Anatole de Monzie (22 November 1876,

Bazas Bazas (; oc-gsc, Vasats) is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France. Geography Bazas stands on a narrow promontory above the Beuve valley 60 km/37 mi southeast of Bordeaux and 40 km/25 mi southwest of ...

, Gironde – 11 January 1947,

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 administrator, encyclopaedist ('' Encyclopédie française''),

political figure 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, a ...

and scholar. His father was a tax collector in

, Gironde where Anatole – a name he disliked from an early age – was born in 1876. A nurse mishap resulted in an accident where the infant Anatole lost the proper use of his leg and he remained crippled for the rest of his life. He never married but had several relationships. A brilliant mind, he studied in

Agen The commune of Agen (, ; ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. Geography The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department ...

before attending the Collège Stanislas, a famous Roman Catholic school in Paris, where he became friend with writer to be

Henry de Jouvenel Henry de Jouvenel des Ursins (5 April 1876 – 5 October 1935) was a French journalist and statesman.

and Roman Catholic activist

Marc Sangnier Marc Sangnier (; 3 April 1873, Paris – 28 May 1950, Paris) was a French Roman Catholic thinker and politician, who in 1894 founded '' Le Sillon'' ("The Furrow"), a social Catholic movement. Work Sangnier aimed to bring the Catholic Church i ...

Career

He studied law and started to practice but finally chose politics. He was

chef de cabinet In several French-speaking countries and international organisations, a (French; literally 'head of office') is a senior civil servant or official who acts as an aide or private secretary to a high-ranking government figure, typically a minist ...

of education minister Joseph Chautemps in 1902. At about the same time, he started a career as a local politician in the Lot, a forlorn and backwater, yet charming, department in the south west of France. Successively, and very often simultaneously, he became counsellor, general, mayor of

Cahors Cahors (; oc, Caors ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region. The main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Que ...

(the local prefecture), deputy and senator. Soon commanding a huge following among the local voters, pleased by his culture, his easy access to government and proficiency in handing out public sector jobs, he made of the Lot a lifelong stronghold. Member of a small centrist faction, called ''Républicains Socialistes'', he soon cut a fine figure in the Chambre des Députés because of its abilities and its central positioning. His thriving ministerial career started in 1913 when he was appointed ''sous-secrétaire d'État à la marine marchande''. From 1918 to 1940, he occupied numerous positions in all sorts of governments and was appointed minister eighteen times. As a

finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

, he is remembered for recommending to cut the budget in 1925. He was deeply involved in diplomatic affairs, starting a campaign for a renewal of the relations with the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

followed, in 1922, by a plea for the acknowledgment of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. From 1924 to 1927, he headed the Russian Affairs Commission and as such dealt with some of the prominent Russian figures of that time. He started discussing the reimbursement of the Russian loans but, after the return to power of Poincaré in 1926, the negotiation failed. In 1925, he also served briefly as Minister of Education and Fine Arts. He is credited for introducing philosophy in the high school curriculum, perhaps a reflect of his

masonic 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 ...

affiliation. He also banned the teaching of local dialects or languages in school – for instance, declaring in 1927 that "''for the linguistic unity of France, the Breton language must disappear''". During a new stint as Minister of Education in the government of

Édouard Herriot Édouard Marie Herriot (; 5 July 1872 – 26 March 1957) was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister (1924–1925; 1926; 1932) and twice as President of the Chamber of Deputies. He led the f ...

in 1932, the name of the department was changed to ''Éducation nationale'', a name it has kept hitherto. His policy generally promoted a free and neutral education system. Minister of ''Travaux publics'' in 1938, he was confronted to a great dockers strike, which enhanced the Left distrust for his person. Between 1938 and 1940, he led several diplomatic missions. During that time of international tensions, Anatole's position was a matter of controversy. A stalwart pacifist, he was indeed actively promoting a Latin alliance between France 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 ...

who would mediate between

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and the Allies. He voted to assent governmental powers to Maréchal Pétain in 1940. Being a friend of

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 ...

Darquier de Pellepoix Louis Darquier (19 December 1897 – 29 August 1980), better known under his assumed name Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, was Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy Régime. Biography A veteran of World War I, Darquier had been a ...

and

Fernand de Brinon Fernand de Brinon, Marquis de Brinon (; 26 August 1885 – 15 April 1947) was a French lawyer and journalist who was one of the architects of French collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. He claimed to have had five private talks with ...

, he was nonetheless an object of hatred for many among the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

. He was forced to resign from his mayorship in 1942. Indicted by the ''Comité national des écrivains'' (National Writers' Committee) in 1945, he died in Paris two years later. Anatole de Monzie was a scholar and something of a writer. His intellectual legacy numbers the publication of the Encyclopédie française from 1935 on. He was also connected to various French writers and intellectuals of the time, including

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

Roland Dorgelès Roland Dorgelès (; 15 June 1885 – 18 March 1973) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt. Born in Amiens, Somme, under the name Roland Lecavelé (he adopted the pen name Dorgelès to commemorate visits to the spa town of ...

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre (, ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the '' Encyclopédie française'' together wi ...

and Pierre Benoit, whom he introduced to the Lot, especially the little town of Saint-Céré, where the writer wrote several of his works. Despite his achievements, however, his legacy will be forever tainted by his genocidal opposition to Breton culture.

Works of Anatole de Monzie

*''Les Réformes scolaires'', Paris, Stock, 1905 *''Aux confins de la politique'', Paris, Grasset, 1913 *''Si resucitara !'', Paris, Alcan, 1915 (sur les relations Franco-espagnoles) *''Rome sans Canossa, ou la diplomatie de la présence'', Paris, Albin Michel, 1918 *''L'entrée au forum : vingt ans avant'', Paris, Albin Michel, 1920 *''La Mort de Julie'', Paris, Auguste Blaizot, 1922 *''Du Kremlin au Luxembourg'', Paris, Delpuech, 1924 *''Les Contes de Saint-Céré'', Paris, Gallimard, 1929 *''Grandeur et servitude judiciaires'', Paris, Kra, 1931 *''Petit manuel de la Russie nouvelle'', Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1931 *''Livre d'oraisons'', Paris, Excelsior, 1934 *''Les Veuves abusives'', Paris, Grasset, 1937 *''Ci-devant'', Paris, Flammarion, 1941 *''Pétition pour l'histoire'', Paris, Flammarion, 1942 *''Mémoires de la tribune'', Paris, Correa, 1943 *''La Saison des juges'', Paris, Flammarion, 1943 *''Le Conservatoire du peuple'', Paris, Société d'Édition d'enseignement supérieur, 1948

References

*Guillaume Lagane, ''Anatole de Monzie et les élections de 1936'', Mémoire de Sciences Po Paris, 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Monzie, Anatole De 1876 births 1947 deaths People from Gironde Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine Republican-Socialist Party politicians French Socialist Party (1919) politicians Socialist Republican Union politicians Transport ministers of France French Ministers of National Education French Ministers of Finance Members of the 9th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 10th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 11th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French Senators of the Third Republic Senators of Lot (department) Members of the 14th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 15th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni