Victor Barthélemy (21 July 1906 – 21 October 1985) was a French political activist, operative, and author. Originally a member of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

and the Communist International, he moved to the fascist

French Popular Party The French Popular Party (french: Parti populaire français) was a French fascist and anti-semitic political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II. It is generally regarded as the most collaborationist party of France. ...

. After an imprisonment for

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

, he supported far-right causes such as the European Social Movement, the "ultras" side in the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

, the 1965 presidential campaign of Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour, and the ''Front national''.

Biography

Barthélemy was born in

Bonifacio Bonifacio may refer to: Places * Bonifacio, Corse-du-Sud, a town in Corsica, France * Strait of Bonifacio, separating Corsica from Sardinia * Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental, a municipality in the Philippines * Bonifacio Global City, a central bu ...

. His father was a socialist. During his studies at the

University of Aix-en-Provence Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II o ...

, Barthélemy supported Action Française. He moved to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

and joined the

(PCF) in 1925. Following the national congress of the PCF in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

in 1926, delegates appointed him to membership in Secours Rouge International. After an internship in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in 1928, he worked for the Communist International under the command of Palmiro Togliatti. He carried out missions to Spain and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Barthélemy distanced himself from the PCF in 1930, but did not join the

(PPF) of

Jacques Doriot Jacques Doriot (; 26 September 1898 – 22 February 1945) was a French politician, initially communist, later fascist, before and during World War II. In 1936, after his exclusion from the Communist Party, he founded the French Popular Party (P ...

until 28 June 1936. Disillusioned with Communism, he was attracted to the "revolutionary authenticity" of fascism and

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

. In October 1936 he was appointed to the position of the Federal secretary of the party for the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

, centered in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. He subsequently joined its central committee and its

political bureau A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

. In November 1939, he became secretary-general of the party and was installed in Paris. He was a contributor to '' L'Émancipation nationale'' ( he National Emancipation, and '' Le Cri du peuple''. When the PPF Congress met in

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; frp, Velorbana) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after tha ...

in July 1941 he was appointed secretary general of both zones. He participated in the creation of the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism, of which he was member of the Central Committee. On 6 August 1944, Barthélemy fled Paris ahead of the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

' advance. He then took refuge in the Sigmaringen enclave. In November 1944, he was chosen to represent the PPF to the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

. After Doriot's death in February 1945, Barthélemy,

Simon Sabiani Simon Pierre Sabiani (1888 in Casamaccioli, Corsica, France – 1956 in Barcelona, Spain) was a French businessman and politician. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1928 to 1936. Early life Simon Pierre Sabiani was born in ...

, and Marcel Marschall formed a triumvirate to head the PPF. Barthélemy moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in April 1945. Arrested on 2 May, he was handed over to French authorities, tried by a military tribunal, and sentenced to several years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

Post-war

After his release, Barthélemy joined the European Social Movement of

Maurice Bardèche Maurice Bardèche (1 October 1907 – 30 July 1998) was a French art critic and journalist, better known as one of the leading exponents of neo-fascism in post–World War II Europe. Bardèche was also the brother-in-law of the collaborationist ...

in 1951. He was on the board of Bardèche's journal ''

Défense de l'Occident ''Défense de l’Occident'' (English: ''Defense of the West'') was a French neo-fascist magazine founded by Maurice Bardèche and published from 1952 to 1982. It was the most significant far-right magazine in post-WWII France, providing an arena ...

'' ("Defense of the West"). Barthélemy was a member of the

Front national pour l'Algérie française Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * '' The Front'', 1976 film Music *The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

(FNAF, National Front for French Algeria); founded in Paris in June 1960 and dissolved by

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

after an "ultra" rebellion in December 1960. He supported the '' Secours populaire pour l'entraide et la solidarité'' (1960–1964), whose purpose was to aid

OAS OAS or Oas may refer to: Chemistry * O-Acetylserine, amino-acid involved in cysteine synthesis Computers * Open-Architecture-System, the main user interface of Wersi musical keyboards * OpenAPI Specification (originally Swagger Specification), ...

prisoners of

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

. Barthélemy became part of the committee to support Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour in the December 1965 presidential election. Barthélemy participated in the creation of the National Front of

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

in 1972 and was its administrative secretary from 1974 to May 1978. In 1978, his memoir, ''Du communisme au fascisme, histoire d'un engagement politique'' ( 'From Communism to Fascism: A History of Political Commitment'', was published by Éditions Albin Michel. Philip Rees described it as "perhaps the most interesting and revealing of all the accounts of political conversion from extreme left to extreme right and a vital source book for the history of the PPF." He retired to the

south of France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

. He died in

in 1985 at the age of 79.

Sources

* '' Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' edited by Philip Rees, 1991,

External links

Photograph from 1944
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barthelemy, Victor 1906 births 1985 deaths Writers from Ajaccio Aix-Marseille University alumni French collaborators with Nazi Germany Comintern people French Communist Party members 20th-century French memoirists French Popular Party politicians National Rally (France) politicians French male writers Former Marxists Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism Politicians from Ajaccio