Charles Mercier du Paty de Clam (16 February 1895 – 8 April 1948), was a French soldier and civil servant who served as Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs under the

Vichy government Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

between March and May 1944.

Biography

Charles du Paty de Clam was born on 16 February 1895 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, the son of

Armand du Paty de Clam Charles Armand Auguste Ferdinand Mercier du Paty de Clam (21 February 1853 – 3 September 1916) was a French army officer, an amateur graphologist, and a key figure in the Dreyfus affair. Early life Armand du Paty de Clam's father and grandfat ...

, key figure of the

Dreyfus Affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

.Archives de Paris en ligne, Paris 7, acte de naissance V4E 8623, vue 16/31, acte 203 du 18 février 1895. He graduated with a law bachelor from

Sciences Po , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...

and was mobilized during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1920, Du Paty de Clam was appointed colonial officer in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

, then under a

French mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...

. As the governor of North Lebanon, he repressed the Sunni

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

riots of 1936. Hesitating between

De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

and Pétain, he eventually chose to become Director-General of the Levant States Office for the Vichy regime in 1941. Du Paty de Clam was appointed Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs on 1 March 1944, mainly because he was the son of

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...

' accuser. Suspected of passivity and disinterest towards the

aryanisation Aryanization (german: Arisierung) was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. I ...

process, he was eventually replaced with

Joseph Antignac Joseph Antignac (29 July 1895 – 16 July 1976), was a French soldier and businessman who served as Commissioner-General for Jewish Affair under the Vichy government between May and August 1944. Biography Joseph Antignac was born on 29 July 189 ...

on 17 May 1944. The role of Du Paty de Clam as Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs is the most ambiguous of those who occupied the position. As a Maurassian, he was strongly opposed to the German occupation of France and engaged in double dealing by serving the Germans while doing small favors to the resistance. A reader of ''La France Juive'' like his father (he participated in a commemoration of

Édouard Drumont Édouard Adolphe Drumont (3 May 1844 – 5 February 1917) was a French antisemitic journalist, author and politician. He initiated the Antisemitic League of France in 1889, and was the founder and editor of the newspaper ''La Libre Parole''. ...

on 3 May 1944), his antisemitism was neither virulent nor racial. Opposed to "Jewish dominance" in the economy and Jewish immigration from Central Europe, he dismissed at the same time the so-called "Jewish plot" and those who believed in it. According to the historian Laurent Joly, his hindrances to the organization's agenda were mostly symbolic. While Du Paty de Clam, Joly follows, does not deserve a historical rehabilitation because of his ambivalence, he was nonetheless sincerely interested in the plight of French Jews and was scandalized by the criminal operations of

. Initially convicted of sharing intelligence with the enemy, he was tried again on 19 June 1947 and his case eventually dismissed by a High Court of Justice for his resistance acts. It also considered that he had rendered his service as Commissioner-General in an "ineffective" manner. Du Paty de Clam fell ill while in prison, and he died a few months after his release on 8 April 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paty de Clam, Charles du French collaborators with Nazi Germany 1895 births 1948 deaths Sciences Po alumni Military personnel from Paris Prisoners and detainees of France