Kristian Hamon is a

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

historian whose work focuses on collaboration in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

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 ...

Career in journalism

After a brief membership of Jeune Bretagne, which he denounced as right-wing, he joined the Breton Communist Party in 1973. At the end of the 1970s, he joined ''Canard de Nantes à Brest'', worked for ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

'' in 1981, and then ''Lyon-Libération''. At the end of the 1980s, he joined the daily newspaper the '' Var-Matin'' (

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

). He also worked for a spell in publishing (Dargaud, Le Lombard).

Research

He later returned to his studies, studying his master's (at '' L'Ouest-Éclair'') on the German

Occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

of France, receiving permission to study the department archives of

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

and focusing on the activities of the

Parti national breton The Breton National Party (French ''Parti National Breton'', Breton ''Strollad Broadel Breizh'') was a nationalist party in Brittany that existed from 1931 to 1944. The party was disbanded after the liberation of France in World War II, because o ...

during 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 ...

. His writing has been described as giving "an uncompromising picture of the political collaboration of the National Breton Party during the war" which "have received a rather cold reception in some parts of the Breton movement". Due to this uncompromising portrayal, the Breton nationalist party ''Adsav'' has attempted to disrupt a number of events attended by Hamon. In February 2020 Hamon criticised the renaming of a road named after

Youenn Drezen Youenn Drezen (14 September 1899 – 17 February 1972) is the Breton language name of Yves Le Drézen, a Breton nationalist writer and activist. He is also known as Corentin Cariou and Tin Gariou. Youth He was born in Pont-l'Abbé, Finistère ...

by the mayor of

Pont-l'Abbé Pont-l'Abbé (; , "Abbot's bridge") is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. The self-styled capital of Pays Bigouden (roughly the region between the river Odet and the Bay of Audierne), Pont-l'Abbé was fou ...

. The reason given for the renaming was Drezen's supposed Nazi collaboration during the second world war, particularly his alleged role as an informer against the

French resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, however Hamon stated that he knew of no evidence for this. Hamon's research instead identified Joseph Le Ruyet as the person who, in Hamon's view, had informed against the resistance fighters that Drezen is alleged to have informed against. In November 2021, a book by Hamon about Free French parachutists fighting in Brittany in 1944 during WW2 called ''Chez nous, il n’y a que des morts!'' ("with us there are only the dead!") was published by Skol Vreizh.

Publications

* Michel Lagrée, Patrick Harismendy and Michel Denis, ''L'Ouest-Eclair. Naissance et essor d'un grand quotidien régional'', Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2000. * Le Relecq-Kerhuon, ''Les nationalistes bretons sous l'occupation'' * Yoran Embanner, ''Le Bezen Perrot : 1944, des nationalistes bretons sous l'uniforme allemand'' * Skol Vreizh, ''Agents du Reich en Bretagne''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamon, Kristian 21st-century French historians French male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people) Rennes 2 University alumni Writers from Rennes Living people