Fernand de Brinon, Marquis de Brinon (; 26 August 1885 – 15 April 1947) was a French lawyer and journalist who was one of the architects of
French collaboration
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 ...
with the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He claimed to have had five private talks with
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
between 1933 and 1937.
[
Brinon was a high official of the collaborationist ]Vichy regime
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 ter ...
. During the liberation of France
The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers of World War II, Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French R ...
in 1944, remnants of the Vichy leadership fled into exile, where Brinon was selected as president of the rump government in exile
A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile us ...
. After the war was over, he was tried in France for war crimes, found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed.
Early life and marriage
Born into a wealthy family in the city of Libourne
Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.
It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émil ...
in the Gironde
Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...
département, Fernand de Brinon studied political science and law at university but chose to work as a journalist 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 ...
. After the First World War
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 ...
, he advocated a rapprochement with Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He became friends with Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945.
Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
.
De Brinon married Jeanne Louise Rachel Franck, the Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish former wife of Claude Ullmann Claude may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People and fictional characters
* Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Claude (surname), a list of people
* Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etch ...
; she converted to Roman Catholicism.
1930s Paris
The Brinons became leading socialites in 1930s Paris, and close friends of the political right-wing elite and of radical leader Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, and the Prime Minister of France who signed the Munich Agreement before the outbreak of World War II.
Daladier was born in Carpe ...
. In co-ordination with Ribbentrop's personal representative in Paris, Otto Abetz
Heinrich Otto Abetz (26 March 1903 – 5 May 1958) was the German ambassador to Vichy France during the Second World War and a convicted war criminal. In July 1949 he was sentenced to twenty years' hard labour by a Paris military tribunal, he was ...
, Brinon headed the France–Germany Committee, which was designed to influence France's political and cultural establishment in a pro-German direction. This was Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
's main propaganda technique in their attempt to influence French politics before the Second World War. During the Munich crisis
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...
, Brinon sent accounts of the discussions of the French Cabinet to the German government, obtained from two ministers.
Occupied Paris
A leading advocate for collaboration following France's defeat by Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, in July 1940 Brinon was invited by Pierre Laval
Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occu ...
, Vice-Premier of the new Vichy regime
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 ter ...
, to act as its representative to the German High Command in occupied Paris. Brinon's seat was the confiscated ''Hôtel de Breteuil'' in Paris (12 avenue Foch
Avenue Foch () is an avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, named after World War I Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1929. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris, and one of the most expensive addresses in the world, home to ...
). Brinon benefited from his long acquaintance with the German ambassador Otto Abetz
Heinrich Otto Abetz (26 March 1903 – 5 May 1958) was the German ambassador to Vichy France during the Second World War and a convicted war criminal. In July 1949 he was sentenced to twenty years' hard labour by a Paris military tribunal, he was ...
. In September 1940 he also established the Groupe Collaboration
The Groupe Collaboration was a French Collaboration with the Axis powers#France, collaborationist group active during the Second World War. Largely eschewing the street politics of many such contemporary groups, it sought to establish close cultura ...
to help establish closer cultural ties between Germany and France. In 1942, Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World ...
, head of the Vichy regime, gave him the title of Secretary of State.
As the third-ranking member of the Vichy regime and because of his enthusiastic support for the fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
cause, Brinon's importance to the Nazis was such that he was able to obtain a special pass for his Jewish-born wife that exempted her from deportation to a German concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
.
Katyn Massacre
De Brinon was invited by the German supreme general staff to the Eastern Front, as president of the committee of the Legion of French Volunteers against Bolschevism (LVF), to visit the exhumation of the bodies of the Polish victims in the Katyn forest
Katyn (russian: Кáтынь; pl, Katyń ) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Smolensky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located approximately to the west of Smolensk, the administrative center of the oblast. The village had a population o ...
in April 1943.
Vichy government in exile
In the face of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944, the remnants of the Vichy regime
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 ter ...
fled to Sigmaringen, Germany, in September 1944, where the Germans set up the French Governmental Commission for the Defense of National Interests as a government in exile.
The Germans wished to project a facade of legality for the commission, and enlisted de Brinon to serve as president, and other Vichy officials, including Joseph Darnand, Jean Luchaire
Jean Luchaire (21 July 1901 – 22 February 1946) was a French journalist and politician who became the head of the French collaborationist press in Paris during the German military occupation. Luchaire supported the ''Révolution nationale'' d ...
, Eugène Bridoux
Eugène Bridoux (1888-1955) was a French general. He served as Secretary of State for War, later Secretary of State for Defence, under Vichy France during World War II.
Early life
Eugène Bridoux was born on 24 June 1888 in Doulon, now a suburb o ...
, and Marcel Déat
Marcel Déat (7 March 1894 – 5 January 1955) was a French politician. Initially a socialist and a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), he led a breakaway group of right-wing ' Neosocialists' out of the SFIO in 193 ...
as members.
Arrest and trial
De Brinon was eventually arrested by the advancing Allied troops. He and his wife were both held in Fresnes prison
Fresnes Prison (''French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a small ...
, but she was eventually released. De Brinon was tried in the ''épuration légale
The ''épuration légale'' (French "legal purge") was the wave of official trials that followed the Liberation of France and the fall of the Vichy Regime. The trials were largely conducted from 1944 to 1949, with subsequent legal action continui ...
'' by the French Court of Justice for war crimes, found guilty and sentenced to death on 6 March 1947. He was executed by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
on 15 April at the military fort in the Paris suburb of Montrouge
Montrouge () is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased again in recent years.
...
.[
In 2002, French historian Gilbert Joseph published ''Fernand de Brinon : L'Aristocrate de la collaboration''. In 2004, Bernard Ullmann, Lisette de Brinon's son from her first marriage, broke his 60-year silence and told his family's story in his book, ''Lisette de Brinon, Ma Mère''.
]
References
Works cited
*
* Mauthner, Martin: ''Otto Abetz and His Paris Acolytes - French Writers Who Flirted with Fascism, 1930–1945.'' Sussex Academic Press, 2016,
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brinon, Ferdinand de
1885 births
1947 deaths
French fascists
French nobility
French politicians convicted of crimes
Socialites from Paris
People from Libourne
People of Vichy France
Executed people from Aquitaine
French male non-fiction writers
Heads of government convicted of war crimes
Nazi collaborators shot at the Fort de Montrouge
20th-century French lawyers
20th-century French journalists
20th-century French male writers