René Charles Joseph Marie Lefebvre (23 February 1879 – 4 March 1944) was a French factory-owner from

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubai ...

,The ghost at all our tables
, Stephen McInerney on ''Marcel Lefebvre: The biography'', Oriens, Summer 2005 who died in the German concentration camp in Sonnenburg, in the

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg (german: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg ...

(today in Lubusz Province in western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

), where he had been imprisoned by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

'' because of his work for 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 ...

and British Intelligence. René Lefebvre was the father of French Roman Catholic archbishop

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...

, the founder of the international

Traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...

organisation Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX). Jeanette M. Pryor & J. Christopher Pryor,
René Lefebvre and the Holocaust
''Le Floch Report'', 19 March 2006.

Life

Lefebvre was born in

in Nord, in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in 1879, from a family which gave almost fifty of its members to the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

since 1738, including a cardinal, a few

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

s and many

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

s and religious He was a devout Catholic who brought his children to daily

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

. In 1923, he advised two of his sons, Marcel and René, to begin studies for the priesthood at the

French Seminary The Pontifical French Seminary (La. ''Pontificium Seminarium Gallicum'', Fr.: ''Séminaire Pontifical Français'', It. ''Pontificio'' ''Seminario Francese'') is a Roman College dedicated to training French speaking Roman Catholic priests. History ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Of his eight children, two became missionary Priests, three girls entered in different religious congregations and the other three founded large Catholic families.Archbishop Marcel LEFEBVRE
, by Father Ramón Anglés Lefebvre was also an outspoken

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

who ran a spy-ring for British Intelligence when Tourcoing was occupied by the Imperial German Army during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Later, 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 opposing ...

, when

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

occupied France, he resumed this work, smuggling soldiers and escaped prisoners to un-occupied France and London. He was arrested and sentenced to death in Berlin on 28 May 1942 for "complicity with the enemy and recruitment of young people to bear arms against the Greater German Reich". He was sent to ''KZ Sonnenburg'', a former prison converted into a concentration camp, mainly holding Communist and

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

activists.Kaspar Nürnberg (1986) "Sonnenburg", in: ''Der Ort des Terrors. Studien und Dokumente zur Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager'', Volume H 2, by

Wolfgang Benz Wolfgang Benz (born 9 June 1941) is a German historian from Ellwangen. He was the director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism of the Technische Universität Berlin between 1990 and 2011. Personal life Benz studied history, political ...

, and Barbara Distel (ed.), C.H. Beck Verlag : Munich. (German) Lefebvre died in Sonnenburg after one year of sufferings and privations; his body has never been recovered.

Legacy

On 16 July 1953, Lefebvre was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

decorated by the Government of the

Fourth French Republic The French Fourth Republic (french: Quatrième république française) was the republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Re ...

with the ''

Médaille militaire The ''Médaille militaire'' ( en, Military Medal) is a military decoration of the French Republic for other ranks for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. It is the third highest award of the French Republic, ...

'' for his active participation in the

. Lefebvre was married to Gabrielle Watine, who died in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefebvre, Rene French Resistance members French monarchists People who died in Sonnenburg concentration camp People from Tourcoing French Roman Catholics World War I spies for the United Kingdom World War II spies for the United Kingdom 1879 births 1944 deaths French industrialists French civilians killed in World War II