The undersecretary for leisure and sport who designed the workers' first holidays
'Our simple and human aim is to let the mass of French youth find joy and health in sport, and to organize the leisure of the workers so that they may enjoy the joy of life and the dignity regained', radio address on taking office, 10 June 1936
A lawyer and Socialist deputy who took the post the Blum government created first in the world: undersecretary for leisure and sport. With the railways' 40-per-cent-discount 'popular tickets', a boom in youth hostels and a popular sports certificate, he organized 600,000 first paid holidays in the summer of 1936, defining leisure policy as the restoration of dignity to workers. Volunteering for service in 1939, he was killed by shellfire on the Aisne front on 9 June 1940. Thousands of stadiums and gymnasiums across France carry his name today.
Career Timeline
- 1900–1932From the Nord; lawyer in Paris
- 1932–1940Socialist deputy
- 1936.06The world's first undersecretary for leisure and sport
- 1936600,000 first holidays on the discounted 'popular tickets'
- 1936–1938Youth hostels; creates the popular sports certificate
- 1939–1940Volunteers for service; killed on the Aisne front, 9 June 1940