Yves Farge (19 August 1899, Salon-de-Provence,

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

− 31 March 1953,

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

) was a French

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

Biography

Farge was a journalist for the ''Progrès de Lyon''. His colleague, Georges Altman, put him in contact with 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 ...

movement

Franc-tireur (, French for "free shooters") were irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). The term was revived and used by partisans to name two major French Resistance movements set ...

. In 1942, Farge met

Jean Moulin Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and French Resistance, resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less ...

. Farge was put in charge of the military organization of the

massif du Vercors The Vercors Massif is a range in France consisting of rugged plateaus and mountains straddling the ''départements'' of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, from which it is separated by the rivers Drac ...

. He was also a member of the ''l’état-major'' directed by General Delestraint. After the arrest of those two prominent resistance figures, Farge was sought by the

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 ...

and went to

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 ...

, where he presided over the ''Comité d’action contre la déportation''. General Charles de Gaulle named Farge '' commissaire de la République'' for the departements of ''la région rhodanienne''. Farge saved 800 hostages who were at risk of being shot at Montluc Prison in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. Farge was politically left-wing without having any specific affiliation. He served as minister of ''ravitaillement'', a very difficult position, in the provisional government of Georges Bidault, from 8 January to 16 December 1946. He spoke out against wine smuggling and struggled hard against the black market. Farge was a progressive, and close to the communists. He participated in the founding of the '' Mouvement de la Paix'' in 1947, of which he became the president until his death in 1953 in a car accident in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He was also a member of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass ...

. For his actions in support of peace, he was awarded the

Stalin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (russian: международная Ленинская премия мира, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a pane ...

in 1953. Farge was a ''

compagnon de la Libération The Order of Liberation (french: Ordre de la Libération) is a French Order which was awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is a very high honour, second only after the ''Légion d’Honneur'' (Legion of Honour) ...

''.

Sources

*Dominique Veillon, article on Yves Farge taken from the ''Dictionnaire historique de la résistance'' directed by François Marcot, Robert Laffont, 2006 (French)

Bibliography

Farge is responsible for a number of French works: *''Toulon'', Editions de Minuit, Paris 1943 *''Sauvons nos gosses''. À Megève, premier village d'enfants, Lyon, 1945 *''Vent des fous'', Paris 1946 *''Rebelles, soldats et citoyens. Souvenirs d'un Commissaire de la République'', Paris 1946 *''Lettre au Président Truman'', Paris 1949 *''La République est en danger'', Paris 1950 *''La Guerre d'Hitler continue'', Paris 1950 *''Le sang de la corruption'', Paris 1951 *''Témoignage sur la Chine et la Corée'', Paris 1952 *''Un simple mot'', Paris 1953 *''Histoire vécue de la Résistance. Rebelle soldat et citoyen, carnet d'un Commissaire de la République'', Genève 1971

External links

A detailed bibliography and photographic record can be found at the ''l’Ordre de la Libération'' website (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farge, Yves French Resistance members Stalin Peace Prize recipients Companions of the Liberation People from Salon-de-Provence 1899 births 1953 deaths Road incident deaths in the Soviet Union Road incident deaths in Georgia (country)