Antisemitic right-wing deputy who became Vichy’s first Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions
On 6 June 1936, addressing the new prime minister Léon Blum in the Chamber, he declared: “For the first time this ancient Gallo-Roman land will be governed by a Jew.” The left was outraged; the right stood by him
Born into a Catholic family in the Vaucluse, he lost a leg to wounds in the First World War. Deputy for the Ardèche in 1919–1924 and 1928–1940, and a vice-president of the Republican Federation, he was the leading orator of the Catholic, antisemitic and anti-Masonic right, and in June 1936 attacked the new prime minister Léon Blum in the Chamber for being a Jew. In 1940 he voted full powers to Pétain; in March 1941 he became Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions, in charge of the second Statute on Jews, the registration of Jews and the “Aryanisation” of Jewish property. Removed under German pressure in May 1942, he made propaganda broadcasts on Radio-Paris in the summer of 1944. Sentenced to ten years in prison in 1947, he was amnestied in 1954.
Activities and affiliations
- 1941–1942 Government and administration · France state institutions
- 1919–1940 Legislature and state representation · France state institutions
- 1933–1940 Political and party leadership · Republican Federation
- 1928–1936 Social movements and organizing · Croix-de-Feu
- 1924–1937 Social movements and organizing · National Catholic Federation (FNC)
- 1944 Ideology and propaganda · France state institutions
Career Timeline
- 1891.12.23Born at Villedieu, Vaucluse
- 1911–1913Teacher at the Catholic college of Aix-en-Provence
- 1913–1918Military service; loses a leg to wounds in the First World War
- 1919–1924Deputy for the Ardèche
- 1925–1937Executive committee member and leading speaker of the National Catholic Federation
- 1928–1940Deputy for the Ardèche again
- 1936.06Attacks Prime Minister Blum in the Chamber for being a Jew
- 1936.10Vice-president of the Republican Federation
- 1940.07Votes full powers to Pétain
- 1940–1941Secretary-general for veterans in the Vichy government
- 1941.03–1942.05Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions
- 1944.06.29–1944.08.19Propaganda broadcasts on Radio-Paris
- 1947.12Sentenced by the High Court of Justice to ten years in prison
- 1949–1954Paroled; amnestied in 1954
- 1962–1966Editor of the far-right weekly Aspects de la France
- 1972.01.06Dies at Annonay, Ardèche