Gwenn-Aël Bolloré (5 September 1925,

Ergué-Gabéric Ergué-Gabéric (; ''An Erge Vras'' in Breton) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. It lies on the Odet river. The businessman and publisher Gwenn-Aël Bolloré was born in the commune. Population Inter ...

– 12 July 2001) was a French soldier, businessman, author, and publisher.

Biography

At the age of 17, Bolloré decided to join in the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...

in England. He sailed across the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

in a small boat and met up with his brother René who had arrived in England few months earlier. He lied about his age and his

myopia Near-sightedness, also known as myopia and short-sightedness, is an eye disease where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include ...

to enroll in the Free French Kieffer Commandos with whom he participated in

Normandy Landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

on 6 June 1944 by storming the beach and the city of

Ouistreham Ouistreham () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town borders the mo ...

. Bolloré recorded his war memoirs in the book ''J'ai débarqué le 6 juin 1944: commando de la France libre (I landed June 6, 1944: commando of Free France)'' and was interviewed in the documentary film ''Les Grandes batailles du passé (The Great Battles of the Past)'' produced by Daniel Costelle. Bolloré was interested in

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

and earned a

doctorate degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

from the Oceanographic Museum of Odet. As a

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

, he produced several short films and a feature film called "Les naufrageurs (The Wreckers)". He was vice-president of Papeteries Bolloré from 1952 to 1974 and in the 1960s, he was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

La Table Ronde LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

which published a number of books hostile to the

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withd ...

policy in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and favorable to the

OAS OAS or Oas may refer to: Chemistry * O-Acetylserine, amino-acid involved in cysteine synthesis Computers * Open-Architecture-System, the main user interface of Wersi musical keyboards * OpenAPI Specification (originally Swagger Specification) ...

. He was the brother of Michel Bolloré, René Bolloré, Jacqueline Cloteaux and

Vincent Bolloré Vincent Bolloré (born 1 April 1952) is a French billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of the investment group Bolloré. As of September 2021, his net worth is estimated at US$9 billion. Early life Bolloré was born in Boulogne- ...

's uncle. Bolloré wrote books on fishing and England. He has also published essays and poems. The Prix Bretagne was established at his initiative in 1961.

Publications

* ''J'ai débarqué le 6 juin 1944 : commando de la France libre '', Le Cherche-midi, 2004 * ''Histoires troubles'', Jean Picollec, 1993 * ''Les Amants de l'espace '', Le Cherche Midi, 1985 * ''Nerfs à fleur de larmes'', Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 1982 * ''Le Diner bleu'', La Table Ronde, 1976 * ''Nous étions 177'', France-Empire, 1964 * ''Destins tragiques du fond des mers'', La Table Ronde, 1963 * ''Guide du pêcheur à, pied. Des conseils pratiques sur tout ce que vous pêchez sur nos cotes, sans bateau, ni canne à pêche et 200 recettes pour accommoder vos prises'', La Table Ronde, 1960 * ''Moïra la naufrageuse'', La Table Ronde, 1958 * ''Anatomie descriptive'', Seghers, 1955

External links

Gwenn-Aël Bolloré, writer-poet and CEO

Bibliography

* Randa, Phillippe.''Les écrivains guerriers''. Dualpha, 1998. * ''Bibliothèque littéraire de Gwenn-Aël Bolloré''. Sotheby's, Paris, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bollore, Gwenn-Ael People from Finistère 1925 births 2001 deaths Military personnel of the Free French Naval Forces 20th-century French businesspeople