J. Kenneth Brody - The Trial of Pierre Laval: Defining Treason, Collaboration and Patriotism in World War II France

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The Trial of Pierre Laval: Defining Treason, Collaboration and Patriotism in World War II France
Author:
J Kenneth Brody
Publisher:
Routledge
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Books / Detective and thriller
Year:
2017
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In a stunning work combining historical memory, legal ambiguity, and profound issues of justice, J. Kenneth Brody provides a picture of France in World War II that continues to haunt the present. Architect in 1940 of Marshal Petains Vichy French regime and its prime minister from April 1942 to August 1944, at wars end Pierre Laval was promptly arrested on charges of treason. This book tells the story of his trial. Did he betray France, or did he serve France under terrible circumstances? What was the truth of collaboration? This book considers the pretrial proceedings, or lack thereof, the evidence, and the arguments of the prosecution, as well as Lavals vigorous defense in the early days of the trial.

Because of irregularities in the preliminary proceedings, Lavals defense counsel declined from the outset to participate in the trial. For those reasons and because of the prejudicial conduct of the prosecution, on the third day of the trial, Pierre Laval also declined to participate further. What his defense might have been in a normal pre-trial proceeding and in a fair trial are matters of conjecture. What remains clear is that political trials are a unique form of law and moral judgment.

Trials and history share a common goal-the truth. Trial, judgment, and appeal are intended to produce finality. History, on the other hand, is never final. After its performance in the trial of Pierre Laval, the government of France continued its policy of concealment, even though the truth could no longer determine the outcome of the trial. Slowly, by persistence, courage, and loyalty, historys claims to truth were established. This book presents the defense that might have been presented and then relates the final judgment, its grisly execution only eleven days after the trial opened, and its aftermath.

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The TRIAL
of PIERRE
LAVAL

DEFINING
TREASON,
COLLABORATION,
AND PATRIOTISM IN
WORLD WAR II FRANCE

J. Kenneth Brody

First published 2010 by Transaction Publishers

Published 2017 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2009043210

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brody, J. Kenneth.

The trial of Pierre Laval : defining treason, collaboration, and patriotism in World War II France / J. Kenneth Brody.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4128-1152-1 (alk. paper)

1. Laval, Pierre, 1883-1945--Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Trials (Treason)--France--Paris. 3. France--Politics and government--1940-1945. I. Title.

KJV130.L38B76 2010

345.443610231--dc22

2009043210

ISBN 13: 978-1-4128-1152-1 (hbk)

In Loving Memory

Alton A. Johnson

and

Wineva E. Johnson

We shall never know what he spared us.

We shall never know what France would

have been without Vichy.

Albert Camus

Contents

The basic document for the study of The Trial of Pierre Laval is the trial transcript published in 1946 by Albin Michel, Paris, and extensively used herein with the generous permission of the publisher.

Of prime importance is the account by Yves Frdric Jaffr of his prison visits to Laval as junior member of the defense team. It was published in 1953 by Andre Bonne, Paris, under the title Les Derniers Propos de Pierre Laval. The copyright having since reverted to the author, extensive excerpts are here made with the kind permission of Maitre Jaffr who has given extensive interviews and read and critiqued the manuscript.

The late Comte Ren de Chambrun was the son-in-law of Pierre Laval. He figures prominently in this narrative. Over a long life he accumulated a vast archive of documents, artifacts and memorabilia of Pierre Laval all of which, in addition to many interviews, he made available to the author. The many books he published on Pierre Laval are cited in the text and listed in the Bibliography. M. de Chambrun also reviewed and commented on the manuscript. I am profoundly grateful to Maitre Jaffr and M. de Chambrun for their signal contributions to this work and to Ambassador Walter J. P. Curley for introducing me to M. de Chambrun.

For her able assistance throughout this project I am deeply indebted to Mme. Isabelle-Sophie Grivet of the Foundation Jose et Ren de Chambrun. Oral historian Michael Takiff and Anne Ekstrom made valuable contributions to the work. Richard Abel, Alison Brody, and Arthur Levinson also read and commented meaningfully on the manuscript and merit my profound thanks. Rebecca Peer of Peer Project Management prepared and maintained the manuscript over a long gestation period.

I am grateful to these libraries which furnished important materials: Bibliotheque Nationale Mitterand, Paris, Portland State University Library and Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon.

Sandra Brody not only read and critiqued the manuscript, but also gave her loving support to the work from its inception.

Pierre Laval was born in humble circumstances in the village of Chateldon in Frances Auvergne region on June 28, 1883. He studied and practiced law, entered politics and in 1914 was elected mayor of Aubervilliers, a Paris suburb. In the same year, he became the youngest member of the French Chamber of Deputies.

He held several ministerial posts in the 1920s and in the 1930s was three times prime minister of France and Time magazines 1931 Man of the Year. He was foreign minister and then prime minister in 1934-1936. Alert to the rapidly growing threat of Adolf Hitlers Nazi Germany, he attempted to align Benito Mussolinis Italy with Britain, France, and the Soviet Union in a defensive front to contain that threat. Italys 1935 aggression in Abyssinia complicated matters. In December 1935, Laval entered into an agreement with British Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare to settle Italys aggression in Abyssinia and at the same time to retain Italy as an ally against Hitlers Germany. That agreement was derailed by hostile British opinion. Laval resigned and a disappointed Italy in time became Germanys partner in the Rome-Berlin Axis and its World War II ally.

The German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 signaled the start of the Second World War. France collapsed under the German attack in May, 1940 and signed an armistice in which Laval played no part. But he was a leader in Parliament in the transfer of power in July, 1940 from the Third Republic to the Vichy French regime headed by World War I hero Marshal Philippe Ptain. Laval served in that government as vice premier and minister without portfolio from July to December 13, 1940 when he was dismissed.

He returned to government in April, 1942 as prime minister of the Vichy regime and continued to serve during Allied campaigns in North Africa, Italy, and finally France. During that period he was widely seen, both in France and abroad, as the leading proponent of collaboration with Germany. The persecution and deportation of Jews in France, German demands for labor and military assistance, and the fate of Alsace-Lorraine were prominent among the issues in which he was involved as Vichy prime minister.

As the Allies approached Paris in August, 1944, he tried and failed with former Prime Minister Edouard Herriot to reconvene Parliament. Instead, he resigned all governmental functions when taken into captivity in Germany in August, 1944 where he remained until the war ended in May, 1945.

After seeking refuge in Spain, he returned to France on August 1, 1945. He was promptly arrested and charged with treason and intelligence with the enemy. Both charges carried the death penalty.

His trial began on October 4, 1945. What Laval did at Vichy and why he did it would be the basic issues of the trial. This book is, as the title indicates, the story of the trial of Pierre Laval. It considers the pre-trial proceedings, or lack thereof, all of the evidence adduced and all of the arguments made by the prosecution and Pierre Lavals vigorous defense in the first days of the trial. Because of grave irregularities in the preliminary proceedings, Lavals defense counsel declined from the outset to participate in the trial. For those reasons and because of the prejudicial conduct of the prosecution, the judge, and the jury, on the third day of the trial Pierre Laval declined to participate further. What his defense would have been both in a regular pre-trial proceeding and in a fair trial are today matters of conjecture. Nevertheless, this book presents the defense that might have been but never was made and then relates the final judgment, its execution and its aftermath.

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