Jacques Lemaigre-Dubreuil dans Le Petit Journal du 3 mars 1935

Jacques Lemaigre Dubreuil (1894–1955) was a French businessman and activist, born in

Solignac Solignac (; oc, Solenhac) is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France. Geography The village lies on the right bank of the Briance, which flows westward through the commune. It contains t ...

on October 30, 1894 and murdered in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

on June 11, 1955 presumably by members of ''

La Main Rouge ''La Main Rouge'' ( en, The Red Hand) was a French terrorist organization operated by the French foreign intelligence agency ( External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service), or SDECE, in the 1950s. Its purpose was to eliminate the supporte ...

'' (Red Hand) for being allegedly sympathetic to the Moroccan nationalist cause. He married Simone Lesieur, daughter of

Georges Lesieur Georges Lesieur (1848–1931), born in Paris (France), was a French businessman and founder of the brand of edible oils of the same name (Huiles Lesieur). He married Esther Dupuis with whom he had five children. Lesieur was born into a family of far ...

– founder of the brand of edible oils of the same name (''Huiles Lesieur''). Having joined its board of directors in 1926, he directed and developed the company until his death. He owned the ''Maroc-Presse'' newspaper and had interests in the ''Printemps'' department store chain. An active militant of the anticomunism movement, he was one of the funders of

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 ...

in the late 1930s. During the Second World War, he was very active in the underground. He was one of those who favoured the Allied landings in North Africa, on 8 November 1942,

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

. He was a link between

Robert Murphy Robert, Rob, Bob or Bobby Murphy may refer to: Sports Ice hockey *Robert Ronald Murphy or Ron Murphy (1933–2014), Canadian ice hockey player * Bob Murphy (ice hockey) (born 1951), Canadian retired professional ice hockey player * Rob Murphy (ice ...

and

Henri Giraud Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944. Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...

; when the latter arrived in Algeria, he was accommodated in Lemaigre Dubreuil's houseColin Smith, England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-1942, , 2009 Later, Lemaigre Dubreuil was very active in supporting Moroccan claims for autonomy, for which he drew fierce hatred from movements supporting the retention of Morocco as a French protectorate. These movements, described at the time as ''terrorist-cons'' had many accomplices in European circles, including the French administration. It is suspected the French secret service were closely related to some of them, such as ''La Main Rouge'' (Red Hand). Lemaigre Dubreuil was assassinated in Casablanca on the evening of June 11, 1955, in the square that later bore his name, at the foot of the "Liberté" building where he lived. His funeral took place on June 14 in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Casablanca.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemaigre-Dubreuil, Jacques 1894 births 1955 deaths Assassinated French people People from Haute-Vienne People murdered in Morocco Deaths by firearm in Morocco French newspaper publishers (people) French expatriates in Morocco 20th-century assassinated people