Pierre Bousquet (November 1919 – 27 August 1991) was a French journalist and

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. A former section leader (''

Rottenführer ''Rottenführer'' (, ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in the year 1932. The rank of ''Rottenführer'' was used by several Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) an ...

'') 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 ...

Charlemagne Division The Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS Charlemagne (german: Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS "Charlemagne") was a Waffen-SS unit formed in September 1944 from French collaborationists, many of whom were already serving in various other German un ...

, Bousquet was the first treasurer and a founding member of the National Front in 1972.

Biography

Early life and WWII

Pierre Bousquet was born in November 1919 in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

. He became a member of the youth movement of the

Mouvement Franciste The Francist Movement (french: Mouvement franciste, MF) was a French Fascist and anti-semitic league created by Marcel Bucard in September 1933 that edited the newspaper ''Le Francisme''. Mouvement franciste reached a membership of 10,000 and ...

in 1936. In 1941

Marcel Bucard Marcel Bucard (7 December 1895 – 13 March 1946) was a French Fascist politician. Early career A decorated soldier who earned a reputation for bravery in World War I, Bucard became active in politics after 1918, initially as a member of '' ...

appointed him director of the commanding office of Jeunesse française. On 25 August 1943, Bousquet joined the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

and ended up with the rank of ''

'' in the

1950–1960s

After the

Fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

in August 1944, he managed to convince the American troops that he had been a forced member of the ''

Service du travail obligatoire The ' ( en, Compulsory Work Service; STO) was the forced enlistment and deportation of hundreds of thousands of French workers to Nazi Germany to work as forced labour for the German war effort during World War II. The STO was created under law ...

,'' and was designated to be in charge of organizing the arrest and the return to France of former collaborationists. Back in Paris in 1946, he tried to infiltrate anti-communist movements with a group of former Waffen-SS in order to maneuver them. Bousquet then became an activist in the

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...

movement

Jeune Nation Jeune Nation (; English: Young Nation) was a French nationalist, neo-Pétainist and neo-fascist far-right movement founded in 1949 by Pierre Sidos and his brothers. Inspired by Fascist Italy and Vichy France, the group attracted support from many ...

led by

Pierre Sidos Pierre Sidos (6 January 1927 – 4 September 2020) was a French far right nationalist, neo-Pétainist, and antisemitic activist. One of the main figures of post-WWII nationalism in France, Sidos was the founder and leader of the national ...

in the late 1950s. A member of the euro-nationalist magazine ''

Europe-Action ''Europe-Action'' was a far-right white nationalist and euro-nationalist magazine and movement, founded by Dominique Venner in 1963 and active until 1966. Distancing itself from pre-WWII fascist ideas such as anti-intellectualism, anti-parliame ...

'', he replaced

Dominique Venner Dominique Venner (; 16 April 1935 – 21 May 2013) was a French historian, journalist and essayist. Venner was a member of the Organisation armée secrète and later became a European nationalist, founding '' Europe-Action'', before w ...

as the president of the

European Rally for Liberty The European Rally for Liberty (French: Rassemblement Européen pour la Liberté, REL), also translated as European Assembly for Liberty, was a far-right, white nationalist and euro-nationalist party active in France between 1966 and 1968, and t ...

following its failure in the 1967 legislative election, along with another former Waffen-SS named Pierre Clémenti. This takeover, along with the relations maintained with the German neo-Nazi NPD and seminars held on ''

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...

'', triggered a wave of resignations. In March 1968, an extraordinary session of the REL's national council excluded Bousquet and Venner from the movement.

1970–1980s

Bousquet created the nationalist magazine ''

Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

'' with Pierre Pauty in December 1967''.'' He participated in the founding of the National Front (FN) in 1972 and was its first treasurer. Bousquet left the party in 1980, dismissing the FN as pro-

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

since the assassination of

François Duprat François Duprat (26 October 1940 – 18 March 1978) was an essayist and politician, a founding member of the Front National party and part of the leadership until his assassination in 1978. Duprat was one of the main architects in the introduct ...

in 1978. He launched in 1983 the

French Nationalist Party The French Nationalist Party (french: Parti Nationaliste Français; PNF), is a far-right neo-fascist political movement established in 1983 by former National Front (FN) and Waffen-SS members around the magazine ''Militant.'' Inactive after the ...

along with former Waffen-SS Jean Castrillo.

Later life and death

He declared in 1986 that he did not see his past in the Waffen-SS as a "youthful mistake", but condemned gas chambers and Nazi torture in an equivocal manner: "assuming–and I mean assuming–that there were gas chambers and torture, I condemn them." He added that he kept on advocating a "white Europe, from

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

". Bousquet died in 1991. FN founding members

Roger Holeindre Roger Holeindre (21 March 1929 – 30 January 2020) was a French Army veteran, politician and author. He served in the First Indochina War and the Algerian War, was a member of the National Assembly (France), National Assembly from 1986 to 1988. H ...

and

Roland Gaucher Roland Gaucher (13 April 1919 – 27 July 2007) was the pseudonym of Roland Goguillot, a French far-right journalist and politician. One of the main thinkers of the French far-right, he had participated in Marcel Déat's fascist party Rassemblemen ...

were present at his funeral. He was a

neo-pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bousquet, Pierre 1919 births 1991 deaths National Rally (France) politicians French nationalists French modern pagans French male journalists 20th-century French journalists French collaborators with Nazi Germany