Henry Charbonneau (pseudonym: Henry Charneau) (12 December 1913 in

Saint-Maixent-l'École Saint-Maixent-l'École () is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France. Geography Saint-Maixent-l'École is located in the Haut Val de Sèvre area of western France, about from Niort and from La Rochelle. The town sits in a fe ...

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.

– 2 January 1983 in

La Roche-sur-Yon La Roche-sur-Yon () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is the capital of the department. The demonym for its inhabitants is ''Yonnais''. History The town expanded significantly after Napo ...

) was a French

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

politician and writer. The son of a soldier, Charbonneau initially came to political activism as a member of the

Action Française Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 f ...

before embarking on a varied career with a number of far right groups.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *'' Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pr ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the ...

'', 1990, p. 58 A close associate of

Jean Filliol Jean Paul Robert Filiol (9 May 1909 – date of death unknown) was a French militant, who was active in '' La Cagoule'' before the Second World War. After the war, he fled to Spain, where he worked for the local office of L'Oréal. Filliol was ...

, he followed him into the

Camelots du Roi The King's Camelots, officially the National Federation of the King's Camelots (french: Fédération nationale des Camelots du Roi) was a far-right youth organization of the French militant royalist and integralist movement Action Française act ...

militia group before, in 1930, becoming the co-editor of the journal ''La France Ouvrière'' with

Henry Coston Henry Coston (Paris, 20 December 1910 – Caen, Normandy, 26 July 2001) was a French far-right, anti-Semitic journalist, collaborationist and conspiracy theorist. Biography After joining the Action française, Coston was influenced by journali ...

. His next stop in 1932 was the ''Ligue des Contribuables'', one of the Far right leagues that, with its anti-tax message, pre-empted the later

Poujadist Pierre Poujade (; 1 December 1920 – 27 August 2003) was a French populist politician after whom the Poujadist movement was named. Biography Pierre Poujade was born in Saint-Céré (Le Lot), France, and studied at Collège Saint-Eugène d'Aur ...

movement. He then became a supporter of

Eugène Deloncle Eugène Deloncle (20 June 1890 – 17 January 1944) was a French politician and Fascist leader, who founded of the “Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action" (CSAR), known as "The Hood" ( la Cagoule), and became a prominent Nazi collaborator ...

and in 1937 joined

La Cagoule La Cagoule (''The Cowl'', press nickname coined by the ''Action Française'' nationalist Maurice Pujo), originally called the ''Organisation secrète d'action révolutionnaire nationale'' (Osarn or OSAR; Secret Organisation for revolutionary nat ...

. Charbonneau dropped out of politics in 1939 when he enlisted in the 1st Regiment of

Zouaves The Zouaves were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army serving between 1830 and 1962 and linked to French North Africa; as well as some units of other countries modelled upon them. The zouaves were among the most decorated unit ...

. He returned to France in 1941 and joined Deloncle's

Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire The Revolutionary Social Movement (in French: ''Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire'' MSR) was a fascist movement founded in France in September 1940. Its founder was Eugène Deloncle, who was previously associated with '' La Cagoule'' . The MSR ...

and soon became a member of the Filiol tendency that turned against Deloncle in 1942. Losing interest in the group, he enlisted in

Milice The ''Milice française'' (French Militia), generally called ''la Milice'' (literally ''the militia'') (), was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy France, Vichy regime (with Nazi Germany, German aid) t ...

, which was commanded by his uncle by marriage

Joseph Darnand Joseph Darnand (19 March 1897 – 10 October 1945) was a French collaborator with Nazi Germany during World War II. A decorated soldier in the French Army of World War I and early World War II, he went on to become the organizer and ''de facto ...

and took over editing duties on their journal ''Combats''. The journal appeared weekly, initially in

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...

and then 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 ...

. Despite this Charbonneau was not overly enthusiastic about the existence of the Milice, and encouraged members to enlist in the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

and serve on then Eastern Front.Robert Forbes, ''For Europe: The French Volunteers of the Waffen-SS'', Helion & Company Limited, 2006, p. 187 He fled to

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 1944 and from his base in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

he served the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

as a

propagandist Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

before fleeing first to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and finally to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

from where he was extradited to France. Charbonneau spent a while in prison for

collaborationism Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to t ...

but returned to writing upon his release, with his material featuring in a number of far right journals.Rees, ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right'', p. 59 In his later years he was a member of both Ordre Nouveau and

Parti des forces nouvelles Parti des forces nouvelles (PFN) or Party of New Forces was a French far-right political party formed in November 1974 from the ''Comité faire front'', a group of anti-Jean-Marie Le Pen dissidents who had split from the National Front (FN). De ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charbonneau, Henry 1913 births 1982 deaths People from Deux-Sèvres French fascists French military personnel of World War II French collaborators with Nazi Germany Nazi propagandists People affiliated with Action Française French Popular Party politicians People extradited from Switzerland People extradited to France French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French male writers