music hall, and she later appeared in plays and cabaret. Arletty was a stage performer for ten years...
, and the industrialist Louis Renault
Louis Renault (industrialist)
Louis Renault was a French industrialist, one of the founders of Renault and a pioneer of the automobile industry....
. The 4 October 1944 ordinance authorised prefects to intern dangerous prisoners until the end of hostilities. For some Collaborationists, internment meant protection from popular vengeance.
On 31 October 1944, the Minister of Interior Adrien Tixier
Adrien Tixier
Adrien Tixier was a French politician, diplomat, and Free French ambassador to the United States.-Career:He was the son of Pierre-Edouard Tixier, a blacksmith, and Marie-Françoise Derosier...
created commissions charged with controlling the internment camps and home confinements. The Red Cross was permitted to visit the camps. Tixier then stated in 30 August 1945 that although the war was not yet officially ended, further internments were prohibited except for cases of spying or major black marketeering. The 10 May 1946 Act fixed the legal date of the end of the war, and at the end of May 1946, all internment camps were cleared.
Trials
The first high official tried in the purge was Jean-Pierre Esteva, Resident General of France in Tunisia. He was sentenced to detention for life on 15 March 1945, avoiding capital punishment because the court recognised that he had assisted patriots in May 1943, just before quitting Tunisia. Ill, Esteva was pardoned on 11 August 1950 and died a few months later.The trial of Marshal 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...
began on 23 July 1945. Pétain's defense lawyer, Jacques Isorni, pointed out that the public prosecutor, André Mornet, had also been in charge of the failed Riom Trial
Riom Trial
The Riom Trial was an attempt by the Vichy France regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic had been responsible for France's defeat by Germany in 1940...
s organized by Pétain himself under the Vichy regime. This may not have impressed the judge, Pierre Mongibeaux, who had himself sworn allegiance to Petain in 1941. The 89-year-old Marshall was sentenced to death on 15 August, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He lived six more years, banished to the Île d'Yeu
Île d'Yeu
Île d'Yeu is an island and commune just off the Vendée coast of western France.The island's two harbours, Port-Joinville in the north and Port de la Meule, located in a rocky inlet of the southern granite coast, are famous for the fishing of tuna and lobster....
.
Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of...
, the French Prime Minister from July to December 1940 and from April 1942 to August 1944, had fled to Francoist Spain. Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, however, sent him back to Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
in Austria, which was part of the U.S. Occupation Zone. Laval was thereafter handed over to the French authorities, and his trial started on October 1945. In a hasty, rancorous trial, he was sentenced by an openly hostile jury to death on 9 October 1945, and executed a week later.
By 1 July 1949, the High Court had given out 108 sentences (106 of them concerned former ministers ):
- In eight cases, the defendants had died before their trials and judicial proceedings were stopped. For example, Jean BichelonneJean BichelonneJean Bichelonne was a French businessman and member of the Vichy government that existed during World War II following the occupation of France by Nazi Germany....
. - Three persons, including Marcel Peyrouton, were acquitted, and 42 were given non-lieux (similar to acquittals), including Jacques Le Roy Ladurie and Jérôme CarcopinoJérôme CarcopinoJérôme Carcopino was a French historian and author. He was the fifteen member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française in 1955.-Biography:...
, Minister of National EducationMinister of National Education (France)The Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sport , or simply "Minister of National Education," as the title has changed no small number of times in the course of the Fifth Republic) is the French government cabinet member charged with running France's public educational system and with the...
in François DarlanFrançois DarlanJean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French naval officer. His great-grandfather was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar...
's cabinet (1941–1942). - Eighteen were sentenced to deathCapital punishment in FranceCapital punishment was practiced in France from the Middle Ages until 1977, when the last execution took place by guillotine, being the only legal method since the French Revolution. The last person to be executed in France was Hamida Djandoubi, who was put to death in September 1977. The death...
, of whom only three were executed. They were Pierre Laval, MiliceMiliceThe Milice française , generally called simply Milice, was a paramilitary force created on January 30, 1943 by the Vichy Regime, with German aid, to help fight the French Resistance. The Milice's formal leader was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, though its chief of operations, and actual leader, was...
leader Joseph DarnandJoseph DarnandJoseph Darnand was a French soldier and later a leader of the Vichy French collaborators with Nazi Germany....
, and Fernand de BrinonFernand de BrinonFernand 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...
, representative of the Vichy government to the German High Command in Paris and state secretary. Five sentences were commuted, among them Pétain, Henri DentzHenri DentzHenri Fernand Dentz was an officer in the French Army and, after France surrendered during World War II, he served with the Vichy French Army.-Syria-Lebanon campaign:...
, commander of the Army of the LevantArmy of the LevantThe Army of the Levant identifies the armed forces of France and then Vichy France which occupied, and were in part recruited from, a portion of the "Levant" during the interwar period and early World War II.-Origins:...
, Raphaël AlibertRaphaël AlibertRaphaël Alibert was a French politician.-Politics:Raphael Alibert was an ardent Roman Catholic convert and someone with strong royalist ideas. One of the most intense followers of Charles Maurras, Alibert was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Action Française party...
, signatory of the first Statute on JewsStatute on JewsThe Statute on Jews was discriminatory legislation against French Jews passed on October 3, 1940 by the Vichy Regime, grouping them as a lower class and depriving them of citizenship before rounding them up at Drancy internment camp then taking them to be exterminated in concentration camps...
. Ten others were condemned to death in absentiaIn absentiaIn 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...
(including Louis Darquier de PellepoixLouis Darquier de PellepoixLouis Darquier, better known under his assumed name Louis Darquier de Pellepoix was Commissioner for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy Régime....
, Commissioner for Jewish Affairs). - Eight were sentenced to forced labour. They were Jacques ChevalierJacques ChevalierJacques Chevalier was a French philosopher.Chevalier was born in Cérilly, Allier, and taught at the Faculty of Letters in Grenoble. He was the author of many books, mainly about the history of philosophy....
, Minister Paul BaudoinPaul BaudoinPaul Baudouin was a French banker who became a politician.-Early years:Paul Baudouin was born into a wealthy family in Paris, and served as an artillery officer during The Great War in the French Army. In 1930 he became the Deputy Director and General Manager of the Bank of Indo-China...
, Charles Nogues, Minister Gabriel AuphanGabriel AuphanGabriel Paul Auphan was a French admiral, chief of cabinet of Admiral Darlan under Vichy France and later Secrétaire d'État à la marine of Vichy.- Early career :...
, Minister Hubert LagardelleHubert LagardelleHubert Lagardelle was a French syndicalist thinker, influenced by Proudhon and Georges Sorel. He gradually moved to the right and served as Minister of Labour in the Vichy regime under Pierre Laval from 1942 to 1943....
, and others. - Fourteen were given prison sentences, including Yves Bouthillier, André MarquisAndré MarquisAndré Marquis was a French Vichyst admiral, famous for the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon.Marquis was préfet maritime of Toulon, and as such, responsible for the administration of the city...
, préfet maritimePréfet MaritimeThe Préfet Maritime is a servant of the French State who exercises authority over the sea in one particular region . As a civil servant, he reports to the Prime Minister...
of Toulon, Bléhaut Henri, and others. Only one was a life sentence, given to Jean-Pierre Esteva. - Fifteen sentences of dégradation nationale were issued, including François PiétriFrançois PiétriFrançois Piétri was a minister in several governments in the later years of the French Third Republic and was French ambassador to Spain from 1940 to 1944 under the Vichy regime....
, Vichy ambassador to Spain, and Adrien MarquetAdrien MarquetAdrien Marquet was a socialist mayor of Bordeaux who turned to the far right.-Career:...
. Seven of those fifteen would be suspended for compensating "acts of Resistance", including Jean YbarnegarayJean YbarnegarayMichel Albert Jean Joseph Ybarnegaray was a French politician and founder of the International Association for Basque Pelota....
and André Parmentier.
Between 1954 and 1960, the High Court judged prisoners who had been sentenced in absentia or had been taken prisoner. More than a decade having passed, the court showed more leniency. For example, the General resident of Morocco, Charles Noguès, had been sentenced in absentia to 20 years of forced labour on 28 November 1947, but his indignité nationale was immediately suspended on 26 October 1956.
See also
- Raymond AbellioRaymond AbellioRaymond Abellio is the pseudonym of French writer Georges Soulès. He was born November 11, 1907 in Toulouse, and died August 26, 1986 in Nice.Abellio went to the Ecole Polytechnique and then took part in the X-Crise Group...
, condemned in absentia to 20 years of prison, granted amnesty in 1952 - Jacques de BernonvilleJacques de BernonvilleJacques Charles Noel Duge de Bernonville was a French collaborationist and senior police officer in the Vichy regime in France infamously known as the man who hunted down resistance fighters during World War II....
, sentenced to capital punishment in absentia - Abel BonnardAbel BonnardAbel Bonnard was a French poet, novelist and politician.-Biography:Born in Poitiers, Vienne, his early education was in Marseilles with secondary studies at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris...
, Minister of National Education under Vichy, condemned in absentia to death, granted political asylum by FrancoFrancisco FrancoFrancisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
. - René BousquetRené BousquetRené Bousquet was a high-ranking French civil servant, who served as secretary general to the Vichy regime police from May 1942 to 31 December 1943.-Biography:...
, granted amnesty (judged in the early 1980s, along with Jean LeguayJean LeguayJean Leguay was a high-ranking French civil servant complicit in the deportation of Jews from France.During the Vichy regime, Leguay was second-in-command to René Bousquet, general secretary of the National police in Paris. After the war he became president of Warner Lambert, Inc...
, for his role in the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of July 1942) - Robert BrasillachRobert BrasillachRobert Brasillach was a French author and journalist. Brasillach is best known as the editor of Je suis partout, a nationalist newspaper which came to advocate various fascist movements and supported Jacques Doriot...
, anti-Semitic journalist, executed in February 1945 - Marcel BucardMarcel BucardMarcel Bucard was a French Fascist politician.Early career=...
, leader of the Mouvement FrancisteMouvement FrancisteThe Mouvement Franciste was a French Fascist and Antisemitic league created by Marcel Bucard in September 1933; it edited the newspaper Le Francisme. Mouvement Franciste reached of membership of 10,000, and was financed by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini...
, executed in 1946 - Louis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-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...
, writer, convicted in absentia to one year of prison and dégradation nationale, then granted amnesty - Marcel DéatMarcel DéatMarcel Déat was a French Socialist until 1933, when he initiated a spin-off from the French Section of the Workers' International along with other right-wing 'Neosocialists'. He then founded the collaborationist National Popular Rally during the Vichy regime...
, founder of the National Popular RallyNational Popular RallyThe National Popular Rally was one of the main Collaborationist parties under the Vichy regime of World War II. It was created in February 1941 by Marcel Déat and was heavily inspired by Fascism.- February-October 1941: the RNP-MNR period :...
(RNP), sentenced to capital punishment in absentia - Émile DewoitineÉmile DewoitineÉmile Dewoitine was a French aviation industrialist.- Prewar industrial activities :Born in Crépy-en-Laonnois, Émile Dewoitine entered the aviation industry by working at Latécoère during Word War I...
, condemned in absentia, fled to Argentina - Roland GaucherRoland GaucherRoland Gaucher was the pseudonym of Roland Goguillot, a French far-right journalist and politician. One of the main thinkers of the French far-right, he had participated in Marcel Déat's fascist party Rassemblement National Populaire under the Vichy regime...
, condemned to five years of prison - Yann GouletYann GouletYann 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...
, sentenced to death in absentia, fled to the Republic of IrelandRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and became an Irish citizen in 1952 - Roparz HemonRoparz HemonRoparz 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...
, imprisoned for one year and given a ten years indignité nationale sentence - Alan HeusaffAlan HeusaffAlan Heusaff, also Alan Heussaff was a Breton nationalist, linguist, dictionary compiler, prolific journalist and lifetime campaigner for solidarity between the Celtic peoples...
, sentenced to death in absentia, fled to the Republic of IrelandRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and was amnestied in 1967 - Jean Hérold-PaquisJean Hérold-PaquisJean Auguste Hérold, better known as Jean Hérold-Paquis , was a French journalist who fought for Franco and the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. In 1940 he was appointed as Delegate for Propaganda in the Hautes-Alpes department by the Vichy authorities...
, broadcaster on Radio ParisRadio ParisRadio Paris was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in Vichy France during World War II.Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called Radiola, founded by pioneering French engineer Émile Girardeau in 1922...
, executed - Etienne LéandriEtienne LéandriÉtienne Léandri was an intermediary close to Charles Pasqua. He took part in the negotiations concerning many important international contracts, and represented, among others, the interests of Elf, Thomson CSF and Dumez.-Inventor:...
, fought under the uniform of the GestapoGestapoThe 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...
, but was not judged - Charles MaurrasCharles MaurrasCharles-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...
, given a life sentence in January 1945, released in 1952 for health reasons - Maurice PaponMaurice PaponMaurice Papon was a French civil servant, industrial leader and Gaullist politician, who was convicted for crimes against humanity for his participation in the deportation of over 1600 Jews during World War II when he was secretary general for police of the Prefecture of Bordeaux.Papon also...
, police administrator, escaped judgment by a CDL, finally found guilty of crimes against humanity in the 1990s - Henri-Robert PetitHenri-Robert PetitHenri Petit was a French journalist, Collaborationist under the Vichy regime and far-right activist....
, former editor-in-chief of the Collaborationist newspaper Le Pilori, condemned in November 1947 in absentia to 20 years of prison and dégradation nationale. Granted amnesty in 1959 - Lucien RebatetLucien RebatetLucien Rebatet was a French author, journalist and intellectual, an exponent of fascism and virulent antisemite.-Early life:...
, sentenced to capital punishment in 1946, commuted to forced labour in 1947, amnestied in 1952 - Paul TouvierPaul TouvierPaul Touvier was a French Nazi collaborator. In 1994, he was the first Frenchman convicted of crimes against humanity for his actions in Vichy France.- Early life :...
, sentenced to capital punishment in absentia, arrested in 1989 and judged for crimes against humanity - Xavier VallatXavier VallatXavier Vallat , French politician, was Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in the wartime Vichy collaborationist government, and was sentenced after World War II to ten years in prison for his part in the persecution of French Jews.- Until World War II :Vallat was born in the department of...
, granted amnesty