70
years ago on this date, the former premier of Vichy
France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason. I will post
information about this Nazi Collaborator from Wikipedia and other links.
Pierre Laval
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101st
Prime Minister of France
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In
office
27 January 1931 – 20 February 1932 |
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President
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Preceded by
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Succeeded by
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112th
Prime Minister of France
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In
office
7 June 1935 – 24 January 1936 |
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Preceded by
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Succeeded by
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120th
Prime Minister of France
(as Vice-President of the Council) Head of State and nominal Head of Government: Philippe Pétain |
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In
office
11 July 1940 – 13 December 1940 |
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Preceded by
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Succeeded by
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123rd
Prime Minister of France
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In
office
18 April 1942 – 20 August 1944 |
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Preceded by
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Succeeded by
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Personal
details
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Born
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Died
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Political
party
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None
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Religion
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Roman Catholic
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Pierre Laval
(French
pronunciation: [pjɛʁ
laval]; 28 June
1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the time of the Third
Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 and 20
February 1932, and also headed another government from 7 June 1935 to 24 January
1936.
Laval
began his career as a socialist, but over time drifted far to the right.
Following France's surrender and armistice with Germany in 1940, he also served
in the Vichy Regime. He served in a prominent role under Philippe Pétain as the
vice-president of Vichy's Council of Ministers from 11 July 1940 to 13 December
1940, and later as the head of government from 18 April 1942 to 20 August 1944.
After
the liberation of France in 1944, Laval was arrested by the French government
under General Charles de Gaulle. In what some historians consider a flawed
trial, Laval was found guilty of high treason, and after a thwarted suicide
attempt, he was executed by firing squad. His manifold political activities
have left behind a complicated and controversial legacy, and more than a dozen
biographies have been written about him.
Early
life
Laval
was born 28 June 1883 at Châteldon, Puy-de-Dôme, in the northern part of Auvergne. His father worked in the village as a
café proprietor, butcher and postman; he also owned a vineyard and horses.
Laval was educated at the village school in Châteldon. At age 15, he was sent
to a Paris lycée
to study for his baccalauréat. Returning south to Lyon, he spent the
next year reading for a degree in zoology.
Laval
joined the Socialists in 1903, when he was living in Saint-Étienne,
62 km southwest of Lyon.
"I was never a very orthodox socialist", he said in 1945, "by which I mean that I was never much of a Marxist. My socialism was much more a socialism of the heart than a doctrinal socialism... I was much more interested in men, their jobs, their misfortunes and their conflicts than in the digressions of the great German pontiff."
Laval
returned to Paris in 1907 at the age of 24. He was called up for military
service and, after serving in the
ranks, was discharged for varicose
veins. In April 1913 he said: "Barrack-based armies are incapable of
the slightest effort, because they are badly-trained and, above all, badly
commanded." He favoured abolition of the army and replacement by a citizens'
militia.
During
this period, Laval became familiar with the left-wing doctrines of Georges
Sorel and Hubert Lagardelle. In 1909, he turned to the law.
Marriage
and family
Shortly
after becoming a member of the Paris bar, he
married the daughter of a Dr Claussat and set up a home in Paris with his new
wife. Their only child, a daughter, was born in 1911. Although Laval's wife
came from a political family, she never participated in politics. Laval was
generally considered to be devoted to his family.
Before
the war
The
years before the First World War were characterised by labour unrest, and Laval
defended strikers, trade unionists, and left-wing agitators against government
attempts to prosecute them. At a trade union conference, Laval said:
I am a comrade among comrades, a worker among workers. I am not one of those lawyers who are mindful of their bourgeois origin even when attempting to deny it. I am not one of those high-brow attorneys who engage in academic controversies and pose as intellectuals. I am proud to be what I am. A lawyer in the service of manual laborers who are my comrades, a worker like them, I am their brother. Comrades, I am a manual lawyer.
During
the First World War
Socialist
Deputy for the Seine
In
April 1914, as fear of war swept the nation, the Socialists and Radicals geared up their electoral campaign
in defence of peace. Their leaders were Jean
Jaurès and Joseph Caillaux. The Bloc des Gauches (Leftist
Bloc) denounced the law passed in July 1913 extending compulsory military service from two to
three years. The Confédération générale du travail
trade union sought Laval as Socialist candidate for the Seine, the district
comprising Paris and its suburbs. He won. The Radicals, with the support of Socialists,
held the majority in the French Chamber of Deputies. Together
they hoped to avert war. The assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914 and of Jaurès on 31
July 1914 shattered those hopes. Laval's brother, Jean, died in the first
months of the war.
Laval
and 2,000 others were listed by the military in the Carnet B, a
compilation of potentially subversive elements who might hinder mobilisation.
In the name of national unity, Minister of the Interior Jean-Louis
Malvy, despite pressure from chiefs of staff, refused to have anyone
apprehended. Laval remained true to his pacifist
convictions during the war. In December 1915, Jean
Longuet, grandson of Karl Marx, proposed to Socialist parliamentarians that
they communicate with socialists of other states, hoping to press governments
into a negotiated peace. Laval signed on, but the motion was defeated.
With
France's resources geared for war, goods were scarce or overpriced. On 30
January 1917, in the National Assembly Laval called upon the Supply Minister Édouard Herriot to deal with the inadequate coal
supply in Paris. When Herriot said, "If I could, I would unload the barges
myself", Laval retorted "Do not add ridicule to ineptitude." The
words delighted the assembly and attracted the attention of George
Clemenceau, but left the relationship between Laval and Herriot permanently
strained.
Stockholm,
the "polar star"
Laval
scorned the conduct of the war and the poor supply of troops in the field. When
mutinies broke out after General Robert
Nivelle's offensive of April 1917 at Chemin
des Dames, he spoke in defence of the mutineers. When Marcel
Cachin and Marius Moutet returned from St.
Petersburg in June 1917 with the invitation to a socialist convention in Stockholm,
Laval saw a chance for peace. In an address to the Assembly, he urged the chamber
to allow a delegation to go: "Yes, Stockholm, in response to the call of
the Russian Revolution.... Yes, Stockholm, for peace.... Yes, Stockholm the
polar star." The request was denied.
The
hope of peace in spring 1917 was overwhelmed by discovery of traitors, some
real, some imagined, as with Malvy. Because he had refused to arrest Frenchmen
on the Carnet B, Malvy became a suspect. Laval's "Stockholm, étoile
polaire" speech had not been forgotten. Many of Laval's acquaintances, the
publishers of the anarchist Bonnet rouge, and other pacifists were
arrested or interrogated. Though Laval frequented pacifist circles – it was
said that he was acquainted with Leon
Trotsky – the authorities did not pursue him. His status as a deputy, his
caution, and his friendships protected him. In November 1917, Clemenceau
offered him a post in government, but the Socialist Party had by then refused
to enter any government. Laval toed the party line, but he questioned the
wisdom of such a policy in a meeting of the Socialist members of parliament.
Initial
postwar career
From
Socialist to Independent
In
1919 a conservative wave swept the Bloc National into control. Laval was not
re-elected. The Socialists' record of pacifism, their opposition to Clemenceau,
and anxiety arising from the excesses of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia contributed to
their defeat.
The
General Confederation of
Labour (CGT), with 2,400,000 members, launched a general strike in 1920,
which petered out as thousands of workers were laid off. In response, the
government sought to dissolve the CGT. Laval, with Joseph Paul-Boncour as chief counsel, defended
the union's leaders, saving the union by appealing to the ministers Théodore
Steeg (interior) and Auguste Isaac (commerce and industry).
Laval's
relations with the Socialist Party drew to an end. The last years with the
Socialist caucus in the chamber combined with the party's disciplinary policies
eroded Laval's attachment to the cause. With the Bolshevik victory in Russia
the party was changing; at the Congress
of Tours in December 1920, the Socialists split into two ideological
components: the French Communist Party (SFIC later PCF),
inspired by Moscow, and the more moderate French Section of the
Workers' International (SFIO). Laval let his membership lapse, not taking
sides as the two factions battled over the legacy of Jean
Jaurès.
Mayor
of Aubervilliers
In
1923 Aubervilliers in northern Paris needed a mayor. As a former deputy of the
constituency, Laval was an obvious candidate. To be eligible for election,
Laval bought farmland, Les Bergeries. Few were aware of his defection from the
Socialists. Laval was also asked by the local SFIO and Communist Party to head
their lists. Laval chose to run under his own list, of former socialists he
convinced to leave the party and work for him. This was an independent
Socialist Party of sorts that existed only in Aubervilliers. In a four-way
race, Laval won in the second round. He served as mayor of Aubervilliers until
just before his death.
Laval
won over those he defeated by cultivating personal contacts. He developed a
network among the humble and the well-to-do in Aubervilliers, and with mayors
of neighbouring towns. He was the only independent politician in the suburb. He
avoided entering the ideological war between socialists and communists.
Independent
Deputy for the Seine
In
the 1924 legislative elections, the SFIO and the Radicals formed a national
coalition known as the Cartel des Gauches. Laval headed a list of
independent socialists in the Seine. The cartel won and Laval regained a seat
in the National Assembly. His first act was to bring back Joseph
Caillaux, former Prime Minister, Cabinet member and member of the National
Assembly and once the star of the Radical Party. Clemenceau had had Caillaux
arrested toward the end of the war for collusion with the enemy. He spent two
years in prison and lost his civic rights. Laval stood for Caillaux's pardon
and won. Caillaux became an influential patron.
As
a member of the government
Minister
and senator
Laval's
reward for support of the cartel was appointment as Minister of Public Works in the
government of Paul Painlevé in April 1925. Six months later, the
government collapsed. Laval from then on belonged to the club of former ministers
from which new ministers were drawn. Between 1925 and 1926 Laval participated
three more times in governments of Aristide
Briand, once as under-secretary to the premier and twice as Minister of
Justice (garde des sceaux). When he first became Minister of Justice,
Laval abandoned his law practice to avoid conflict of interest.
Laval's
momentum was frozen after 1926 through a reshuffling of the cartel majority
orchestrated by the Radical-Socialist mayor and deputy of Lyon, Édouard Herriot. Founded in 1901, the Radical Party became the hinge faction of
the Third Republic. Its support or defection often meant survival or collapse
of governments. Through this latest swing, Laval was excluded from the
direction of France for four years. Author Gaston Jacquemin suggested that
Laval chose not to partake in a Herriot government, which he judged incapable
of handling the financial crisis. 1926 marked the definitive break between
Laval and the left, but he maintained friends on the left.
In
1927 Laval was elected Senator for the Seine, withdrawing from and placing
himself above the political battles for majorities in the National Assembly. He
longed for a constitutional reform to strengthen the executive branch and
eliminate political instability, the flaw of the Third Republic.
On
2 March 1930 Laval returned as Minister of Labour in the second André
Tardieu government. Tardieu and Laval knew each other from the days of
Clemenceau, which developed into mutual appreciation. Tardieu needed men he
could trust: his previous government had collapsed a little over a week earlier
because of the defection of the minister of Labor, Louis
Loucheur. But, when the Radical Socialist Camille
Chautemps failed to form a viable government, Tardieu was called back.
Personal
investments
From
1927 to 1930, Laval began to accumulate a sizeable personal fortune; after the
war his wealth resulted in charges that he had used his political position to
line his own pockets. "I have always thought", he wrote to the
examining magistrate on 11 September 1945, "that a soundly based material
independence, if not indispensable, gives those statesmen who possess it a much
greater political independence." Until 1927 his principal source of income
had been his fees as a lawyer and in that year they totalled 113,350 francs,
according to his income tax returns. Between August 1927 and June 1930, he
undertook large-scale investments in various enterprises, totalling 51 million
francs. Not all this money was his own; it came from a group of financiers who
had the backing of an investment trust, the Union Syndicale et Financière and
two banks, the Comptoir Lyon Allemand and the Banque Nationale de Crédit.
Two
of the investments which Laval and his backers acquired were provincial
newspapers, Le Moniteur du Puy-de-Dôme and its associated printing works
at Clermont-Ferrand, and the Lyon Républicain.
The circulation of the Moniteur stood at 27,000 in 1926 before Laval
took it over. By 1933, it had more than doubled to 58,250. Thereafter
circulation declined and never surpassed this peak. Profits varied, but during
the seventeen years of his control, Laval earned some 39 million francs in
income from the paper and the printing works combined. The renewed plant was
valued at 50 million francs, which led the high court expert in 1945 to
say with some justification that it had been "an excellent deal for
him."
Minister
of Labour and Social Insurance
More
than 150,000 textile workers were on strike, and violence was feared. As
Minister of Public Works in 1925, Laval had ended the strike of mine workers.
Tardieu hoped he could do the same as Minister of Labour. The conflict was
settled without bloodshed. Socialist politician Léon Blum,
never one of Laval's allies, conceded that Laval's "intervention was
skillful, opportune and decisive."
Social
insurance had been on the agenda for ten years. It had passed the Chamber of
Deputies, but not the Senate, in 1928. Tardieu gave Laval until May Day to get
the project through. The date was chosen to stifle the agitation of Labour Day.
Laval's first effort went into clarifying the muddled collection of texts. He
then consulted employer and labour organisations. Laval had to reconcile the
divergent views of Chamber and Senate. "Had it not been for Laval's
unwearying patience", Laval's associate Tissier wrote, "an agreement
would never have been achieved", In two months Laval presented the
Assembly a text which overcame its original failure. It met the financial
constraints, reduced the control of the government, and preserved the choice of
doctors and their billing freedom. The Chamber and the Senate passed the law
with an overwhelming majority.
When
the bill had passed its final stages, Tardieu described his Minister of Labour
as "displaying at every moment of the discussion as much tenacity as
restraint and ingenuity."
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Premier Laval is second from left, at a 1931
diplomatic function in Germany
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First
Laval government
Tardieu's
government ultimately proved unable to weather the Oustric
Affair. After the failure of the Oustric Bank, it appeared that members of
the government had improper ties to it. The scandal involved Minister of Justice Raoul
Péret, and Under-Secretaries Henri Falcoz and Eugène Lautier.
Though Tardieu was not involved, on 4 December 1930, he lost his majority in
the Senate. President Gaston Doumergue called on Louis
Barthou to form a government, but Barthou failed. Doumergue turned to
Laval, who fared no better. The following month the government formed by Théodore
Steeg floundered. Doumergue renewed his offer to Laval. On 27 January 1931
Laval successfully formed his first government.
In
the words of Léon Blum, the Socialist opposition was amazed and
disappointed that the ghost of Tardieu's government reappeared within a few
weeks of being defeated with Laval at its head, "like a night bird
surprised by the light." Laval's nomination as premier led to speculation
that Tardieu, the new agriculture minister, held the real power in the Laval
Government. Although Laval thought highly of Tardieu and Briand, and applied
policies in line with theirs, Laval was not Tardieu's mouthpiece. Ministers who
formed the Laval government were in great part those who had formed Tardieu
governments but that was a function of the composite majority Laval could find
at the National Assembly. Raymond Poincaré, Aristide
Briand and Tardieu before him had offered ministerial posts to Herriot's
Radicals, but to no avail.
Besides
Briand, André Maginot, Pierre-Étienne Flandin, Paul
Reynaud, Laval brought in as his advisors, friends such as Maurice Foulon
from Aubervilliers, and Pierre Cathala, whom he knew from his days in Bayonne and who
had worked in Laval's Labour ministry. Cathala began as Under-Secretary of the
Interior and was appointed as Minister of the Interior in January 1932. Blaise
Diagne of Senegal,
the first African deputy, had been elected to the National Assembly at the same
time as Laval in 1914. Laval invited Diagne to join his cabinet as
under-secretary to the colonies; he was the first Black African appointed to a
cabinet position in a French government. Laval also called on financial experts
such as Jacques Rueff, Charles Rist and Adéodat Boissard. André François-Poncet was appointed as
under-secretary to the premier and then as ambassador to Germany. Laval's
government included an economist, Claude-Joseph Gignoux, when economists in
government service were rare.
France
in 1931 was unaffected by the world economic crisis. Laval declared on
embarking for the United States on 16 October 1931, "France remained
healthy thanks to work and savings." Agriculture, small industry, and
protectionism were the bases of France's economy. With a conservative policy of
contained wages and limited social services, France had accumulated the largest
gold
reserves in the world after the United States. France reaped the benefit of
devaluation
of the franc orchestrated by Poincaré, which made French products competitive
on the world market. In the whole of France, 12,000 people were recorded as
unemployed.
Laval
and his cabinet considered the economy and gold reserves as means to diplomatic
ends. Laval left to visit London, Berlin and Washington.
He attended conferences on the world crisis, war
reparations and debt, disarmament, and the gold
standard.
Role
in 1931 Austrian financial crisis
In
1931, Austria underwent a banking crisis when its largest bank, the Creditanstalt,
was revealed to be nearly bankrupt, threatening a worldwide financial crisis.
World leaders began negotiating the terms for an international loan to
Austria's central government to sustain its financial system; however, Laval
blocked the proposed package for nationalistic reasons. He demanded that France
receive a series of diplomatic concessions in exchange for its support,
including renunciation of a prospective German-Austrian customs union. This
proved to be fatal for the negotiations, which ultimately fell through. As a
result, the Creditanstalt declared bankruptcy on 11 May 1931, precipitating a
crisis that quickly spread to other nations. Within four days, bank runs in
Budapest were underway, and the bank failures began spreading to Germany and
Britain, among others.
Hoover
Moratorium (20 June 1931)
The
Hoover Moratorium of 1931, a proposal made by American
President Herbert Hoover to freeze all intergovernmental debt
for a one-year period, was, according to author and political advisor McGeorge
Bundy, "the most significant action taken by an American president for
Europe since Woodrow Wilson's administration." The United
States had enormous stakes in Germany: long-term German borrowers owed the
United States private sector more than $1.25 billion; the short-term debt
neared $1 billion. By comparison, the entire United States national
income in 1931 was just $54 billion. To put it into perspective,
authors Walter Lippmann and William O. Scroggs stated in The
United States in World Affairs, An Account of American Foreign Relations,
that "the American stake in Germany's government and private obligations
was equal to half that of all the rest of the world combined."
The
proposed moratorium would also benefit Great Britain's investment in Germany's
private sector, making more likely the repayment of those loans while the
public indebtedness was frozen. It was in Hoover's interest to offer aid to an
ailing British economy in the light of the indebtedness of Great Britain to the
United States. France, on the other hand, had a relatively small stake in
Germany's private debt but a huge interest in German reparations; and payment to France
would be compromised under Hoover's moratorium.
The
scheme was further complicated by ill timing, perceived collusion among the US,
Great Britain and Germany, and the fact that it constituted a breach of the Young Plan.
Such breach could only be approved in France by the National Assembly; the
survival of the Laval Government rested on the legislative body's approval of
the moratorium. Seventeen days elapsed between the proposal and the vote of
confidence of the French legislators. That delay was blamed for the lack of
success of the Hoover Moratorium. The US Congress did not approve it until
December 1931.
In
support of the Hoover Moratorium Laval undertook a year of personal and direct
diplomacy by which he traveled to London, Berlin and the United States. While
he had considerable domestic achievements, his international efforts were short
in results. British Premier Ramsay
MacDonald and Foreign Secretary Arthur Anderson—preoccupied by
internal political divisions and the collapse of the pound
sterling—were unable to help. German
Chancellor Heinrich Brüning and Foreign Minister Julius
Curtius, both eager for Franco-German reconciliation, were under
siege on all quarters: they faced a very weak economy which made meeting
government payroll a weekly miracle. Private bankruptcies and constant layoffs
had the communists on a short fuse. On the other end of the political spectrum,
the German
Army was spying on the Brüning cabinet and feeding information to the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten
and the National
Socialists, effectively freezing any overtures towards France.
In
the United States the conference between Hoover and Laval was an exercise in
mutual frustration. Hoover's plan for a reduced military had been
rebuffed—albeit gently. A solution to the Danzig
corridor had been retracted. The concept of introducing silver
standard for the countries that went off the gold standard was disregarded
as a frivolous proposal by Laval and Albert-Buisson. Hoover thought it might
have helped "Mexico,
India,
China and South
America", but Laval dismissed the silver solution as an inflationary
proposition, adding that "it was cheaper to inflate paper."
Laval
did not get a security pact, without which the French would never consider
disarmament, nor did he obtain an endorsement for the political moratorium. The
promise to match any reduction of German reparations with a decrease of the
French debt was not put in the communiqué. The joint statement declared the
attachment of France and the United States to the gold standard. The two
governments also agreed that the Banque
de France and the Federal Reserve would consult each other before
transfers of gold. This was welcome news after the run on American gold in the
preceding weeks. In light of the financial crisis, the leaders agreed to review
the economic situation of Germany before the Hoover moratorium ran its course.
These
were meagre political results. The Hoover–Laval encounter, however, had other
effects, as it made Laval more widely known and raised his standing in the
United States and France. The American and French press were smitten with
Laval. His optimism was such a contrast to his grim-sounding international
contemporaries that Time
magazine named his as the 1931 Man of the Year, an honour never
bestowed before on a Frenchman. He followed Mohandas K. Gandhi and preceded Franklin D. Roosevelt in receiving that
honor.
1934–36
The
second Cartel des Gauches (Left-Wing Cartel) was driven
from power by the riots of 6 February 1934, staged by fascist,
monarchist, and other far-right groups. (These groups had contacts with
some conservative politicians, among whom were Laval and Marshal Philippe Pétain.) Laval became Minister of Colonies in the new
right-wing government of Gaston
Doumergue. In October, Foreign Minister Louis
Barthou was assassinated; Laval succeeded him, holding that office until
1936.
At
this time, Laval was opposed to Germany, the "hereditary enemy" of
France. He pursued anti-German alliances with Benito
Mussolini's Italy and Joseph Stalin's Soviet
Union. He met with Mussolini in Rome, and they signed the Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935 on 4
January. The agreement ceded parts of French
Somaliland to Italy and allowed Italy a free hand in Abyssinia, in exchange
for support against any German aggression. Laval denied that he gave Mussolini
a free hand in Abyssinia, he even wrote to Mussolini on the subject. In April
1935, Laval persuaded Italy and Great Britain to join France in the Stresa
Front against German ambitions in Austria.
Laval's
primary aim during the build-up to the Italo-Abyssinian War was to retain Italy
as an anti-German power and not to drive Italy into Germany's hands by adopting
a hostile attitude to its invasion of Abyssinia. According to the English
historian Correlli Barnett, in Laval's view "all that
really mattered was Nazi Germany. His eyes were on the demilitarised zone of
the Rhineland; his thoughts on the Locarno guarantees. To estrange Italy, one
of the Locarno powers, over such a question as Abyssinia did not appeal to
Laval's Auvergnat peasant mind".
In
June 1935, he became Prime Minister as well. In October 1935, Laval and British
foreign minister Samuel Hoare proposed a
"realpolitik"
solution to the Abyssinia Crisis. When leaked to the media in
December, the Hoare–Laval Pact was widely denounced as
appeasement to Mussolini. Laval was forced to resign on 22 January 1936, and
was driven completely out of ministerial politics.
The
victory of the Popular Front in 1936 meant that Laval had a
left-wing government as a target for his media.
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Occupation zones of France during the Second
World War
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Under
Vichy France
Formation
of the Vichy Government
During
the phoney
war, Laval's attitude towards the conflict reflected a cautious
ambivalence. He was on record as saying that although the war could have been
avoided by diplomatic means, it was now up to the government to prosecute it
with the utmost vigor.
On
9 June 1940, the Germans were advancing on a front of more than 250 kilometres
(160 mi) in length across the entire width of France. As far as General Maxime
Weygand was concerned, "if the Germans crossed the Seine and the
Marne, it was the end."
Simultaneously,
Marshal Philippe Pétain was increasing the pressure upon
Prime Minister Paul Reynaud to call for an armistice. During this
time Laval was in Châteldon. On 10 June, in view of the German advance, the
government left Paris for Tours. Weygand had informed Reynaud: "the final
rupture of our lines may take place at any time." If that happened
"our forces would continue to fight until their strength and resources
were extinguished. But their disintegration would be no more than a matter of
time."
Weygand
had avoided using the word armistice, but it was on the minds of all those
involved. Only Reynaud was in opposition. During this time Laval had left
Châteldon for Bordeaux,
where his daughter nearly convinced him of the necessity of going to the United
States. Instead, it was reported that he was sending "messengers and
messengers" to Pétain.
As
the Germans occupied Paris, Pétain was asked to form a new government. To
everyone's surprise, he produced a list of his ministers, convincing proof that
he had been expecting the president's summons and he had prepared for it.
Laval's name was on the list as Minister of Justice. When informed of his proposed
appointment, Laval's temper and ambitions became apparent as he ferociously
demanded of Pétain, despite the objections of more experienced men of
government, that he be made Minister of Foreign Affairs. Laval realised that
only through this position could he effect a reversal of alliances and bring
himself to favour with Nazi Germany, the military power he viewed as the
inevitable victor. In the face of Laval's wrath, dissenting voices acquiesced
and Laval became Minister of Foreign Affairs.
One
result of these events was that Laval was later able to claim that he was not
part of the government that requested the armistice. His name did not appear in
the chronicles of events until June when he began to assume a more active role
in criticising the government's decision to leave France for North Africa.
Although
the final terms of the armistice were harsh, the French colonial empire was
left untouched and the French government was allowed to administer the occupied
and unoccupied zones. The concept of "collaboration" was written into
the Armistice Convention, before Laval joined the government. The French
representatives who affixed their signatures to the text accepted the term.
Article III. In the occupied areas of France, the German Reich is to exercise all the rights of an occupying power. The French government promises to facilitate by all possible means the regulations relative to the exercise of this right, and to carry out these regulations with the participation of the French administration. The French government will immediately order all the French authorities and administrative services in the occupied zone to follow the regulations of the German military authorities and to collaborate with the latter in a correct manner.
Laval
in the Vichy government, 1940–1941
When
Laval was included in Pétain's cabinet as minister of state, he began the work
for which he would be remembered: the emulation of the totalitarian regime of
Germany, the taking up of the cause of fascism, the destruction of democracy,
and the dismantling of the Third Republic.
In
October 1940, Laval understood collaboration more or less in the same sense as
Pétain. For both, to collaborate meant to give up the least possible to get the
most. Laval, in his role of go-between, was forced to be in constant touch with
the German authorities, to shift ground, to be wily, to plan ahead. All this,
under the circumstances, drew more attention to him than to the Marshal and
made him appear to many Frenchmen as "the agent of collaboration"; to
others, he was "the Germans' man".
The
meetings between Pétain and Adolf Hitler, and between Laval and Hitler, are often
used as showing the collaboration of the French leaders and the Nazis. In fact
the results of Montoire
(24–26 October) were a disappointment for both sides. Hitler wanted France to
declare war on the British, and the French wanted improved relations with her
conqueror. Neither happened. Virtually the only concession the French obtained
was the so-called 'Berlin protocol' of 16 November, which provided release of
certain categories of French prisoners
of war.
In
November, Laval made a number of pro-German actions on his own, without
consulting with his colleagues. The most notorious examples concerned turning
over to the Germans the RTB Bor copper mines and the Belgian gold reserves. His
post-war justification, apart from a denial that he acted unilaterally, was
that the French were powerless to prevent the Germans from gaining something
they were clearly so eager to obtain.
These
actions by Laval were a factor in his dismissal on 13 December, when Pétain
asked all the ministers to sign a collective letter of resignation during a
full cabinet meeting. Laval did so thinking it was a device to get rid of M.
Belin, the Minister of Labor. He was therefore stunned when the Marshal
announced, "the resignations of MM. Laval and Ripert are accepted."
That
evening, Laval was arrested and driven by the police to his home in Châteldon.
The following day, Pétain announced his decision to remove Laval from the
government. The reason for Laval's dismissal lies in the fundamental
incompatibility between him and Pétain. Laval's methods of working appeared
slovenly to the Marshal's precise military mind, and he showed a marked lack of
deference, instanced by his habit of blowing cigarette smoke in Pétain's face.
By doing so he aroused not only Pétain's anger, but that of his cabinet
colleagues as well.
On
27 August 1941, several top Vichyites including Laval attended a review of the Légion des Volontaires Français
(LVF), a collaborationist militia. Paul Collette, a disgruntled
ex-member of the Croix-de-Feu, attacked the reviewing stand; he shot
and wounded Laval (and also Marcel
Déat, another prominent collaborationist). Laval soon recovered from the
injury.
 |
|
The prime minister of France from 1931-1944
and axis collaborator Pierre Laval, from the film Divide and Conquer (the film
is in the Public Domain)
|
Return
to power, 1942
Laval
returned to power in April 1942. Laval had been in power for a mere two months
when he was faced with the decision of providing forced workers to Germany.
Germany was short of skilled labour due to its need for troop replacements on
the Russian front. Unlike the other occupied countries, France was technically
protected by the armistice, and her workers could not be simply rounded up and
transported to Germany. However, in the occupied zone, the Germans used
intimidation and control of raw materials to create unemployment and thus
reasons for French labourers to volunteer to work in Germany. German officials
demanded from Laval that more than 300,000 skilled workers should be
immediately sent to factories in Germany. Laval delayed and then countered by
offering to send one worker for the return of one French soldier being held
captive in Germany. The proposal was sent to Hitler, with a compromise being
reached; one prisoner of war to be repatriated for every three workers arriving
in Germany.
The
role of Laval in the deportation of Jews to death camps has been hotly debated
by both his accusers and defenders. When ordered to have all Jews in France
rounded up to be transported to German-occupied Poland, Laval negotiated a
compromise. He allowed only those Jews who were not French citizens to be
forfeited to the control of Germany. It has been estimated that by the end of
the war, the Germans had killed 90 percent of the Jewish population of the
other occupied countries, but in France fifty per cent of the pre-war French
and foreign Jewish population, with perhaps ninety per cent of the purely
French Jewish population still remaining alive. Laval went beyond the orders
given to him by the Germans, as he included Jewish children under 16 in the
deportations. The Germans had given him permission to spare children under 16.
In his book Churches and the Holocaust, Mordecai Paldiel claims that
when Protestant leader Martin Boegner visited Laval to remonstrate, Laval
claimed that he had ordered children to be deported along with their parents
because families should not be separated and "children should remain with their
parents". According to Paldiel, when Boegner argued that the children
would almost certainly die, Laval replied "not one [Jewish child] must
remain in France". Yet, Sarah Fishman (in a reliably sourced book, but
lacking citations) claims that Laval also attempted to prevent Jewish children
gaining visas to America, arranged by the American Friends Service Committee.
Fishman asserts Laval was not so much committed to expelling Jewish children
from France, as making sure they reached Nazi camps.
More
and more the insoluble dilemma of collaboration faced Laval and his chief of
staff, Jean Jardin. Laval had to maintain Vichy's authority to prevent Germany
from installing a Quisling Government made up of French Nazis such as Jacques
Doriot.
1943–1945
In 1943,
Laval became the nominal leader of the newly created Milice, though its
operational leader was Secretary General Joseph
Darnand.
When
Operation
Torch, the landings of Allied forces in North Africa, began, Germany
occupied all of France. Hitler continued to ask whether the French government
was prepared to fight at his side, wanting Vichy to declare war against
Britain. Laval and Pétain agreed to maintain a firm refusal. During this time
and the Normandy landings in 1944, Laval was in a
struggle against ultra-collaborationist ministers.
In a
speech broadcast on the Normandy landings' D-day, he appealed to the nation:
You are not in the war. You must not take part in the fighting. If you do not observe this rule, if you show proof of indiscipline, you will provoke reprisals the harshness of which the government would be powerless to moderate. You would suffer, both physically and materially, and you would add to your country's misfortunes. You will refuse to heed the insidious appeals, which will be addressed to you. Those who ask you to stop work or invite you to revolt are the enemies of our country. You will refuse to aggravate the foreign war on our soil with the horror of civil war.... At this moment fraught with drama, when the war has been carried on to our territory, show by your worthy and disciplined attitude that you are thinking of France and only of her."
A
few months later, he was arrested by the Germans and transported to Belfort. In view
of the speed of the Allied advance, on 7 September 1944 what was left of the
Vichy government was moved from Belfort to the Sigmaringen
enclave in Germany. Pétain took residence at the Hohenzollern castle in
Sigmaringen. At first Laval also resided in this castle. In January 1945 Laval
was assigned to the Stauffenberg castle of Ernst Juenger/Wilflingen
12 km outside the Sigmaringen enclave. By April 1945 US General George
S. Patton's army approached Sigmaringen, so the Vichy ministers were forced
to seek their own refuge. Laval received permission to enter Spain and was
flown to Barcelona by a German air force plane. With a lot of pressure from
General de Gaulle, the Spanish government sent Laval via the same German plane
90 days later to the American-occupied zone of Austria. The United States
authorities immediately took Laval and his wife into custody, and turned them
over to the Free French. They were flown to Paris to be imprisoned
at Fresnes, Val-de-Marne. Madame Laval was later
released; Pierre Laval remained in prison to be tried as a traitor.
 |
| Laval with the head of German police units in France, Carl Oberg |
Trial
and execution
Two
trials were to be held. Although it had its faults, the Pétain trial permitted
the presentation and examination of a vast amount of pertinent material.
Scholars including Robert Paxton and Geoffrey Warner believe that
Laval's trial demonstrated the inadequacies of the judicial system and the
poisonous political atmosphere of that purge-trial era.
During
his imprisonment pending the verdict of his treason trial, Laval wrote his only
book, his posthumously published Diary (1948). His daughter, Josée de
Chambrun, smuggled it out of the prison page by page.
Laval
firmly believed that he would be able to convince his fellow-countrymen that he
had been acting in their best interests all along. "Father-in-law wants a
big trial which will illuminate everything", René de Chambrun told Laval's lawyers: "If he
is given time to prepare his defence, if he is allowed to speak, to call
witnesses and to obtain from abroad the information and documents which he
needs, he will confound his accusers."
"Do
you want me to tell you the set-up?" Laval asked one of his lawyers on 4
August. "There will be no pre-trial hearings and no trial. I will be
condemned – and got rid of – before the elections."
Laval's
trial began at 1:30 pm on Thursday, 4 October 1945. He was charged with
plotting against the security of the State and intelligence (collaboration)
with the enemy. He had three defence lawyers (Jaques Baraduc, Albert Naud, and
Yves-Frédéric Jaffré). None of his lawyers had ever met him before. He saw most
of Jaffré, who sat with him, talked, listened and took down notes that he
wanted to dictate. Baraduc, who quickly became convinced of Laval's innocence, kept
contact with the Chambruns and at first shared their conviction that Laval
would be acquitted or at most receive a sentence of temporary exile. Naud, who
had been a member of the Resistance, believed Laval to be guilty and urged him
to plead that he had made grave errors but had acted under constraint. Laval
would not listen to him; he was convinced that he was innocent and could prove
it. "He acted", said Naud, "as if his career, not his life, was
at stake."
All
three of his lawyers declined to be in court to hear the reading of the formal
charges, saying "We fear that the haste which has been employed to open
the hearings is inspired, not by judicial preoccupations, but motivated by
political considerations." In lieu of attending the hearing, they sent
letters stating the shortcomings and asked to be discharged from the task of
defending Laval.
The
court carried on without them. The president of the court, Pierre Mongibeaux,
announced that the trial had to be completed before the general election scheduled
for 21 October. Mongibeaux and Mornet, the public prosecutor, were unable to
control constant hostile outbursts from the jury. These occurred as
increasingly heated exchanges between Mongibeaux and Laval became louder and
louder. On the third day, Laval's three lawyers were with him as the President
of the Bar Association had advised them to resume their duties.
After
the adjournment, Mongibeaux announced that the part of the interrogation
dealing with the charge of plotting against the security of the state was
concluded. He proposed to deal next with the charge of intelligence
(collaboration) with the enemy. "Monsieur le Président", Laval
replied, "the insulting way in which you questioned me earlier and the
demonstrations in which some members of the jury indulged show me that I may be
the victim of a judicial crime. I do not want to be an accomplice; I prefer to
remain silent." Mongibeaux called the first of the prosecution witnesses,
but they had not expected to give evidence so soon and none were present.
Mongibeaux adjourned the hearing for the second time so that they could be
located. When the court reassembled half an hour later, Laval was no longer in
his place.
Although
Pierre-Henri Teitgen, the Minister of Justice in Charles
de Gaulle's cabinet, personally appealed to Laval's lawyers to have him
attend the hearings, he declined to do so. Teitgen freely confirmed the conduct
of Mongibeaux and Mornet, professing he was unable to do anything to curb them.
The trial continued without the accused, ending with Laval being sentenced to
death. His lawyers were turned down when they requested a re-trial.
The
execution was fixed for the morning of 15 October. Laval attempted to cheat the
firing squad by taking poison from a phial which had been stitched inside the
lining of his jacket since the war years. He did not intend, he explained in a
suicide note, that French soldiers should become accomplices in a
"judicial crime". The poison, however, was so old that it was ineffective,
and repeated stomach-pumpings revived Laval.
Laval
requested that his lawyers witness his execution. He was shot shouting
"Vive la France!" Shouts of "Murderers!" and "Long live
Laval!" were apparently heard from the prison. Laval's widow declared:
"It is not the French way to try a man without letting him speak",
she told an English newspaper, "That's the way he always fought against –
the German way."
The
High Court, which functioned until 1949, judged 108 cases; it pronounced eight
death penalties, including one for Pétain but asking that it not be carried out
because of his age. Only three of the death penalties were carried out: Pierre
Laval; Fernand de Brinon, Vichy's Ambassador in Paris to
the German authorities; and Joseph
Darnand, head of the Milice.
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