![Raphaël Alibert](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Rapha%C3%ABl_Alibert.jpg)
Raphaël Alibert (17 February 1887,
Saint-Laurent,
Lot – 5 June 1963,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
) was a French politician.
Politics
Raphael Alibert was an ardent Roman Catholic convert and someone with strong
royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
ideas. One of the most intense followers of
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-par ...
, Alibert was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for 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 fil ...
party. In October 1939 he and Henry Lémery had visited
Maréchal Petain to discuss in private the make-up of a possible ministry with him.
Enters government
In the French government's new Cabinet formed on 16 June 1940 he was appointed Under-
Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, now Pétain. He was one of the opposition within the Cabinet to removing the government to North Africa after the Armistice with Germany, and it is said that he was instrumental in preventing the departure by President
Albert Lebrun
Albert François Lebrun (; 29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the centre-right Democratic Republican Alliance (A ...
and
Camille Chautemps on 20 June 1940, although General
Weygand, also opposed to a move, had already urged Lebrun to remain until the evening. In the event only 30 deputies and just one senator departed.
Alibert was responsible for ''Exposé des motifs'', his document forming the basis for the ''Révolution Nationale'', a proposition which the Chamber and Senate adopted on the 9 July 1940. Contrary to post-war opinions,
Otto Abetz
Heinrich Otto Abetz (26 March 1903 – 5 May 1958) was the German ambassador to Vichy France during the Second World War and a convicted war criminal. In July 1949 he was sentenced to twenty years' hard labour by a Paris military tribunal, he was ...
, the German Ambassador in Paris, saw clearly that "nothing could have been further from fascism, whether of the Italian or German variety, than the ''Revolution Nationale''". Abetz felt instead that the government at Vichy believed in "reactionary, hierarchical principals" and that its "nationalism was dangerous to the European concept of the New Order". The following day Pétain signed three 'Constitutional Acts' drafted by Alibert. the first announced that he himself was taking over the functions of the 'French State', in other words that he was becoming 'Head of State'. The second gave the Head of State complete and overall power, both executive and legislative. The third adjourned the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate ''sine die''; they could only be reconvened by Order of the Head of State. Laval remarked that Pétain had been granted more powers than Louis XIV. Pétain, however, maintained that he never wished to assume the mantle of a Caesar, and that he only wanted to serve until a Peace Treaty with Germany had been signed and he could retire.
Alibert was made
Keeper of the Seals
The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial offi ...
(''Garde des sceaux'') from 12 July 1940 to 27 January 1941, and was appointed
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
in the new Cabinet formed on 13 July 1940, during the
time the government was removed to Vichy.
On 22 July he instituted a review of all
naturalisation
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
s since 1927. This resulted in 15,000 people, including 600 Jews, having their French citizenships revoked and being made stateless.
In keeping with the ideals of ''Action Francaise'', he promulgated the law dissolving
secret societies
A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...
(
Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
amongst others) on 13 August 1940, aided in this project by other devout Catholics, notably Bernard Fay, administrator of the Bibliothèque Nationale, and Robert Vallery-Radot. Their task was to root out about 15,000 Masonic dignitaries from public life, as part of an effort by militant right-wing Christians to displace, while taking revenge on, their 'secularising' enemies.
The new government took a serious anti-semitic position, and he also promulgated the first
Law on the status of Jews
__NOTOC__
The Law of 3 October 1940 on the status of Jews was a law enacted by Vichy France. It provided a legal definition of the expression ''Jewish race'', which was used during the Nazi occupation for the implementation of Vichy's ideologica ...
of October 1940 which excluded Jews from certain Civil Service posts and presaged action against those in the so-called liberal professions.
The German Ambassador to France,
Otto Abetz
Heinrich Otto Abetz (26 March 1903 – 5 May 1958) was the German ambassador to Vichy France during the Second World War and a convicted war criminal. In July 1949 he was sentenced to twenty years' hard labour by a Paris military tribunal, he was ...
, wrote to von Ribbentrop on 8 October 1940 saying that "some (French) ministers, such as Alibert, Baudouin and Bouthillier, are hoping for an eventual restoration of the Bourbons". By mid-November that year Alibert, Yvres Bouthillier,
Paul Baudouin
Paul Baudouin (19 December 1894 – 10 February 1964) was a French banker who became a politician and Foreign Minister of France for the last six months of 1940. He was instrumental in arranging a cessation of hostilities between France and Germa ...
,
Marcel Peyrouton
Marcel Peyrouton (2 July 1887 – 6 November 1983) was a French diplomat and politician. He served as the French Minister of the Interior from 1940 to 1941, during Vichy France. He served as the French Ambassador to Argentina from 1936 to 1940, an ...
(Minister of the Interior),
Jean Darlan
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Je ...
and General Huntziger were putting pressure upon Pétain to have
Pierre Laval
Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occ ...
dismissed from office, in which they were successful on 13 December. A furious Abetz visited Pétain calling for Laval's reinstatement and the dismissal of the plotters against him, including Alibert, to no avail. However, on 9 February 1941 Alibert and
Pierre-Etienne Flandin were both dismissed from the government, "probably as a sop to the Germans".
After war
At the end of the war, Alibert fled abroad into hiding, and was condemned to death
''in absentia'' on 7 March 1947. Living in
exile in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, he was finally given
amnesty
Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
in 1959, four years before his death from natural causes.
In culture
* Hôtel du Parc (1992) ; co-scénarists :
Pierre Beuchot and Jérôme Prieur ; avec
André Wilms et Marylène Dagouat. Raphaël Alibert was played by Jean Périmony
IMDb
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See also
* Louis Darquier de Pellepoix
* Xavier Vallat
Xavier Vallat (December 23, 1891 – January 6, 1972), French politician and antisemite who was Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in the wartime Vichy collaborationist government, and was sentenced after World War II to ten years in pr ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alibert, Raphael
1887 births
1963 deaths
People from Lot (department)
People affiliated with Action Française
Anti-Masonry
French exiles
French Ministers of Justice
People sentenced to death in absentia
French politicians convicted of crimes