Jacques Doriot
Jacques Doriot | |
|---|---|
 Picture of Doriot during the occupation, 1941 | |
| Leader of French Popular Party | |
| In office 28 June 1936 – 22 February 1945 | |
| Succeeded by | Christian Lesueur |
| Mayor of Saint-Denis | |
| In office 1 February 1931 – 25 May 1937 | |
| Preceded by | Gaston Venet |
| Succeeded by | Fernand Grenier |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 September 1898 Eastern Front Medal |
Jacques Doriot (French: [ʒak dɔʁjo]; 26 September 1898 – 22 February 1945) was a French politician, initially communist, later fascist, before and during World War II.
In 1936, after his exclusion from the
During the war, Doriot was a radical supporter of collaboration and contributed to the creation of the Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism (LVF). He fought personally in German uniform on the Eastern Front, with the rank of lieutenant.
Early life and politics
Doriot moved to
After being released, he returned to France and in 1920 joined the
Fascism
In 1931, Doriot was elected mayor of Saint Denis. Around this time, he opposed the "social fascism" theory and came to advocate a Popular Front alliance between the Communists and other French socialist parties with whom Doriot sympathized on a number of issues. Although this would soon become official Communist Party policy, at the time it was seen as heretical and Doriot was expelled from the Communist Party in 1934.[1] This expulsion provoked a great sadness in Doriot, but above all a great anger and a thirst for revenge against the PCF leadership.[2]
Still a member of the Chamber of Deputies, Doriot struck back at the Communists who had renounced him: now bitter towards the
Collaboration
When France went to war with Germany in 1939, Doriot was mobilized and fought at the front as a sergeant. After the armistice in June 1940, he was demobilized. He became a staunch pro-German and supported
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Doriot fought with the LVF and saw active duty on the Eastern Front when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 and was awarded the Iron Cross in 1943. In his absence leadership of the PPF officially passed to a directorate, although real power came to lie with Maurice-Yvan Sicard.[3] In December 1944, Doriot travelled to Germany and made contact with the former members of the Vichy regime and other collaborators who had gathered together in the Sigmaringen enclave. Doriot's PPF struggled to assume a leadership role within the French expatriate community, basing itself in Mainau and setting up its own radio station, Radio-Patrie, at Bad Mergentheim and publishing its own paper Le Petit Parisien.[4] The PPF was also involved in conducting intelligence and sabotage activities by supplying some volunteers whom the Germans dropped by parachute into liberated France.[5] He was killed on 22 February 1945 while traveling from Mainau to Sigmaringen when his car was strafed by Allied fighter planes. He was buried in Mengen.[6]
See also
- Communist Party of Italy but later became a fascist and a supporter of the Italian Social Republic
Notes
- ^ Alexander 145.
- ^ "Les grands exclus du PCF". Libération.fr (in French). 1998-12-30. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ David Littlejohn, The Patriotic Traitors, London: Heinemann, 1972, p. 272
- ^ Olivier Pigoreau, "Rendez-vous tragique à Mengen" 53-61 in (2009) 34 Batailles: l'Histoire Militaire du XXe siècle
- ^ Pierre-Philippe Lambert and Gérard Le Marrec, Les Français sous le casque allemand Granchier, 1994. Some 95 Frenchmen were dropped into liberated France, but some were Milice or Franciste members.
- ^ "Doriot, French Pro-Nazi" 4.
References
- Alexander, Martin and Helen Graham (1989). The French and Spanish Popular Fronts: Comparative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Allardyce, Gilbert (1966). "The Political Transitions of Jacques Doriot." Journal of Contemporary History. 1 (1966).
- Arnold, Edward (2000). The Development of the Radical Right in France: From Boulanger to le Pen. London: Macmillan.
- (1945). "Jacques Doriot, French Pro-Nazi, is Killed by Allied Fliers, Germans Report." New York Times. February 24.
- Soucy, Robert (1966). "The Nature of Fascism in France." Journal of Contemporary History. 1 (1966).
External links
- "The Great Is Back". Time magazine. 1942-05-11. Archived from the original on October 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-10. Time Magazine, May 11, 1942.
- Newspaper clippings about Jacques Doriot in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
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