Pierre Laval

Categories: 1883 births | 1945 deaths | French lawyers | Prime ministers of France | Fascists | Executed politicians | Vichy regime | French World War II people | World War II political leaders

Image:Laval.gif
Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France

Pierre Laval (June 28, 1883 – October 15, 1945) was a French politician and thrice Prime Minister of France, the final time being under the Vichy government. For his role in Vichy France during World War II, he was found guilty of high treason and executed after the war. Today, Pierre Laval is generally remembered in France as a despicable traitor.

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Career

He was born in Châteldon in the Puy-de-Dôme département of the Auvergne region. After earning a law degree, he worked as a lawyer, in Paris from 1907. A socialist, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of SFIO in 1903. He did not serve in World War I but the period saw a change to his politics as he moved towards the right. He lost the first post-war election. He became mayor of Aubervilliers in 1924 and left the socialist party; he was elected to the French Senate in 1927.

Laval was a prominent figure in the 1930s governments. He was frequently in cabinet and was Prime Minister from January 27, 1931 to February 6, 1932 (succeeding André Tardieu) and again from June 7, 1935. He was named TIME magazine's 1931 Man of the Year.

During his second stint as Prime Minister in October 1935, together with the British foreign minister, Samuel Hoare, he proposed a solution to the Abyssinia crisis. Leaked to the media in December, the realpolitik Hoare-Laval Pact was widely denounced as an appeasement to Benito Mussolini and Laval was forced to resign on January 22, 1936.

Out of politics, Laval returned to his business career, but soon had major political influence after he assembled an extensive media empire through acquisitions of newspapers and radio. The victory of the Front Populaire in 1936 meant that Laval had a left-wing government as a target for his media. Following the German occupation, his publications and broadcasts outlets played a prominent part in forcing out the existing government and then supporting the new government of Philippe Pétain. On July 12, 1940, Laval became vice-premier and named Fernand de Brinon to lead negotiations with the Germans.

Laval was enthusiastically pro-Nazi; his demands for a Franco-German military alliance led to him being sacked from the government and arrested in December 13, 1940. The German ambassador in France, Otto Abetz, had him freed and moved to Paris. He was injured in an assassination attempt on August 27, 1941 at a Légion des Volontaires Français review but recovered and was recalled into the Vichy government on April 18, 1942. This time he became Prime Minister and succeeded Admiral François Darlan as the leading figure in the regime after Pétain himself. Laval was largely blamed for the increase in anti-Jewish activities and the decision to send French workers to Germany through la relève and later the Service du Travail Obligatoire. The creation of the Vichy Milice, the wartime secret police, in January, 1943 has also been credited to Laval.

Following the Allied invasion of France, the government moved from Vichy to Belfort and then to Germany and Sigmaringen in August, 1944. In May 1945 Laval fled. He first went to Spain but was deported and ended up in Austria where he was given over to the Allied Forces. On July 30, 1945 he was handed over to the new French government. Charged with treason and violating state security, Laval was tried and after being found guilty despite vigorously defending himself in the first part of his trial, was sentenced to death. After a failed attempt at suicide (the cyanide had lost its full potency), he was executed by firing squad at Fresnes prison, near Paris, half-unconscious and vomiting.

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Laval's First Government, 27 January 1931 - 14 January 1932

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Laval's Second Government, 14 January - 20 February 1932

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Laval's Third Ministry, 7 June 1935 - 24 January 1936

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Changes

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Laval's Fourth Ministry, 18 April 1942 - 20 August 1944

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Changes

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af:Pierre Laval

de:Pierre Laval fr:Pierre Laval it:Pierre Laval he:פייר לאוואל pl:Pierre Laval pt:Pierre Laval sv:Pierre Laval zh:皮埃尔·赖伐尔